One pot wonder: pasta

Now there’s one thing I have cooking a lot of lately and that’s these one pot wonder pastas. They are quick and easy, because you are roasting there’s a good depth of flavour and the possibilities are endless for what you can make. Meatless, or with a good quality sausage or chorizo they have become my go-to when week life is busy with kids and work.

Whilst there are no “exact” recipes to go with these: the concept is the same with all of them, add in as many veggies as you like or that your kids will eat (add in meat too to roast) at this point. Some garlic and onion for flavour and whack into a hot oven for 30-40 mins until all roasted and delicious.

You can also add in some feta if you like for a creamy sauce, or I have even used ricotta. You really can’t mess this up. Here are some that I made before:

This is my usual suspect for a meatless Monday: cherry toms and other tomatoes, red onion, garlic, olive oil & salt & pepper.

This one I tossed through some cooked tortellini…I also like to add in extra herbs (English spinach) or herbs if I have them.

Here’s another version I have done using a good pork & fennel sausage. Just pop the meat out of the casing and add in on top of the tomato/garlic/onion base. I think I added some capsicum to this one too. When this had roasted I added in a dash of cream to the roasting pan and then added in the cooked pasta.

Here’s another version again I think I added in some fresh basil at the end and maybe even some kalamata olives to the tomato mix when it was roasting. See? You can’t stuff it up.

I also sometimes do it with gnocchi…if I am doing this I soak the gnocchi in boiling water for a few minutes and then add into the tomato base when it has had about 20 mins cooking time already. This image was when I tried it for the first time and didn’t know these tricks of adding it already cooked into the mixture when it has cooked for a bit. These were like bullets which wasn’t ideal. Bocconcini is also another great thing to add in when it’s cooking…adds in a whole other level!

SO just thought I would share these ideas as they came to mind…have been trying to do this for months now and only just gotten around to it. Apologies! I also have recipes/reels on Instagram when I remember to cook them you can check out my hashtag #babymaccooks

Have you tried cooking pasta sauces this way?
Got any combos we need to think about?
Got any questions about this kind of cooking?