How’s it going these days? Are you sick of cooking all the time? Or constantly wondering”What should I make for dinner?”. Today’s recipe, inspired by Isabelle over at Crumb and the contents of my fridge and pantry should be able to help you out a bit both in terms of less prep and washing up but also giving you a little inspiration to use what you have on hand creatively.
I love a good one-pan meal and, to be honest, it’s how I cook most of my pasta dishes these days. And most of the time, I have a few pantry and fridge staples on hand that will work together to make a complete meal in a pan with hardly any cleanup. These days, juggling online teaching, less prep time and less cleanup are my friends in the kitchen!
This dish was born of leftovers – leftover squash from my Soupe Joumou – and the contents of my pantry (always have canned, diced tomatoes on hand and had recently stocked up on canned beans), so when I saw Isabelle’s Sausage and Bean Pasta Bake on her blog recently, I bookmarked it for inspiration. I changed things up a bit but Isabelle’s recipe is a great base place to start!
Low prep?
Minimal cleanup?
Pantry and fridge staples?
Enough for leftovers?
Checks all the boxes, right?
Plus, there’s a little bit of chopping which I happen to find therapeutic…
Onions and garlic…
Ok so I don’t mince my garlic by hand – love my Oxo Garlic Press!
Add a little bit of thyme…
Then your chopped butternut squash…
Then your meatballs (sssh – I’m cheating by using sausage meat, out of its casing then rolled into small meatballs!)
Then a can of diced tomatoes and their juices…
Add some stock and pasta…
Once the pasta is nearly cooked, add some beans (I used romano here but any will do)
And some chopped cherry tomatoes…
Then a couple of handfuls of spinach that you might have hanging around your fridge…
Finally, some cheese on top before the whole pan goes under the broiler…
While you clean the kitchen, this magic is happening!
SO GOOD, right?
And to show you just how easy it is, I pulled out my tripod and filmed myself making this (actually working on some projects for work and was inspired!)
Want the recipe? Here you go but feel free to improvise with what you have on hand!
One pan pasta with vegetables and meatballs
Easy one-pot pasta with meatballs, squash, tomatoes and beans. Meal in a dish (with hardly any cleanup!)
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon light olive oil
- 1 medium onion (approx. 150g), finely diced
- 3 garlic cloves, crushed or minced
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 250g butternut squash (approx 2 cups), chopped into 2cm cubes
- 3 spicy sausages (approx 400 g), skin removed and divided into 10pieces each, rolled to form rough meatballs
- 500ml (2 cups) chicken stock
- 1 can (796ml) diced tomatoes
- 250g small pasta (farfalle, penne or rotini)
- 1 cup cherry tomato halves
- 1 can (540ml) romano beans, rinsed and drained
- sea salt
- freshly ground black pepper
- 2-3 large handfuls of baby spinach
- 100g grated cheese (I used mozzarella)
To serve:
- Freshly chopped parsley
Instructions
- Preheat the broiler to 400˚F.
- Heat the oil in a large, deep oven-safe pan over medium-high heat and sauté the garlic, onion and thyme until the onions are translucent and smelling fragrant.
- Add the butternut squash cubes and cook approximately 3 minutes.
- Add the meatballs and cook until they are browned all over (they will not be completely cooked at this point), stirring from time to time to make sure they don’t stick.
- Add a splash of chicken stock and scrape the bottom of the pan clean.
- Add the tomatoes and their juices to the pan along with the rest of the stock.
- Bring to a boil then add the pasta, stirring to combine well. Make sure the pasta is covered in liquid (depending on the size of your pan, you might need a touch more stock).
- Place the lid on the pan cook 4 minutes less than the package directions for the pasta.
- Remove the lid, add the cherry tomatoes and beans, stirring to combine well.
- Add the spinach on top of the pan, cover and cook a further 4 minutes.
- Sprinkle the cheese on top and place the pan under the broiler for approximately 7 minutes until the cheese is browned and the sauce bubbling.
- Sprinkle with some freshly chopped parsley to serve.
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What about you – what do you like to cook with pantry and fridge staples?
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Delicious, seems healthier with all those veggies, and hardly seems a “:what you have in your pantry” sort of dish. Nice and hearty, too.
Paired this with a Dolcetto from the Piedmont region in Northern Italy.
We’re heading into winter down under… looks like a nice, hearty winter’s dish.
We have been making this dish multiple times every fall & winter since it was posted in our local magazine. We add some things and usually don’t do the beans. My now 7 year old picked it out in 2020 and he eats it up every time. This time we added shrimp on his request!
Thanks for sharing! What is your “local magazine” out of interest?