Kaki, I’m having a moment with some pasta.
Not with the extravagant, doused in tomato or cream sauce pasta. No, I’m loving the “add only a few ingredients and spaghetti and magically oh my-God-this-tastes-amazing” pasta. Some of my favorites:
You can add anything to this. A clove of minced garlic in the sauce? Do it. Dried instead of fresh herbs? Yes. Omit the cheese from the sauce? Shockingly, yes. Tons of veggies to the pasta to make it a freakin’ complete meal? Go for it. And the sauce you just assemble in a mason jar, cap it up and shake to bring it together, pour it over the pasta and dooooone. (But one note: 2/3 a cup of olive oil seems a bit extreme to me. I recently used 1/2 cup and it worked just fine.)
This recipe sounds crazy, but works great with any number of substitutions. As long as you add more delicate veggies closer to the end of cooking, you can add any that your heart desires. I’m not sure I’d add meat to this dish, since it would essentially just simmer away, but in a pinch you could brown meat first, let it drain off to the side, and add it back in at the end. Also, Beth’s tip about breaking the spaghetti in half to help avoid “large nest of noodles surrounded by unincorporated veggies” syndrome is inspired, I use it all the time now.
Also, my Fastest, Easiest, Laziest Dinner would be great over some pasta (it’s also great over a baked sweet potato).
Any simple pasta recommendations, Kaki? I’m all ears and tastebuds.
–Caitlin
becausebutter 