One Pot Wonder

Throw it all in the pot, INCLUDING the uncooked pasta, and cook! The starch leaches out of the pasta and makes a rich, warm sauce for the noodles. The other ingredients cook right along with the pasta.

Ingredients

12 ounces of pasta
1 – 15 ounce can of diced tomatoes with liquid
1 large sweet onion (julienne)
4 cloves of garlic (thinly sliced)
1/2 teaspoon of red pepper flakes
2 teaspoons of dried oregano leaves
2 large sprigs of basil (chopped)
4 1/2 cups of chicken broth (regular broth and NOT low sodium)
2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
Some parmesan cheese for garnish

Directions

Put everything in the pot and bring to a boil, cover and reduce to a simmer. Cook for about 10 minutes, stirring every 2 minutes or so. Reduce to a low simmer, keep covered, and cook until almost all liquid has evaporated. I left about an inch of liquid in the bottom of the pot, but you can reduce as desired. Stir the pasta several times to distribute the liquid in the bottom of the pot. Salt and pepper to taste and serve with parmesan cheese sprinkled on top.

English Muffin Toasting Bread

Ingredients

3 cups of flour
1 tablespoon of sugar
1½ teaspoons of salt
¼ teaspoon of baking soda
1 tablespoon of yeast
1 cup of milk
¼ cup of water
2 tablespoons of vegetable oil or olive oil
Cornmeal (to sprinkle in pan)

1. Lightly grease/spray a 8 ½” X 4 ½” loaf pan, sprinkle the bottoms and sides with cornmeal.

2. Whisk together the flour, sugar, salt, baking soda and yeast in a large mixing bowl.

3. In a separate microwave-safe bowl or glass measuring cup, combine the milk, water and oil, and heat to between 120℉ and 130℉. The liquid will feel very hot (hotter than lukewarm), but not so hot that is would scald you. (as a reference point, the hottest water from your kitchen tap is probably around 120℉, unless you tap water is so hot that it burns you).

4. Pour the hot liquid over the dry ingredients in the mixing bowl.

5. Beat at high speed for 1 minute. The dough will be very soft.

6. Scoop the soft dough into the pan, leveling it in the pan as much as possible.

7. Cover the pan (I use a piece of plastic wrap that I have sprayed the cooking spray to keep it from sticking), and let the dough rise until it’s just barely crowned over the rim of the pan. When you look at the rim of the pan from eye level, you should see the dough, but shouldn’t be more then, say, ¼” over the rim. This will take about 45 minutes to 1 hour, if you heated the liquid to the correct temperature and your kitchen isn’t very cold (I have had it rise in 20 minutes and it still works). While the dough is rising, preheat the oven to 400℉.

8. Remove the cover and bake the bread for 22 minutes.

9. Remove the bread for the oven and after 5 minutes turn it out of the pan onto a rack to cool. I brush mine with a little melted butter at this point to give them that nice shine. Let the bread cool completely before slicing.