One Pan Spaghetti

When I first came across this recipe, I thought this was a crime against pasta, but later I decided to give it a try.

It might still be considered a crime by Italians, but it works. The water reduces and the starch from the pasta creates a silky, delicious sauce.  Plus there’s only one pan to wash up.

I like this more vegetable-heavy, so I add extra greens,

Enjoy!

One Pan Spaghetti

Serves 4

Ingredients

400g spaghetti or linguine

300g cherry tomatoes, halved (or regular tomatoes roughly chopped)

Zest of 1 lemon

100ml olive oil

2 tablespoons capers (optional)

2 tablespoons pitted olives, sliced (optional)

A big pinch of chilli flakes (optional)

2 teaspoons flaked sea salt

A big handful of kale, spinach or cavolo nero, tough stalks removed and chopped

Parmesan to serve

Method

• Boil the kettle. In a wide saucepan, add the spaghetti, tomatoes, lemon zest, olive oil, capers, olives and chilli flakes if using, the salt and some black pepper.
• Measure 1 litre of boiling water and pour into the pan. Place over a high heat, adding a lid if possible and bring to the boil. Remove the lid, set a timer for 10 minutes, and keep stirring the pasta continuously to make sure that nothing sticks.
• After 8 minutes add the greens and keep stirring.
• After 10 minutes test the pasta for doneness. Cook for another minute or so if it’s still too hard for you. Serve immediately with grated Parmesan.

Notes: You can use any kind of pasta, but the cooking time may vary.

The recipe allows 100g pasta per person. To scale up or down use the same ratio of water to pasta, so 1 person = 100g pasta:250ml water. Reduce the salt and olive oil too! You’ll probably need to add a splash more water, so add if it starts looking too dry.

Use additional vegetables if you like – some broccoli florets, grated courgette, peas etc.

Ideas for using up leftover pasta: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/apr/29/15-recipe-ideas-for-leftover-pasta#maincontent