One Pot Pastas | Basics with Babish

hey what's up guys this week we're making some easy one pot pasta easy enough for a weeknight but I did the food backwards this is getting out of hand it's good thing that this week's sponsor is bouncy paper towels we're here to bring you quick and easy recipes quicker picker-upper style these one pot pasta dishes are quick and easy way to get dinner on the table and with fancy you'll have the kitchen cleaned up quickly too let's get down to basics [Music] all right so first up we're making skillet lasagna I thought that'd be cooler but yes you heard me right skillet lasagna oh geez in this recipe inspired by America's Test Kitchen first thing we got to do is break our lasagna into manageable bite-sized pieces we're using 10 sheets of lasagna here because since this is a one pot pasta we're gonna be cooking it in the cooking liquid which in this case is pretty much a run-of-the-mill Italian red sauce we're starting by heating about a tablespoon of olive oil over medium-high heat until shimmering and adding a pound of D cased mild or spicy Italian sausage for which we're gonna follow standard browning and crumbling protocols just saute and mash up until every piece has some nice color and the center's are just slightly pink then we're gonna remove the sausage from the situation and allow to drain a few layers of fancy paper towels and then we're gonna make good use of all that fat and brown stuff in the bottom of the pot by sauteing half a large chopped onion for about three to five minutes until softened and the edges are beginning to turn translucent then we're gonna crush two cloves of garlic in there add an optional teaspoon of red pepper flake and toast those guys together for about 30 seconds until fragrance and then here comes the liquid in the form of a 28 ounce can of crushed san marzano tomatoes add the sausage crumbles back to the party along with a 1/2 cup of hot water bring to a simmer and add our 10 sheets of broken lasagna noodles just kind of fold those in there so every noodle gets coated and then we're gonna top that with an additional 8 ounce can of tomato sauce mix everybody together until it relatively well mixed bring back up to a simmer and cover reducing the heat to medium low and then we're gonna slowly gently cook this whole pasta mess together for about 20 minutes until the noodles are fully cooked stirring every 5 minutes or so to make sure that the noodles aren't sticking to the pan or to each other once the noodles are cooked to your preferred degree of doneness we're gonna execute some finishing moves on this quick but sloppy weeknight lasagna first day generous two to three ounces of freshly grated Parmesan cheese and to maximize stretch factor we're gonna add 8 ounces of full fat low-moisture cubed mozzarella give this a mix to make sure that everybody is distributed throughout the pasta did those pronunciations upset you they sure upset me once everybody's nice and spread out we're gonna hit this skillet lasagna with final cheese deathblow dotting its surface with mounds of ricotta removed from the heat plop the lid on top and let the residual heat of the pasta warm and awaken all the cheese lastly we're gonna garnish with some finely chopped or julienned basil now this lasagna is not going to make Italians happy or win you any new followers on Instagram what it is gonna do is get you an absolutely delicious lasagna on the table in less than 45 minutes no layering parboiling or fussing required so that ticks our red sauce cheesy indulgence box what if we want something a little lighter a little healthier that's still pasta well for that we're gonna start with this funny-looking thing the likes of which you've probably seen in your local grocery and thought to yourself I'll try making that one day well that day is finally here we're gonna start by chopping the stems off of our whole bulb of fresh fennel cut the bulb in half and then we need to remove its tough fibrous core we're going to do that by placing two triangular cuts at the base of the bulb removing the core and then slicing into thin slices be sure to slice it nice and thin because this guy's gonna cook primarily from braising and the last thing you're gonna want in your pasta is bits of tough fennel once that guy's all sliced up the next thing we need to prepare is an herb and spice paste we're gonna start by removing and finely chopping the leaves from two sprigs of rosemary placing those in a small bowl with two or three cloves of crushed garlic the zested zest of one lemon and a sprinkle of crushed red pepper flake top that with two tablespoons of olive oil and mixed combine into what might be the most delicious substance known to man set that aside while we talk protein in this case we're going with four bone-in skin-on chicken thighs first we're gonna rinse and pat them dry before seasoning hit him with kosher salt and freshly ground pepper and head on over to the stovetop we're in a cold stainless steel pan we are dumping about a tablespoon of vegetable oil nestling our thighs inside and making sure that they are thoroughly coated in the oil cranking the heat up to medium-high seasoning the other side of the chicken with kosher salt freshly ground pepper and letting these guys sit undisturbed for about three to six minutes starting the chicken in a cold pan is gonna let the fat more effectively render out of the skin and help them crisp up or whoo that guy went a little bit too far that will be the chef's thigh but you can see the rest have crisped beautifully and evenly let them cook for about one minute on the bottom side and then we're gonna drain off about half the fat in the pan using what remains like last time to saute our aromatics half a large chopped onion and our sliced fennel so I'll say these over medium heat for about three to four minutes until they're starting to soften and lightly Brown then we're gonna make a sort of well in the center into which we're going to deposit our herb and spice paste sauteing on the direct heat of the pan for about one minute before mixing into the surrounding vegetables this should fill your kitchen with smells hitherto unknown in terms of olfactory pleasure what anyway so I'd say these guys together for one to two minutes before deglazing the pan with one cup of dry white wine two cups of chicken stock and the juice of our previously zested lemon scrape up all that delicious fond off the bottom of the pot and bring this guy to a bare simmer at which point we're gonna return our chicken thighs to the party skin side up making sure that the skin is not submerged below the liquid then we are sending this pan into a preheated 350 degree fahrenheit oven for anywhere from 35 to 45 minutes yes I know I'm grimacing an awful lot I'm kind of an oven heat drama queen let those chicken thighs braise until the liquid has reduced by about a third and the thighs are cooked through and tender with still crisp skin now set those thighs aside and return our braising liquid to medium high heat to which once simmering we're going to add 8 ounces of whole wheat pasta lower the heat once it returns to a simmer keep mixing every few minutes or so and cook until the pasta is done this is gonna accomplish a couple things that's going to absorb most of the braising liquid and what remains is going to be thick and creamy from all the starches released from the pasta but to make things even creamier we're gonna add two or three ounces of grated Romano cheese which is obviously gonna add a lot of flavor but also a little more body to our sauce we're also gonna add a handful of chopped basil which is gonna play real nice with all the sharp and funky flavors we got going on here return our chicken thighs to the pot to heat through if they've cooled off at all and garnished with a little bit of parsley and there you have it a relatively quick relatively healthy but extraordinarily tasty weeknight pasta if you're trying to keep it light but are craving some carbs this is the way to go and we'll go down in the books as my favorite way to pretend that I'm being healthy but it's more for flavor than function the sort of nuttiness of whole wheat pasta serves as an excellent backdrop for the tang of the sauce and the richness of the chicken thighs but it's got no cream or tons of cheese so it's kind of healthy you can see that I'm in conflict here how about lose the ambiguity and head back to indulgence with some beef stroganoff most recipes call for lean cuts like sirloin that are cooked directly in the sauce but this results in pretty dry chewy beef instead I like to just make stroganoff pasta and top it with straight-up steak you can use whatever steak you like I'm going with skirt steak which I'm going to generously salt and pepper setting it aside to rest at room temperature for a few minutes while I prep my mushrooms 8 ounces of cremini mushrooms that I've rinsed and I'm now going to pat dry using some Bounty paper towels a lot of folks say not to wash your mushrooms because you'll waterlogged them but here's two facts first mushrooms are dirty second mushrooms are already full of water that needs to be released throughout the cooking process so just be sure to wash them whole so they don't absorb as much moisture and dry them quickly before chopping into bite-sized pieces next over on the stovetop in some smokin hot vegetable oil we are searing our steak the methods obviously going to vary depending on what kind of steak you'd shoes but for this skirt steak I'm searing about two minutes per side and rarer than where I wanted to end up because now it's going to hang out under aluminum foil for a while while we finished making our stroganoff then we're gonna reheat the beef in the pasta which is gonna help finish it cooking into our beautifully messy pot goes a tablespoon or two of butter which once melted and foamy is gonna be the thing into which we dump our mushrooms that sense fell apart and we're gonna season our mushrooms right at the beginning of cooking with a little bit of salt this is gonna help draw out all that moisture we were talking about which has to be released from the mushrooms and fully evaporated before we can get any browning once we start seeing some nice crispy brown stuff on the outside of the mushrooms we're gonna lower the heat a little bit and once again add half a large chopped onion so let's say these together for two to three minutes until the onions are softened and the mushrooms are nicely browned and then we're gonna add 2 tablespoons of paprika along with maybe a he being tablespoon of freshly picked thyme leaves saute these together over a medium heat for about 30 seconds until the paprika is toasted and the thyme leaves are nice and fragrant then we are deglazing the pan with 1 cup of dry white wine and 2 cups of chicken stock bring this guy up to a rolling simmer and then it's the same deal as before we're gonna cook our pasta in the liquid eight ounces of the small shaped pasta of your choosing this is both gonna make the pasta super flavorful and help thicken the sauce but we're not quite done yet once the simmering liquid comes back to a simmer we're going to optionally grab a half a cup of it and slowly stream it into a cup of sour cream this is gonna temper the sour cream and help prevent it from breaking when we add it to the sauce you can skip this step but if you do just make sure you add the sour cream to the sauce off the heat back over on the stovetop our pasta is both absorbing and thickening the surrounding liquid and by the time it's done about 90 percent of it should be absorbed now we're gonna finish the sauce with a few dashes of Worcestershire sauce as well as our tempered sour cream mixture mix all that together over very very low heat until the sauce is nice and creamy and everything is evenly incorporated finished with a little chopped parsley and season with kosher salt and freshly ground pepper to taste and then it's time to reintroduce our steak to the party unwrap and slice as desired if you made skirt steak that means cutting it with the grain into two to three inch segments and then slicing across the grain into thin tender flavorful pieces which we're gonna plop on top of our piping hot pasta cover and let rest for about five to ten minutes until the beef is heated through and then you're ready to serve ouch as usual the more ingenious parts of this recipe come from Jake Angie Lopez all's but it has been adapted to be a single pot recipe and this while being a relatively easy weeknight dish is not the beef stroganoff out of the box it's full of tender perfectly cooked beef a creamy complex sauce coming together to make something easy enough to make after work but elegant enough to woo even the coldest of hearts and it's all thanks to the quicker picker-upper for sponsoring another episode of quick and easy recipes i'm proud to partner with bounty who together with feeding America is helping to provide 10 million meals to people in need head to the link in the description for more info [Music] [Music]

Channel: Babish Culinary Universe

Views: 5,829,154

Rating: 4.9502659 out of 5

Keywords:

Id: cs8OYby6RrA

Length: 11min 18sec (678 seconds)

Published: Thu Jun 25 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/firefly212]

I feel like even when you're lazy and using premise pasta and sauce, fesh mozzarella and badil makes everything better.

[u/thebassman101]

I just made the fennel pasta tonight, and it was a treat! Super simple and easy to clean up after