I’ve got a little secret to share, but you have to promise you won’t tell my husband. See, for years I’ve been lecturing him about cooking a single serving of pasta in a tiny little 1-quart pot. The water inevitably boils over the side, leaving a scorched stove to be cleaned. I’ve tried explaining that pasta is meant to be cooked in a very large pot of heavily salted boiling water, but he insists on his “technique”. I figured it was hopeless, and then I read an article about cooking pasta together with a sauce all in a single pot. Well call me intrigued.It turns out that little 1-quart pot he uses works perfectly for this technique, but that’s because there is very little liquid added to the pot. After messing around a bit I settled on a ratio of 1/2 cup of stock and 1 tablespoon of heavy cream for a 2-ounce serving size of pasta. You simply dump everything in the pot together, bring to a boil, quickly reduce to simmer, and cook until the pasta is al dente (use the package directions as a guideline).The secret is that this ratio is just enough stock to be completely absorbed by the pasta, leaving the small amount of cream to create a creamy sauce with the small amount of liquid and cooked pasta left in the pot. Serve it with just a simple sprinkling of Parmigiano Reggiano cheese and some parsley for a simple side dish, or top with some cooked chicken, roasted vegetables, or crumbled bacon. I must say, I do like having just this single tiny pot to clean up afterwards. But please don’t tell my husband, ok?

The day this blog post publishes I will be arriving in Rome to lead a group of eight on a food and wine adventure of a lifetime! Stay tuned for blog posts from Rome and Puglia over the next couple of weeks, and won’t you consider joining me next year? All the details can be found here.