A magical all-in-one-pot pasta dish for when you can't be bothered to cook
Spaghetti with tomatoes, olives and chilli - with variations
Hello again and welcome back!
This week it’s all about low effort cooking, and I don’t mean the kind that’s touted as such but actually involves rather a lot of kitchen faff. I’m talking the truly barely any work kind of cooking that generates virtually no washing up. As much as I love a culinary challenge, weeknights aren’t the time for it in my house.
The origins of this dish go back ten years or so ago when I was commissioned to write a cook book filled with basic classic recipes and techniques that home cooks would find useful to have in their culinary arsenal. My task was not to reinvent the wheel or push the creative boundaries of cooking; these were to be easy, quick and tasty recipes aimed at inexperienced cooks.
I loved working on the book because I learned so much in the process, including that less is often more in the kitchen, something I’ve tried to bear in mind ever since. Also, my eyes were opened to make a pasta dish made by cooking all the ingredients in one pot at the same time - something I hadn’t at that point tried before.
My editor specifically wanted this kind of pasta dish in the book; as I recall, it was a mini food trend at the time and the concept was popping up on a lot on food blogs. The idea is that the pasta cooks in the sauce rather than the two components cooking separately. And it really does work like magic. The pasta slurps up all the flavours as it cooks and softens in the sauce, and the dish pretty much cooks itself.
I’ve often wondered whether Italians take offence at this shortcut; is it disrespectful to an ingredient so close to the Italian heart? But Rome-based food writer Rachel Roddy - whose wonderful A to Z of Pasta is essential in any home that loves slurping spaghetti - reassured me this isn’t the case. In fact, she points me to a couple of traditional Italian pasta dishes that are cooked like this, using the absorption method.
In one of her recent Guardian columns, Roddy wrote about spaghetti all’assassina. Do have a read of it, it’s fascinating. In it, she explains that the detailed origins of the dish are about as clear as pasta cooking water, but it’s from Bari and is delicious. The pasta is simmered to doneness in tomato sauce and then cooked on and ‘toasted’ to the extent that it catches on the bottom of the pan to produce intensely flavoured sticky sauce and crunchy bits.
Pasta risottata is less extreme, Roddy says, and involves a technique stolen from risotto. Water (or flavoured water or broth) is added gradually to the pasta pan while you stir, so that it gradually gets absorbed, just as in risotto. According to the La Cucina Italiana website, it’s a technique best reserved for an emulsion-style sauce (notably lemon juice and olive oil) that has no other binding agent (I assume this means tomatoes or cream). As the pasta cooks, the starch that’s released into th water amalgamates with the lemon juice and olive oil to make a silky creamy sauce.
That dish sounds very beautiful and it’s on my list to try. But today I bring you a version of that all-in-one pasta dish I worked on years ago. All you need is a sturdy and wide frying pan, a few ingredients and you're off. With Italy’s full blessing.
All-in-one-pot spot tomato and chilli pasta
Serves 2 - 4
Prep: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 10 - 12 minutes
350g spaghetti
1 onion, very finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely sliced
I x 400g can chopped tomatoes
2 small red chillis, finely sliced
2 tablespoons olive oil
½ tablespoon dried oregano
2 heaped teaspoons sea salt flakes
a handful of olives, roughly chopped
Method
Place all the ingredients except the olives in large frying pan and pour in 800ml cold water. It doesn’t look so promising at this point, but have faith!
Set the frying pan over a high heat and boil for 10 - 12 minutes, or until the pasta is tender and the liquid has reduced to a sauce. Be sure to turn the pasta frequently using tongs while it cooks so it doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan.
Remove from heat and stir through the olives. Leave leave to stand for 4 minutes before serving.
TIPS
Make sure you use a frying pan that’s large enough to hold a length of the pasta you’re using.
Use long pasta like spaghetti, tagliatelle or fettuccini - the thicker, sturdier shapes won’t necessarily work.
Chop the onion as finely as you can so that it cooks through - if you chop it too roughly, it may still be crunchy by the time the pasta has finished cooking.
SUBSTITUTES AND ADDITIONS
This dish lends itself to substitutions.
Use other kinds of dried herbs, like rosemary, or mixed Italian or French herbs.
Nice additions include a few finely chopped anchovies, a small handful of capers. a small handful of chopped sundried tomatoes.
To change the vibe, fold through a tin of tuna or a tin or two of sardines in olive oil once you have taken the pan off the heat. Just break the fish up a bit first.
Fold through chopped fresh herbs and/or a handful of baby spinach at end of cooking - they will wilt in the residual heat.
I made this last night and loved it - so delicious and so little work. Will definitely be saving this one for those evenings when I can't be bothered to make anything 'proper'. Am happily eating the leftovers for lunch today!
I’m delighted you tried it! And so glad it went down well!