Infusion Pasta

Earlier this year I had an epiphany about pasta based on two New York Times articles. The more recent one was about how we could use less water while cooking pasta (thus helping out the ol' environment). The second (via The Paupered Chef) was a recipe for risotto style pasta. Now, risotto is one of those things that can seem intimidating, thus "risotto style pasta" might seem like more effort than its worth. My epiphany, though, was to combine the two ideas in these two articles. What about pasta cooked in a small amount of stock (there's no need to ladle it in a bit at a time a la risotto)? It won't be a good idea for all kinds of pasta dishes – but its definitely more than appropriate for some. I mean it seems crazy to have the pasta release their starches into the water, then dump out that water and add another ingrident to make it creamy. Why cut out the middle man? This absorption-style pasta can be as simple or as complicated as you want it. Stiring in some tomato sauce at the end always works, here I added a mushroom and onion mix.

Mushroom Absorption-Style Pasta

Pasta

1 cup Macaroni

1.75 cups stock

2 cloves garlic, minced
Topping

Oil and butter

1 onion, diced

100gm mushrooms, chopped

Spices (oregano, chili flakes, cumin)

1 teaspoon soy sauce
Sautée the garlic and pasta in a little oil on high and then add the stock. Keep cooking for your standard pasta cooking time. Meanwhile, sautée the onions in a little oil for a couple of minutes. Add the mushrooms with a little butter. Add the soy sauce and the spices, continue to cook until the pasta is ready. Dump the onion and mushroom mixture into the pasta pot, stir and serve.

Serves 1 hungry person, or not as the main dish for 2.

I wasn't blown away by this particular version, but the absorption pasta technique is great at making really creamy pasta. The 1.75:1 stock:pasta ratio seems pretty scaleable.