I love a recipe that requires as few pots and utensils as possible. A one pot creamy pasta dish is perfect for me. Have I mention before my aversion of doing the dishes? Why use more than you need? Especially, if you can make a healthy, balanced meal without filling the sink with lots of dishes.
Step by step this is such an easy dish to assemble. A few ingredients to cut and then slowly add them to the pot, making the dish a little bit fuller each time.
A pasta dish always scores high on my dinner list. I probably eat more pasta than any other carbs, because there are so many variations you can make with pasta.
The creaminess of this dish is what really makes it so special. A creamy sauce with tagliatelle pasta and vegetables is perfect in this one pot dish. There is something about a creamy pasta dish that makes it feel more luxurious than it really is. And it is not even made with real cream, it is enough with the milk and cream cheese to make the creaminess. With the addition of Parmesan cheese, perfection is achieved.
No waste cooking
I buy sun-dried tomatoes in oil, and it is perfect to use that oil to add to your pan for extra flavour. Using everything is important for me, which is also why I sometimes add in other vegetables into this dish, if I need to use it up before it goes bad. Larger more dense vegetables goes in first and more delicate or leafy vegetables goes in last.
Substitute
If you don’t have sun-dried tomatoes, you can substitute them for fresh tomatoes, but then use less broth as fresh tomatoes are more watery than sun-dried tomatoes. It also works with chopped tomatoes from a can, but again, use less broth. The taste will not be quite the same, but it is still good.
Freezable
This recipe is unfortunately not freezable, which brings it down on my list of recipes to make, but the taste is so good and it is so easy to make and only using one pot, that I decided to keep it in my rotation. However, the dish does last a few days in the fridge, and you can always eat it for lunch for the next few days.
One pot creamy sun-dried tomato and spinach pasta
Ingredients
- 100 grams sun-dried tomatoes in oil about 16
- 2 garlic cloves
- 500 ml water
- 1 vegetable stock cube
- 200 grams tagliatelle
- 1 tsp oregano
- 1 tsp salt
- ¼ tsp pepper
- 200 grams spinach
- 50 grams Parmesan cheese
- 200 grams creme cheese
- 350 ml milk/cream
Instructions
- Peel and mince the garlic. Quickly fry in a saute pan using some of the oil from the sun-dried tomatoes.
- Slice the sun-dried tomatoes in thin slices.
- Add the sun-dried tomatoes with the water and vegetable stock to the pan.
- Add in the tagliatelle nests. Don’t worry if the water is not covering the nests, as you can spread them out more when when the cook.
- Add in oregano, salt and pepper.
- Bring to boil and then lower heat, cook for five minutes under lid, stir occasionally.
- Test the tagliatelle with a fork, should be quite firm still.
- Add in cream cheese and let it melt, then stir in the milk.
- Let cook together for another two minutes before adding in the spinach.
- Once the spinach has wilted, add in the Parmesan cheese and let it melt.
- Test the tagliatelle once again to make sure it is al dente.
- Add more spices if needed.
- Serve with a chunk of bread and more Parmesan on top.
Other pasta dishes to try
In the mood for something more simple? Try my Classic Mac n’ Cheese or my Super Creamy Mac n’ Cheese. Or this quick and easy Vegetable pasta with cottage cheese. If asparagus is in season where you live try this Lemon pasta with asparagus.