When I first heard about one-pot pasta – cooking both the pasta and sauce in the same pot at the same time – I was dubious. Then I tried it and the results were incredible. The pasta was indeed cooked through properly and infused with all the flavours of the sauce, and the sauce itself was rich and glossy, thickened by the starch from the cooking pasta, and totally delicious.
Ingredients
- 200g dried linguine (or spaghetti)
- 500g passata with onion and garlic
- 1 red chilli
- 6 slices sun-dried tomato (from a jar)
- 50g pitted black olives
- 1 tbsp capers
- 1 tsp sugar
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- Handful fresh basil
Method
- Find a large lidded saucepan in which the linguine will lie flat on the bottom, or snap the linguine in half to fit in a regular pan. Cover the linguine with the passata, then re-fill the passata carton or jar half way with water (250ml), and add this to the pan. Bring it to the boil and reduce to a simmer. Keep stirring whilst the pasta softens to ensure it doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan.
- De-seed and finely slice the chilli, drain and finely chop the sun-dried tomatoes, halve the olives and drain the capers, then add all these ingredients to the pan, along with the sugar and olive oil. Stir well, cover with the lid and cook on a medium heat for 10-11 minutes, (stirring regularly), until the pasta is cooked through.
- Roughly chop the basil. When the pasta is cooked, stir in the basil and a grind of black pepper (it shouldn’t need any salt), then serve.
Recipe by Kate Ford, from her book 'Vegan in 15'
