Can someone teach me a simple beautiful spaghetti dish?

[iknowthismuchis]

I love spaghetti but I'm an awful cook and I also hate cooking.

But I've been to several restaurants recently wanting a simple, fresh spaghetti dish. No meat or fish. Not soaked in sauce, not pesto. I've not found anything good (no good Italian restaurant near me)

Can anyone teach me something really fresh and simple please?

Another good one: skinned and deseeded plum tomatoes chopped up. Put in a pan with some mint, capers and extra virgin olive oil. Warm gently and toss through pasta.

Spaghetti aglio olio. It's actually my favourite spaghetti dish. I usually have it with king prawns but u can have without. So fresh and moreish

Olive oil, chilli (or flakes), basil, cherry tomatoes and feta? Add prawns if you like.

My favourite pasta sauce is to crumble/squeeze out sausage meat from a couple of sausages and fry with garlic and chilli in lots of olive oil and then perhaps some tender stem broccoli.
So delicious m.

Forgot to say sometimes add a splash of wine and then lots of Parmesan.

www.deliaonline.com/recipes/type-of-dish/spicy-recipes/spaghetti-with-olive-oil-garlic-and-chilli

Or at this time of year a change from tomato bases is primavera - so spaghetti with any lightly steamed green veg (all together in the steamer) - small broccoli pieces, peas, broad beans, asparagus, or any combination of those, steamed and tossed in butter and salt, added to the spaghetti and a liberal grating of hard cheese (pecorino if being vegetarian). It’s fresh and lovely. One of my faves.

roughly per person:
1 tomato, deseeded and diced
1/2 clove of garlic, finely chopped
a few halved capers or diced black olives
a generous tablespoon of good olive oil and of pasta water
Just stir it all into the freshly drained pasta. Finish with finely shredded basil, toasted breadcrumbs or finely chopped walnuts

@Mykittensmittens

www.deliaonline.com/recipes/type-of-dish/spicy-recipes/spaghetti-with-olive-oil-garlic-and-chilli

Or at this time of year a change from tomato bases is primavera - so spaghetti with any lightly steamed green veg (all together in the steamer) - small broccoli pieces, peas, broad beans, asparagus, or any combination of those, steamed and tossed in butter and salt, added to the spaghetti and a liberal grating of hard cheese (pecorino if being vegetarian). It’s fresh and lovely. One of my faves.

that delia recipe is one of the first things I ever cooked. It is simple but unbelievably tasty. Much more than you would think from so few ingredients!

My favourite is matchstick courgette fried in olive oil. Add in something else like garlic, finely chopped red chilli or, my favourite, cubed left-over black pudding. Stir into cooked pasta. It's one of my favourites when the family are away and I'm just cooking for myself. I leave the leftovers in the fridge and reheat the next day and it's even nicer.

Roasted veg works well with pasta too, I usually do courgette, carrots, red onion and brussels sprouts (halved) but anything that you like would work well like peppers or butternut squash. Coat well with olive oil, salt, pepper and any dried herbs that you like. Roast in oven until crispy. Stir into pasta.

Well i'm not that good but here goes,
Step 1: open Heinz tin of spaghetti (for variety you can use 'oops or the alphabetty stuff) and empty in saucepan.
Step 2: Break off a lump of frozen mince from Iceland's bulk bag and chuck in above pan.
Step 3: put stove on low heat to let the flavours meld together(and the mince to thaw)
Step 4:Open a bottle of Chianti Classic Reserva, carefully pour out a large glass.
Step 5: Sit down and relax, a good spaghetti meal takes time...
Step 6: Wake up and take another good slug of the wine.
(You may need to repeat Step 6 a few times.)
Step 7:Put pan of boiled-dry spaghetti / red tarmac in the sink to soak.
Step 8: Get an emergency family-size bag of crisps out and drain the wine.
Step 9: Bon Appetit!

Another pasta dish that it’s well worth learning how to make, is the three ingredients Roman classic, Cacio e pepe. Felicity Cloake, the food writer with The Guardian, does a master class on the technique in one of her articles, easy to find via Google.

I love this thread! I can see you've been inundated with suggestions OP but I'll bung another in the mix - Rachel Roddy. The way she writes about food makes me drool.

They're usually very simple to make, like this one: racheleats.wordpress.com/2009/06/01/a-kind-of-holiday-and-a-kind-of-carbonara/

Butter and black pepper

Alison Roman's shallot pasta is fantastic, so savoury and delicious.

Anyone yried nigellas marmite spaghetti

Wow thank you everyone! I really appreciate the replies

@bellac11

Good olive oil, preferably spanish or greek, and I mean very good

Put a little in a small sauce pan, warm very gently, just about warm

Finely chop garlic, chilli, spring onion, very fine

put in the warming oil, so you are sort of infusing the oil, but not too much oil, you want the mixture to be almost like a salsa consistency

Pour over the spaghetti when infused.

Dont cook or fry the mixture, just warm it through

That sounds amazing

Not exactly light, but I do baked feta with veg.

Chop any combo of aubergines, zucchini, peppers, broccoli, onions & mushrooms - best on a mandoline to get delicate little dice.

Plonk a block of feta in the centre of a non stick roasting tin with the veg round it. Tip in a punnet of cherry tomatoes. Add a good glug of olive oil & generous sprinkle of basil.

Stick in oven for approximately 30 minutes. Veg should be soft & slightly caramelised with feta browned on top & bubbling.

Cook pasta whilst this is going on.

Stir contents of roasting tin together; you'll end up with a delicious cheesy veggie mixture which you then dollop on the pasta.

Season generously with black pepper (feta is salty enough so don't add extra salt).

I like to roast cherry or baby plum tomatoes till nice and charred then stir in to cooked spaghetti with feta, torn basil, olive oil, pepper and a bit of the pasta cooking water. Feels kind of salady. If you CBA to roast the toms, sundried also works.

For creamy yet light, a courgette one pot: chop courgette, satuee with some onion. Put in spaghetti and top up with chicken or veg stock. Put in 4-5 triangle of laughing cow lights. Simmer till pasta is cooked topping up as required. Season with salt and pepper. Stir in parmesan if you want but its perfectly nice without. The starch, courgette and laughing could give a lovely creaminess without the heaviness or calories of cream. This one is also slimming world friendly with the cheese as healthy extras.

Two ingredients. Fry sage leaves (gently) in butter until the leaves are crispy and the butter is slightly brown. Add spaghetti. Salt. Gain a stone because it's so delicious.

@MrsTerryPratchett

Two ingredients. Fry sage leaves (gently) in butter until the leaves are crispy and the butter is slightly brown. Add spaghetti. Salt. Gain a stone because it's so delicious.

O M G

Cook pasta.
When cooked add in caper berries from a jar with a bit of the juice, sliced black olives from a jar. Salt and pepper. Olive oil. Sliced raw mushrooms. Lazy with lots of texture.

Spaghetti, garlic, cream, salt, parsley. I remember my French housemates making it like this.

Love this thread and have written lots of ideas down.

Ooh the jar stuff sounds interesting- i so hate cooking

I've done the first recipe twice now, I really am a terrible cook so it was not good first time but much better second time!

Am going to work my way though then all

I really like these two Nigella recipes:

www.nigella.com/recipes/sicilian-pasta-with-tomatoes-garlic-almonds

www.nigella.com/recipes/linguine-with-lemon-garlic-and-thyme-mushrooms

Both pretty quick, veggie and delicious.

Fry courgettes (cut into rings) in some oil, preferably a day ahead. On the day cook your spaghetti with plenty of salt, heat your courgettes up and stir them firmly so they release their juices and become soft and slightly mushy. Add a small knob of butter, salt and pepper and a dash of lemon juice. Mix in with the spaghetti and some parmesan. Beautiful. The recipe was featured on Stanley Tucci's Searching Italy on BBC iPlayer but is a very simple traditional dish of the area which I've had many times with family.

Even simpler just good quality pasta, good quality olive oil, freshly ground pepper and good quality parmesan or parmigiano. You honestly can't beat it.