A quick scroll through the comments section of the “one-pan pasta” recipe video I posted last year tells me two things. Firstly, internet trolls have got nothing on angry Italian food lovers; one commenter recently compared the video to Isis propaganda, while another claimed the recipe would send his Italian nonna to an early grave.
All fairly extreme reactions to a plate of pasta, albeit with a slight diversion from traditional cooking methods. That being said, my second observation is just how many people were drawn to watch it, a simple five-ingredient recipe that at 2.5 million views and counting is one of the most popular recipes on my YouTube channel. Unfortunately for the angry Italian food lovers, this doesn’t curb my enthusiasm for creating more modern takes on their traditional cuisine. I can’t say I haven’t been tempted to recreate the pasta doughnuts doing the rounds on social media or the spaghetti pies that are popular in the US right now.
Simplicity and substance
Novelty recipes aside, the real takeaway is that there will always be a draw to fast-cooking dishes that take little effort to clean up afterwards. With that in mind this column is a celebration of the one-pot wonder recipes which deliver on simplicity and substance.
Now, I do have another one-pan pasta dish, but this time it’s baked. The one-tray baked meatball recipe may not have the unctuous quality of a separately cooked sauce, but it’s certainly worthwhile having up your sleeve for an easy dinner with minimal clean-up. The meatballs are a bit of a cheat, in that you use sausage meat spiked with toasted fennel seeds and, interestingly, the pasta is baked rather than boiled.
The other two one-pot gems are an Indian baked chicken which is slathered in a spiced yoghurt before baking until deliciously tender, and a speedy steak supper which makes the most of the griddle pan that’s been lurking in the back of your kitchen cupboard.
While you might not impress the food snobs with your one-pot wonders, be satisfied in the knowledge that you will have a delicious dinner with some creative cooking methods that give you time to enjoy your evening rather than doing the washing-up.
One-Pot Indian Roast Chicken
This is a great Indian-inspired twist on the traditional roast, where the chicken is marinated in yoghurt and spices, making it meltingly tender. Given time to marinade, the spices permeate and really penetrate the flesh of the chicken.
90 mins plus marinade time
Serves 4
Ingredients
For the chicken:
- 1.5kg whole chicken
- 2 large onions, peeled and cut into thick slices
- 1 tbsp rapeseed oil
- 1 lemon, halved
For the marinade:
- 2 large garlic cloves, crushed
- 1 tbsp freshly grated root ginger
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 2 tsp ground coriander
- 2 tsp garam masala
- 1 tsp hot paprika
- 1 tbsp ground turmeric
- 2 tbsp rapeseed oil
- 250ml natural yogurt
- sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
For the couscous:
- 3 cardamom pods
- 200g couscous
- 2 tsp vegetable stock granules
- handful fresh coriander leaves, roughly chopped
- 100g toasted silvered almonds
To make the marinade, mix the garlic, ginger, cumin, coriander, garam masala, turmeric, paprika, olive oil and yogurt in a large bowl and season with salt and pepper. Slash the chicken legs several times with a sharp knife, then rub the marinade all over the chicken, both inside and out. If time allows put the chicken in a large food bag, or covered in a non-metallic dish, and leave to marinate for at least 4 hours, or up to 24 hours is best.
Take your chicken out of the fridge 30 minutes before it goes into the oven. Preheat the oven to 230 degrees C/450 degrees F/gas mark 8. Make a trivet with the onions in an oval casserole dish or roasting tin and then drizzle over the rapeseed oil. Season with salt and pepper and sit the chicken on top.
Put the lemon inside the chicken’s cavity and place in the oven and immediately reduce the heat to 200 degrees C. Cover the chicken loosely with foil and roast for 30 minutes. Remove the foil and roast for another 50 minutes, basting the chicken halfway through cooking.
Meanwhile, prepare the couscous. Bash the cardamom pods with the back of a knife and place them in a bowl with the couscous. Add the stock granules and cover with boiling water, cover with cling film and leave until all the water has been soaked up and the couscous is nice and plump. Using a fork fluff up the couscous when it’s ready and fold in the coriander and almonds.
Let the chicken rest for 10 minutes before you carve it, then arrange on warmed serving plates with the couscous to serve.
Fennel Sausage Meatball Pasta Bake
Don’t knock it until you try it – a pasta bake that can be served straight to the table for a dig-in dinner.
Serves 4
Ingredients
For the meatballs:
- 450g best quality pork sausage meat
- 1 tbsp fennel seeds, toasted and lightly bashed
- A good handful flat leaf parsley, finely chopped
For the spaghetti:
- 400g spaghetti, broken in half
- 150g cherry tomatoes, sliced in half
- 800g passata
- 1 tsp chilli flakes
- Softened butter, to grease
- Pecorino cheese, to serve
- Basil leaves, to serve
- Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Preheat the oven to 250 degrees C. Grease a 40x25cm roasting tin with butter.
Add the spaghetti, passata, cherry tomatoes, chilli flakes and 600ml of water to the roasting tin. Toss to evenly coat.
Combine the ingredients for the meatballs in a bowl and, using damp hands, roll into 20 small meatballs approximately 3cm in diameter. Place them across the tomato spaghetti. Cover tightly with tin foil and place in the oven to bake for 30 minutes, mixing halfway through, until the pasta is al dente.
Remove the dish from the oven and, using a splash of boiling water, loosen the sauce to the desired thickness. Season generously and garnish with Pecorino cheese shavings and basil leaves.
Griddled Skirt Steak with Griddled Gem, Spring Onions & Chimichurri Sauce
To keep this strictly one-pan, it’s probably best you source some good-quality chimichurri, an Argentinean salsa that goes great with grilled meats. However, in the absence of store-bought, I’ve provided my go-to chimichurri recipe which can be made and stored in a jar with a slick of olive oil in the fridge for a week or so.
Serves 4
Ingredients
- 450g piece striploin steak
- 2 large garlic cloves, finely minced
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
- 3 sprigs rosemary, leaves finely chopped
- 8 small spring onions, trimmed
- 4 little Gem lettuces, trimmed and cut in half lengthways
- 100g sun-blushed tomatoes
- 75g pecorino cheese
For the chimichurri sauce:
- ½ small onion, roughly chopped
- 4 garlic cloves, chopped
- 2 handfuls of fresh flat-leaf parsley
- 1 tsp of dried oregano
- 6 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil
- 3 tbsp of red wine vinegar
- A pinch of cayenne pepper and sea salt
Place the ingredients for the chimichurri sauce in a food processor and blitz until smooth. Set aside.
In a large bowl whisk together the olive oil, balsamic vinegar, garlic cloves, rosemary and season generously with sea salt and ground black pepper.
Heat a large griddle pan over a high heat.
Add the prepared baby gem and spring onions to the dressing and toss to coat. Shake off excess and place the vegetables on the hot griddle pan, leaving space in the centre of the pan for the steak. Using the back of a spatula press the vegetables against the grooves.
Add the steak to the remaining dressing and turn to coat completely. Place the steak in the centre of the hot griddle and cook for 6 minutes either side for medium rare depending on the thickness of the steak.
Turn the vegetables and as soon as they are tender remove from the pan, cover and keep warm.
When the steak is cooked allow to rest for 5 minutes covered before slicing into generous slices.
Arrange the warm steak slices with the vegetables, drizzle with chimmichurri, and garnish with sun-blushed tomatoes and pecorino.
