One pot pastas have been an obsession of mine ever since I saw them pop up on the internet. I’m pretty sure the first one I ever came across was Martha’s, but I never actually got around to making it. Years went by and I finally, finally got around to giving one pot pasta a try and oh my gosh, I can honestly say I do not know why I went all those years without making it.
To be honest, I was a little skeptical of one-pot pastas. I didn’t really understand how everything could come together. I’ve always, always cooked pasta separately – even when I’m making a noodle soup, I’ll cook the noodles on the side and then add them into the broth. So it was with a bit of hesitation that I made this. I went with some super spring-time flavours because the past week has just been absolutely gorgeous. Of course today is incredibly gloomy again – spring isn’t here just yet.
While I’m waiting for those bright and fresh spring days, I’ll be filling up on one-pot meals. This came together quickly and I was really pleased with the silkiness of the sauce. Lots of pasta recipes actually call for a bit of pasta water to bind – the starch that is released when pasta is cooked is similar to the starch released when you make a risotto, so the theory behind one pot pasta is sound. The result: a silky, slightly sticky thick sauce flavoured with garlic, red pepper flakes, much like the classic aglio e olio. I didn’t use any cheese in this recipe and I found that I didn’t miss it at all. Don’t forget the squeeze of lemon at the end – it adds just the right amount of brightness and acid to go with the scallops.
I hope you guys give this recipe a try! And to encourage you even more, I’m hosting a giveaway of the braiser I used to make it! See below for details.
One-Pot Lemon Scallop Pea Spaghetti Recipe inspired by The Faux Martha
serves 3-4
prep time: 10 minutes
cook time: 15 minutes
total time: 25 minutes
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1 lb small scallops
- 4 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 2 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken stock
- 1/2 pound spaghetti
- 1 lemon, zested and juiced (about 1/4 cup juice)
- 3/4 cup peas, defrosted
- 1/4 cup roughly chopped flat leaf parsley
- red pepper flakes, to serve
- salt and freshly ground pepper
Pat the scallops dry and season all sides generously with salt and pepper. Heat up a small amount of olive oil over medium high heat and cook the scallops until golden brown on both sides, 1-2 minutes per side. Remove from the pan and set aside.
Add the remaining olive oil to the pan and turn the heat to medium. Add the garlic and red pepper flakes, and cook, stirring, until the garlic is slightly golden, but not brown, about 1 minute. Add the chicken stock and uncooked pasta. Bring to a boil and then turn down to low. Cover and cook for 8 minutes.
Remove the cover and simmer to reduce the sauce, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the scallops, defrosted peas, lemon juice, lemon zest, and flat leaf parsley. Season with salt and freshly ground pepper to taste and enjoy hot!
Giveaway: I’ve paired up with Le Creuset to give away one gorgeous braiser in the winner’s color of choice! I am seriously in love with mine – it’s perfect for making one-pot pastas!
Enter: To enter, leave a comment below with your favorite pasta memory. I want to hear ALL the details! I’ll randomly choose a winner and notify them through email. Open to US residents only. (Sorry international friends!) Also, if you’re feeling so inclined, please vote for me on the Munchies. It won’t get you an extra entry, but it will be bonus karma! Contest ends March 4th at 12pm PST. Good luck!
Update: Congrats Ace! Get ready for the one pot pastas because a braiser is heading your way! Keep your eyes peel for an email from me!
When I was a kid, my favorite food EVER was fettuccine Alfredo. Omg. I had it every time we went out to dinner and asked for it for every special occasion. To this day, my whole family still calls fettuccine Alfredo “elizabeth noodles” :).
being japanese, my favorite pasta memory has to be soba on new years eve. even though i’ve moved from hawaii where all my family live, i still carry out the tradition of soba as my new years eve dinner to make me feel like i’m celebrating with family back home.
Favorite pasta memory is watching Lady and the Tramp :)
I dont really have favorite pasta memory because we make new memories so much because we eat pasta a lot!!(:
My favorite pasta memory is from my childhood. My family would sit around the kitchen table and would take part in making hand- cut noodles from scratch. My dad would feed it through the machine, mom would slice by hand and my siblings and I would fetch for them. The combination of hearty hand- cut noodles and kimchi was perfect.
My favorite pasta memory is from Palermo, Sicily in Italy, where I had the most simple dish you can imagine, spaghetti with a tomato sauce. The sauce had probably cooked for more than 12 hours, so it had the perfect sweetness and colour of hand-picked italian tomatoes. When eating it, you took one spaghetti at a time with a little bit of sauce, so that it would last as long as possible. Nowadays when having a tomato sauce, I always dream back to the streets of Palermo, where I fell in love in Italian food.
My favorite memory has to be using that hand cranker machine to make pasta with my mom when I was just a kid – it was one of the first things she let me do in the kitchen and I remember thinking how cool it was to watch this ball of dough turn into thin yummy strands. Now I’m wishing I had one of those machines myself… thanks for the run trip down memory lane and for the giveaway!
My favorite pasta memory is when my friends came back from Italy and made fresh pasta for all of us. They took a cooking class there and got to keep the recipe. They made an authentic bolognese sauce and it was the best pasta I have ever had. We sat around and stuffed our faces and drank wine and laughed. It was a great night.
My favorite pasta memory is when my little sister tried to make macaroni and cheese by pouring the box of macaroni, a few cups of water, and the cheese packet in a pot and letting it boil. Needless to say it didn’t work, but we had a laugh over it and I showed her the right way. Also – she was fourteen.
I’m a little ashamed of my pasta memory but a box of Kraft’s macaroni and cheese always takes me back.