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!
Before I knew anything about cooking, about 5 years ago, my boyfriend and I made homemade gnocchi in his parent’s kitchen on Valentine’s Day. We made an absolute mess with flour everywhere and I think I found pieces of potatoes in my hair throughout the night. Looking back now, the gnocchi was lumpy and was cooked so incorrectly, but now we live together and share a kitchen where we cook together every night. We’ve since made delicious, proper homemade gnocchi of various flavors, but that night is one of our favorite memories. Cooking together is one of the most exciting first steps in a relationship :)
My favorite pasta memory isn’t an exceptional one, but it’s defined me as a person. It takes place in my grandmother’s kitchen. Where all my favorite food memories reside. She was the ultimate kitchen pioneer. Magazine covers decades later showcase foods that were mainstays on our Sunday dinner table. Her excitement over trying new recipes and feeding her family was infectious. It was clear I had caught the bug when at twelve years old I got a kitchenaid stand mixer from Santa. Best. Christmas. Ever.
I If she were here today she would lose her mind of over “one pot” pastas, and would no doubt experiment with them at any hour of the day or night. Which takes me to my favorite pasta memory, when Grandma Connie bought an automatic pasta machine. Date night for my parents meant cooking school for me. Dozens of eggs, pureed spinach, pots of simmering sauces, pesto in the blender, flour everywhere. Linguni hung from every spare pan like tinsel on a christmas tree. Grandpa would yell down from upstairs something about bed times and noise while we formed shells and penne and rolled sheets of ravioli that now required fillings and noodles that now required sauce. Trays of lasagna came next, because, why not? The next day, my parents, siblings, grandfather, aunts and uncles, would all cram around a table that now looks like it could fit no more than four but seemed endless at the time, and grandma would ask her eternal Sunday question, “who wants a meatball?!”. Best. days. ever.
My favorite pasta memory would have to be teaching my boyfriend to make carbonara. It was one of the first times we cooked together. It’s such a simple, delicious dish. It impressed him a lot, and he was surprised at how easy it was to make. He actually continued to make it after that first time, despite the fact that he almost never cooks. It’s one of the only things I cooked for him that he already had the ingredients for on hand.
My favorite pasta memory was after a day of boating out in the hot sun in July. We were so beat that we didn’t want to try anything too fancy, so I started boiling some pasta. After a few minutes, I wasn’t sure if it was done so I called my friend over. Instead of just trying out a noodle, he picked one up and flicked it at the wall! Sure enough, it stuck on there and he proclaimed the spaghetti was done. Five minutes later there were a few more noodles stuck on the wall (don’t worry though, we ate all of it!)
My favorite pasta moment was making Kimchi Udon Carbonara. I never made carbonara before, but I decided to make it for a Valentines Day Dinner. Despite my worries, the udon was easy to make and exceeded all expectations. Udon, Parmesan, pepper, egg yolks, and kimchi. Oh so good!
I love a one pot meal!
Every fall in the midst of harvest season, there were Ball jars lined up along every spare inch of the counter. Tomatoes moved from garden to paper bags for ripening, from paper bag to sink for washing, and from the sink into the pot of deliciousness that eventually became tomato garlic sauce. This long cherished family recipe is all my favorite memories of pasta rolled into one, and every year we get to do it all over again! I can’t wait for September already!
My favorite pasta memory might have been as recently as last weekend. I cooked with my 15 year old nephew and we made Ina Garten’s recipe for Pastitsio. I was a little uncertain about whether he would like the cinnamon, bachamel with yogurt, etc., but he LOVED it! My mind is spinning with ideas for what we could make next in this beautiful Le Creuset pot. :-)
My favorite memory of pasta is eating at a spectacular Italian restaurant next to the Rhine. It was tucked into the base of hill with a castle perched on top and the best dish was my seven-year-old brother’s spaghetti with just olive oil and garlic. To this day, I can taste that garlic. I have no idea what I ordered.
My favorite pasta memory was at culinary school. We had a pasta final where we got to choose our pasta and sauce and had to present it to our chefs. I decided to make a habanero heirloom tomato vodka sauce. I wish I had written down what I made but it was so good. I had a left over bottle and presented it with my plate :)