One-pot squash and fennel pasta

Name: One-pot squash and fennel pasta
Total time: 35 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients: 2 summer squash, diced; 1 fennel bulb, thinly sliced; 2 ½ cups vegetable stock (plus more as needed); 8 oz orecchiette; 5 sprigs basil; 1 tsp dried oregano; ¼ tsp red pepper flakes; 1 lemon; 4 cloves garlic; ½ cup Parmesan, finely grated; ¼ cup Pecorino Romano, finely grated; salt, pepper

The pasta cooks in the stock rather than in water, so the starch stays in the pot and turns into the sauce.

At a Glance

Time

35 min

Adjust servings

Story

A one-pot pasta is not a shortcut. It makes another sauce entirely. Boiling pasta in a big pot of water throws away every bit of starch it releases; cooking it in just enough stock keeps all of that in the pan, where it thickens into something creamy without any cream. The cost is that you have to watch it, and add a splash more liquid if the pot goes dry before the pasta is done.

Ingredients

2 summer squashdiced
1 fennel bulbthinly sliced
2 ½ cups vegetable stockplus more as needed
8 oz orecchiette
5 sprigs basil
1 tsp dried oregano
¼ tsp red pepper flakes
1 lemon
4 cloves garlic
½ cup Parmesanfinely grated
¼ cup Pecorino Romanofinely grated
saltpepper

Method

From Caroline Chambers, whose garden produced more summer squash than any household could reasonably absorb. It is a lot of hidden vegetable inside something that tastes and looks like a bowl of very good macaroni cheese.

Put the whole basil sprigs in and fish them out later. The leaves go into the finished dish, sliced.

Dice the squash. Cut the fennel bulb into thin slices.
In a large pot, combine the squash, fennel, stock, pasta, 2 of the basil sprigs, 1 teaspoon of salt, the oregano and the pepper flakes. Grate the zest of half the lemon in and set the zested half aside. Grate the garlic straight in.
Bring it to the boil over high heat, then down to medium-high. Cook, stirred frequently, until the pasta is tender, a few minutes past the time on the box. If the liquid goes before the pasta does, add another ¼ cup of stock and keep going.
While that happens, thinly slice the leaves off the remaining basil.
Fish out and discard the boiled sprigs. Squeeze in the juice of the zested half lemon, then stir in both cheeses and the sliced basil until it goes thick and glossy, 2 to 3 minutes. Loosen with a splash of stock if it seizes up.
Season hard, for salt and for pepper, then divide it up.