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!
My favorite pasta memory is pretty recent, actually. My boyfriend’s mom gave him his grandmother’s pasta roller/cutter last year. It’s a heavy, clunky thing with a crank and three noodle sizes. A couple months ago, we decided to give homemade pasta a try and it turned out so great! How come nobody told me it was so easy to make pasta? We made garlic and basil linguine, and it was wonderful to think we made such a nourishing meal on something his grandmother used long before he was even born.
I’d love to make more memories with this Le Creuset pot!
My favorite pasta memory is when I made chicken parmesan with spaghetti for my then boyfriend. I told him i was going to cook dinner for his family. After his dad ate it, he said, “you should keep her.” And that he did! :)
My favorite pasta memories would have to be the time I went to Bologna, Italy with two really great flatmates of mine when I was living abroad. It was our last trip together before I moved back to the states. We found ourselves in a mom and pop restaurant that you could only imagine on a back street in Italy…home to the famous bolognese sauce! We were all sitting around drinking wine with our food came and the wife asked me if I wanted some fresh grated Parmesan cheese, which of course I did (as we were only a train ride of Parma…!! She kept grating and I kept letting her. She loved that I wanted to much and we all laughed about it (even though we didn’t really speak each others language)…we had the language of delicious food (and cheese!!!) to help us communicate!
My favorite way to eat pasta as a kid was to melt two slices of american cheese on plain noodles. Drove my dad CRAZY!!
My favorite pasta memory is when my boyfriend (now husband) showed me you can add veggies and meat to mac and cheese and get a complete meal. Needless to say, he is still the primary cook in our family!
My favorite pasta memory – My grandmother would always cook us our meal of choice for our birthday dinner. One time I wanted spaghetti and meatballs along with green beans. A very weird combination but my grandmother happily made it for me and I was the only one who got green beans :)
Any memory that includes my mother’s or father’s homemade pasta sauce. Just smelling the sauce cook all day and finally getting to dig in.
Love this recipe! My favorite pasta memory is a super random one – as a kid (and budding “chef”) I used to love make spaghetti (or “subsketti” as I said it) and would have my parents help me make franken-creations, mixing whatever I wanted with the carby goodness. One that sounds so gross to me now, but I think would actually be delicious still today, was a mixture of teriyaki, hot dogs and pineapple with spaghetti. So weird. So good.
My three year old, Emma, is the pickiest eater on the planet. No, seriously, she is! One of the very few foods she will eat is spaghetti with her Daddy’s homemade marinara. AFTER she picks out each tiny flake of oregano and basil (known to her as “black stuff”). My favorite pasta memory was created just this past Christmas, and my in-laws house, where she ate bowl after bowl of spaghetti my MIL made, but we had to lie and tell her Daddy made it! (knowing smiles all around!)
Still dreaming of the Capricci Amatriciana I had at Rose’s Luxury in DC (Bon Appetit’s top restaurant of 2014) – I’m not a big pasta person, but w o w that housemade pasta was soft, was smoky with a kick of spice, was covered with shredded sheep milk cheese, was yummies.