Meatless Monday: One-Pot Spaghetti

Welcome to my annual recipe crush. Each February I choose a theme, and provide one or two recipes each day for the whole month. This year the theme is Weekly Menu Planning. What are the categories, you ask? We have Sunday Special, Meatless Monday, Taco Tuesday, Worldly Wednesday, Thrifty Thursday, Fishy Friday, and Celebrate Saturday.

Today’s recipe doesn’t have the flavors of marinara sauce cooked for hours, but the fact that you can put it together and sit down to eat in minutes has a lot to recommend it. It’s very tasty, just not Grandma’s “gravy”.

This is by far the quickest and easiest of any of my pasta dishes. When things are too busy to think, I can put this one together and sit for a few minutes to gather myself. With a prep time of five minutes and about 15 minutes on the stove, this is a fast dinner.

There are versions of this all over the Internet, so you may already be familiar with it, but here’s how I cook it. I enjoy a dish of this for lunch later in the week. I could eat pasta anytime! And, this recipe is a good one to use up a lot of that basil in my herb garden.

One-Pot Spaghetti (serves 6-8)

1 pound spaghetti (or penne or other pasta)

1 large onion, rough diced

2 cans diced tomatoes with herbs

3 cups basil leaves

5 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced

salt and pepper to taste

4½ cups water

1 cup shredded Asiago cheese (you can use Parmesan) + more for the table

In a large stockpot or Dutch oven, combine all ingredients except cheese.

Bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, for about 10 minutes until pasta is al dente. Stir occasionally to push down spaghetti and distribute ingredients.

Stir in cheese and let sit for a few minutes. The sauce will thicken up as it sits, so serve when it is the right consistency for you. Serve as is or with extra cheese

NOTE: If it’s not Meatless Monday, say it’s Italian-inspired Worldly Wednesday, I cut up a kielbasa into bite-sized chunks and throw it in the pot with the other ingredients.

DH’s Rating: 4 Tongues Up

“I like your regular spaghetti sauce better. This is good, but I like the other one. Is that okay to say?” Yes, it is. When I have time, I do make a realllly good marinara sauce!