Borlotti cream sauce with pasta

Once again, my visiting photographer (my mother) took the photo. Unfortunately, she only remembered her duties after eating a few bites. Tomato and cucumber salad with two types of tomato and Japanese cucumber (probably grown here in Malaysia though) with a simple dressing of thinly sliced onion, vinegar, olive oil, sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.
Plus a lovely cream sauce over whole wheat pasta.

Ingredients
1 can of rinsed borlotti beans
1 onion, finely minced
6 cloves of garlic, finely minced.
2 tablespoons of plain flour
1 -1.5 cups of low fat milk
1 cup (8 oz) cream
2 tablespoons minced fresh Italian parsley
1 vegetable stock cube
2 tablespoons virgin olive oil
500g (16 oz. pasta)

Method
Rinse the beans and mash 2/3 of the can.
Sautee the onion and garlic in the olive oil until translucent and tender. Add the flour and stir to make a roux.  Add 1 cup milk, stirring quickly so as to avoid lumps. Add more milk if necessary.  Cook for a couple of minutes and then add the mashed beans and the stock cube. Add a little water if mixture is too thick. Cook for a few minutes and then puree in a blender or with a hand blender. Return to the pot and then throw the whole beans in. Cook another few minutes until thickened sufficiently, then add the cup of cream. Salt and pepper to taste. Then add parsley. Make sure it is warmed through then it is ready to serve.

Serve with a generous helping of grated or shaved Parmesan cheese over freshly boiled pasta. Serves five generously.

Optional for non-vegetarians: Top each serving with crispy bacon bits and pan-fried Italian sausage sliced thinly. You don’t need much - treat these like a garnish.