One pot pasta meals?

Scam

Scam

Scam

Soldato
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I was browsing through Yummly and this recipe caught my eye. Although it seems obvious, I've never tried a recipe where you cook the pasta with the other ingredients. Seems so simple, but how well does it work? I do risotto, paellas etc so wouldn't think twice about doing it with rice. But with pasta it seems a bit odd? :confused: I guess if you get the water right you get lots of starch which is good for a sauce.. ?? I guess you have to measure the water exactly?
 
I usually start cooking my pasta ten mins or so before the sauce is ready. If the sauce is too thin/watery/liquid I stop the pasta before it is done, drain it and add it to the sauce so the pasta can use up the excess liquid. If, however, the sauce is thick I will cook the pasta fully on its own and mix after.
 
Ok, but as above I was wondering if anyone has done recipes where they cook everything in the same pot? Like a risotto etc :confused:
 
You'd usually cook lasagne like that no? (Albeit in an oven)


The time old tuna pasta bake is also a one-pot jobby - the only difference cooking something on the hob is that it needs stirring so it doesn't stick at the bottom and doesn't boil dry. Pasta will absorb the liquid just like cooking it in boiling water, but will also release some of the starch back into the dish to thicken it.
 
Scam said:
Ok, but as above I was wondering if anyone has done recipes where they cook everything in the same pot? Like a risotto etc :confused:
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Yes its called a pasta bake surely. Dried pasta in a dish, white sauce to cover it (thin sauce as it will thicken) and cheese, olives and tomatoes on top.

I dont really like it though pasta ends up way overcooked. Doesnt work with fresh either which i much prefer.
 
I've used these two recipes and the results were quite different for each.

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1758648/italian-sausage-and-pasta-pot

This one was more like a soup (it does mention it in the description) but I found it to be quite bland, boring and everything was just a bit soggy and lacked a punch. This recipe would have been better had the pasta been cooked seperately and everything else sauted in the pan and then stirred together at the end. Really don't think it needs to be a soup.

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1120677/bean-and-pasta-stew-with-meatballs

This one I found to be really tasty, thickened a good amount (although still a touch runny for my liking) and packed more flavour. With it being tomato based too I found when making it again it was nice to add paprika or a bit of chilli to mix it up a little bit.

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/one-pan-spaghetti-nduja-fennel-olives

Never used the above recipe myself but it does look really tasty and mentions adding more water as desired for a different consistency.

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/search/recipes?query=one+pot+pasta

And I've previously found the BBC GoodFood website to be quite handy for ideas for recipes, simple search for one-pot-pasta brings up plenty. Enjoy :)

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1758648/italian-sausage-and-pasta-pot
 
Thanks. Surely you should be able to measure the correct amount of water per weight of pasta? We have got into the habit of weighing pasta for portion control (well, have done for years actually) so surely somebody has figure out how much water you need? Don't know if pasta sucks up much/any water whilst cooking mind you..

Edit: I see for the meatball one above the macaroni just cooks in the tomato sauce. Interesting.

Edit2: Oh no there's 1L of stock too. Woops :p
 
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they do work when you tweak water content and cooking times, but I just think what's the point, is it really that hard to cook separately.
 
If i've done a pasta bake (usually tuna) i'm sure i usually cook the pasta first then just mix in cheese and tune and top with breadcrumbs. Haven't tried it normally.
 
Orzo makes a great one pot meal. The Spanish do it with Fideos too. They seem to use a similar water to carb ratio as rice iirc.

Pasta is usually a lot bigger than rice per piece, so would need constant stirring if you used something stupid like Penne or Rigatoni.
 
Scam said:
Cool!
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Alright:
  • 1 pound smoked sausage, cut into bite sized slices - Used Maltessons as that's all Tesco had.
  • ½ medium onion, diced - Use 1 whole small one
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 cup sliced mushrooms - Was more like 2 cups, still would've added more.
  • 3 cups penne pasta, uncooked
  • 2 cups chicken stock - Used 2 cubes, that expired in Nov. 16. Inadvisable. Stock tasted and smelt fine though.
  • 1 (10 ounce) jar roasted red peppers, undrained. - Didn't put all the liquid in, will explain shortly.
  • 2 cups Monterey Jack cheese - Never seen this in a UK shop, substituted for Edam. Biggest mistake.
  • ½ cup Parmesan cheese
  • 2 cups fresh spinach - Would've added 3-4.
I don't have any large non-stick pans so I used some butter and 1 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil for lubricant.

Would advise using in date stock too, tasted fine though.

The peppers I bought were in red wine vinegar, I wasn't going to put any of the liquid in at all as I thought that would make it taste very vinegary. When I put the peppers in a fair bit of in went in by accident anyway. Probably had about 40ml left in the jar. Advise cutting them up if they come whole in the jar.

Upon browsing the cheese aisle I found no Monterey Jack sadly, Tesco I was in had no WiFi so I grabbed some Edam as I have no knowledge of what MJ is like/ UK equivalents. This was a mistake, use Gouda, and possibly some other cheeses, 4 cheese mix suggested here sounds good.

The verdict is that despite my reservations it isn't bad, the vinegar definitely comes through a bit but isn't intolerable and I generally don't like vinegar. It will end up kind of brothy, but seemed to dry out once off the hob. Despite this wasn't bad either, and brothy pasta is normally a no from me.

I am no fan of processed sausages, if I did this again I'd use good quality smoked streaky bacon, grilled first. I only used them as that was what the recipe called for, and I wanted to get the taste the creator does (buggered up the Monterey Jack bit so wouldn't even have mattered).

I think there's an error in the instructions, "Add in penne pasta, chicken stock, roasted red peppers, along with the liquid from the jar, cheeses and spinach" says to add the cheeses in with the stock. Above in her preamble it says:"Once your onions become tender, toss in the penne pasta, add some chicken stock and the jar of roasted red peppers and cover the pot for a few minutes. This allows the penne pasta to cook quickly and become tender. Add in the spinach and cheese, give it a quick stir and serve." - Do it in this order, no idea why you would put the cheeses in with the stock.

All in all, would make again, with the above alterations.

Also, the US measurement of 'cups'....
 
Scam said:
Does my head in too :(

Thanks for the writeup. I've done the same re. the red peppers in vinegar. You really have to wash them if you don't want that taste to permeate through the dish!
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I can sort of understand it for liquids, but it really doesn't make sense for solid foods. I mean, just look at this table. What you can take from that is it would just be easier to use weight measurement sin the 1st place!

Thanks for the tip, I would definitely do that on a second attempt. Having reheated leftovers for lunch today, so we'll see how those fare!
 
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