One Pot Pasta

Before I start on today's ramblings, I must wish my sister Anne a very happy birthday.  This also reminds me that I haven't done this months shout out for all the birthdays, so to Ted, Lyndsay, Abby, Aunty Jen, Julie Ann, Liz, Alison and Clare we wish you all a very happy birthday and will be thinking of you on the day.

We've had another lovely weekend even though there's been a lot of thunderstorms and rain.  In fact yesterday we were rudely awoken at 6am by a massive storm.  This is part and parcel of the rainy season in a tropical climate and it's always slightly cooler to compensate for getting a good soaking if you're not prepared.

I managed the weekly Tesco run on Friday without running out of petrol hurrah and cooked some good food over the weekend which was nicely interspersed with breakfast out on both days.  Wicus took us to a nice Vietnamese restaurant on Saturday and on Sunday Mr John finally got his big breakfast from Lollipop Café and was not disappointed.


On Friday I made an amazing even though I say so myself one-pot pasta meal.   I can't believe I've never made one of these before.  How come I've always used two pots / pans to make a pasta meal when I could have got away with one?  It was Abby, my niece, who suggested this to me and I had a good look round the internet and found this recipe. 

It sounded a little bland for our tastes and so I improvised and didn't really follow the recipe very much but was able to use all the principles to produce our dinner.  I don't know a lot, but I know my Italian flavours and adjusted things accordingly.  The end result was much appreciated by Mr John and I really enjoyed it.  I'm afraid I can't give you any specific quantities it's been a long time since I've had to be so exact with measurements in cooking but I'll try.  So here we go, my measurements for two people are;

• 2 chicken breast , skin removed and cut into 1 inch cubes
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 large mug of chicken stock I used a stock cube in boiled water
• Half cup of cream any type
• 1 medium sized onion I actually used 4 smallish shallots
• 2 cloves of garlic, crushed / minced / finely chopped
• 1 dried chilli they pack a punch here
• 1 tablespoon fresh basil
• 1 inch round of fettuccine  I make a circle with my thumb and forefinger
• 2 tablespoons parmesan cheese
• salt and pepper to taste

In a deep pan, brown the chicken pieces in olive oil.  Don't worry about these being cooked through as they will cook more once everything is in the pot.  Then add the garlic and onion and fry with the chicken for a minute or two.  Chuck everything else in even the cream. No seriously, just do it. 

Bring it to the boil then turn it down to a simmer.  Put the lid on and let it do it's thing for about 12 - 15 minutes.  Try a bit of the pasta and you could use any sort it's just that Mr John likes fettuccine to make sure it's cooked.  Take the pot off the heat and stir through the parmesan.  Then just dish it up.  It's that easy.  As an added bonus there's hardly any washing up.

We enjoyed watching the rugby union on Saturday as both the England and Australia games were shown live on our TV bonus.  England played New Zealand and put up a good fight, though ultimately lost.  Australia gave France a whooping!  Mr John and I get on amazingly well except when our national teams play each other.  At this point, it becomes unreasonable behaviour on both our parts and therefore grounds for divorce.  We have this joy to look forward to at the end of November.  Hmm, wonder who'll get bragging rights.