Recipe: One-pot pasta

Here’s a delicious and easy dish that’ll save you time, effort and water at camp.

INGREDIENTS
Serves 4 to 6
350g of pasta (linguine or fettuccine) – broken in half.
A handful of basil leaves (more or less to taste) – roughly chopped.
1 cup of roasted red capsicums (for camping, carry and use jar variety) – drained and roughly chopped.
½ to 1 cup of oil-packed semi-sun-dried tomatoes (keep oil) – drained and roughly chopped (the pieces should be bite-sized).
3 to 4 large garlic cloves – crushed (or use 4tsp of jar/tube variety).
5 cups of water (you may need a little more).
2 tbs of oil from the sun-dried tomatoes (or use regular olive oil).
1 tsp of dried chilli flakes (more or less to taste).
Salt and pepper to taste.
125g Brie cheese – rind removed and cut into small pieces.
Grated or shaved Parmesan – for serving.

COOKING IT
• Preparation time: 10 mins.
• Cooking time: 10 mins.
• Combine pasta, basil, roasted capsicums, sun-dried tomatoes and garlic in a large deep-sided pan (or you could use your camp oven).|
• Add the water, olive oil, chilli flakes and seasoning. Using tongs, mix to combine. Note: the pasta should be covered by about 2.5cm of water.
• Bring to a boil over high heat and keep the pasta boiling steadily (uncovered). Cook for about 10 minutes, until ready to eat (al dente). During cooking, using tongs, stir and turn the pasta a few times to help prevent it sticking.
• When cooked, remove from heat.
• If there is still a little bit of liquid remaining, pour it into a separate bowl.
• Add the Brie and toss with tongs until creamy and melted through.
• Check the seasoning and add more if necessary.
• As the pasta stands, the sauce will thicken up. At this point, if you feel it needs more liquid, add some of the pasta liquid you reserved.
• Serve with some Parmesan and fresh bread.

VIV'S HINT:
You could easily reduce the quantity of ingredients to make this a dish for just two, but keep in mind the pasta should be covered by about 2.5cm of water when cooking. The amount of ingredients is up to you; for two people, reduce the ingredients by half.

You could also use more (or, of course, less) Brie cheese, but I found 125g was plenty to give the pasta a creamy texture. Alternately, you could use cream or cream cheese. You could also add a spicy Italian sausage – thinly sliced (or similar) – chorizo or left-over ham or bacon. I’d sauté this in a little oil first before adding them to the pasta. If you like olives, add them, too.