One pan caprese pasta

Serves:

4-6 serves

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 medium brown onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 5 cups (1.25L) boiling water
• 250g dried pasta 
• 1 tbsp chicken stock powder
• 1 cup fresh basil leaves, shredded, plus a few leaves to garnish
• 1 punnet grape tomatoes
• 1 cup (200g) mozzarella cheese, cubed
• salt and pepper
• 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

Method

Step 1. Gather all ingredients and boil the kettle.

Step 2. In a frying pan, over medium heat, add the olive oil and saute the onion until translucent. Add the garlic to the pan and cook for 1 minute, until fragrant.

Step 3. Pour the boiling water into the pan and return to the boil. Add the pasta and sprinkle over stock powder. Return to the boil and cover. Once boiling, reduce heat and simmer for 7 minutes. Remove lid and cook for a further 7 minutes, until the liquid is reduced.

Step 4. Add the basil, tomatoes and cheese to the pan. Stir through and cover. Cook over medium heat for 2-3 minutes until the cheese has melted. Remove from heat and season well, scatter remaining basil leaves over the top and drizzle balsamic vinegar over. Serve.

Serving Suggestions

Note

• Placing the lid on and taking it off in these recipe instructions is really important so you have the right amount of liquid in the pan by the end of the recipe.
• We used grape tomatoes because they are sweet but you could also use cherry tomatoes or even chopped tomatoes.
• We used rigatoni, but you can choose any pasta you prefer.
• The mozzarella cubes may be replaced with shredded mozzarella.
• Don't forget to add that balsamic vinegar at the end of the recipe. It gives the flavours a nice balance.
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• This recipe was created by Jennifer Cheung for Kidspot, New Zealand's best recipe finder.