I remember the exact moment I discovered one-pot pasta, as part of a genius smart cooking story in Martha Stewart Living that promised perfect pasta with a sauce all in one. I sat with that image for years-a dangling carrot of ease on a long list of recipes a cookbook writer never gets around to trying her own. Meanwhile, a hundred such recipes were published, so this is affirmation, rather than a novel discovery: One-pot pasta is real, and it's a wonder. I finally made one when friends came for afternoon grazing and stayed, unexpectedly, for dinner. While we chatted over cheese and olives, I dashed about the kitchen throwing noodles, a sliced onion, zucchini, and a glug of olive oil into a pot. Twenty minutes and a few stirs later (that's the catch: stir, or the pasta will stick), we had a gorgeous meal.
Photo Credit: Gentl + Hyers
