Martha Stewart's one-pan-pasta

Last Thursday night we had a lazy date night in that consisted of a one-pan-pasta, a huge bowl of ice cream and a movie.

The one-pan-pasta recipe from Martha Stewart has kind of been a internet sensation if you follow a few food blogs and most blogs I read have already made this... ages ago! I'm a little late to the party but better late than never. I'd seen the recipe online about a year a go and my friend Kate, her boyfriend, Pete showed me the recipe too knowing I was a foodie but I kinda brushed it off and didn't think much of it. To be honest I was sceptical.... one-pan-pasta... just put it all in a pot together... pasta, sauce ingredients and the water. Nup! I don't believe it.  Plus I also read a blog review (here) saying that the traditional way of making pasta and a sauce (the normal way) was still much better, so why would I attempt this recipe?!

But then I saw this video from the blog Bon Appetempt and why on earth hadn't I made this earlier??!?  (Also her book comes out this week, you should definitely go and check out her book trailer... and maybe all her other video's while your there. She is great!!)

The big thing here: I only have to wash up one pot. 

This is an amazing discovery! All I keep thinking about now is what other things I can add or swap in the recipe to change the sauce up and still keep the one-pan pasta idea. I could use canned tomatoes in winter, fry some bacon up in the pan before adding all the other ingredients and or chorizo or or or... you could add anything and still only have to wash up one pan! I wonder if it'd work with short pasta... I don't see why not? ahhaha the possibilities are endless!!

Ok maybe I'm a little excited about a pasta dish but to be honest I think it's a pretty funky recipe. We don't get Martha Stewart magazine here in Australia (well you can but it'll cost you an arm, leg and your first born) so not many of her recipes cross my path except through other food bloggers. I think I might have to have a ritual weekly browse of her website in case I miss another gem like this.

I definitely recommend giving this a go. The sauce goes thick and rich with kind of a creamy-ness to it but not a drop of cream in sight! It also has a bit of a chilli kick so if you're not that into spice maybe half the amount of chilli flakes. I can't wait to make this again... just writing this thinking about dinner the other night and I wish I was having that for lunch... yes I had it cold the next day in a sandwich and it was GREAT!

mmm cold spaghetti sandwich... yum :)

If anyone else has a food hero I'm yet to discover please let me know below. I'd love to find more hidden gems like this that I should have tried to ages ago.

One-pan-pasta 

recipe from Martha Stewart - find the original here
Serves 4

400g dried spaghetti
400g cherry tomatoes, halved
1 brown onion, thinly sliced
4 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
1/2 teaspoon chilli flakes
2 large sprigs of fresh basil (or 4 small)
2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon of table salt
a generous grinding of black pepper
4.5 cups of water
parmesan cheese and extra basil leaves, for serving

- Place pasta, tomatoes, onion, garlic, chilli flakes, basil sprigs, extra virigin olive oil, salt, pepper and the water in a pan.

- Bring to a boil, this should take about 2-3 minutes. Once boiling keep stirring the pasta to separate it a little. It should be done in about 9 minutes or until the pasta is cooked through and the liquid has been absorbed.

- Serve with the extra basil leaves and parmesan sprinkled on top.