September 8, 2014

One-Pot Pasta

dani@slyrooster.com Pasta, Vegetarian caramelized onion, one-pot, onion, pasta, spaghetti 3 Comments

While on summer break, I did a lot of recipe reading, testing and tasting. In the process, I stumbled across a handful of “one-pot pasta” recipes and had been admittedly skeptical. Overcooked, mushy pasta…not my thang. Plus, how hard is it to have one pan for sauce and a second pot for boiling water? I’m all in favor of shortcuts but at some point aren’t we just being lazy?

Well, maybe that’s just it. Maybe I needed to be in full-on “lazy mode” (a.k.a. hiding away at my parents’ house) to give this pasta cooking method a try. And when I finally did, it was an instant transformation from skeptic to believer.

Having only one large pot to clean (nevermind the absence of a colander) was nice, I suppose, but it was the flavor that won me over.  In this recipe, which I adapted from Joy the Baker, the pasta cooks in a sweet onion broth, absorbing the flavor in a way that can’t be replicated with traditional pasta cooking methods. And mushy? Not a chance. Just follow the timing outlined below and you’ll end up with perfectly al dente pasta.

This dish is a real winner so start heating your olive oil and slicing those onions. When the bowls are licked clean and your one pot is washed and put away, let me know if you’re a believer.