One Pot Pasta

I can't begin to tell you how much better I feel today. Thank goodness. Often when you're in the middle of "being sick" it feels like it's been going on forever and will never end. Mr John has been his usual awesome self keeping on top of the washing, food shopping and making sure I was fed without having to actually do anything. He even abandoned his exercise regime so I ate at appropriate times.

In order to keep life as simple as possible we reverted back to the one pot pasta meals that we enjoy but haven't cooked for ages. A bit lacking in liquid early on, he soon got back into the swing and made some of the yummiest dinners we've had in a long time is it only me that thinks food cooked by someone else tastes way nicer than something you've cooked yourself? 


Anyway, I thought I ought to revisit the recipe and share it with you all again. I've managed to be a bit more specific so hopefully your efforts will be more successful. You can make a tomato sauce or, if you're feeling decadent, a creamy sauce. Either works really well with this recipe though I probably wouldn't add the dried chilli if I was also using cream 

Although this recipe uses fettuccine you can use any pasta you want to. Mr John particularly likes fettuccine but to be honest, I use whatever is in the house. If you're going to use penne or fussili pasta, then replace the 100 grams with one cup (250 ml) for each person. 

The joy of this recipe is that you can use whatever you want and, more importantly, whatever you like. Vegetarian? - don't use any meat. Don't like spicy food - don't add the chilli. Like spicy food - add more than one chilli. Don't like mushrooms or broccoli - think about pumpkin or snow peas in fact I might try one with some grated pumpkin to see what happens. 

Free you mind, think about pasta meals you have eaten in the past, what did they have in it? Your only limits for this dish is your imagination.

CHICKEN ONE POT PASTA

Serves: 2

Time: 5 minutes preparation, 10 minutes cooking

Utensils: Deep pot with lid, large spoon for stirring, knife for chopping

• 1 chicken breast , skin removed and cut into 1 inch cubes
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/4 medium sized onion chopped
• 1 clove of garlic, crushed
• 350 ml boiled water you can add a chicken stock cube if you like
• 1 dried chilli they pack a punch here
• 1 tablespoon fresh basil
• 100 g mushrooms
• 1 inch round of fettuccine  I make a circle with my thumb and forefinger snapped in half
• salt and pepper to taste
• 100 g broccoli
• 2 tablespoons parmesan cheese

FOR A TOMATO SAUCE add 1/4 cup tomato ketchup

FOR A CREAMY SAUCE add 1/4 cup heavy cream

1. 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
2. Add the garlic and onion and fry with the chicken for a minute or two
3. Add the water I use water just boiled by the kettle as its helps speed up the process and fettuccine
4. Add the chilli, herbs, mushrooms and season to taste
5. Add the tomato ketchup or cream 
6. Bring the liquid to the boil then turn the heat down until it's a gentle simmer. 
7. Put the lid on and cook for 5 minutes
8. Give the contents a stir and add the broccoli 
9. Cook for a further 5 minutes check the pasta is cooked simply by tasting a piece

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 as you serve straight from the pot into your eating bowls.