Make the Best Pantry Pasta With Stock
Stock cubes and pastes are an easy way to add a whole bunch of flavor with a single ingredient, but they’re usually for soups, stews, and gravies. There is no need to limit them so. They have something to give.
David Chang uses chicken broth as a not-so-secret ingredient in his red sauce, and Better Than Bouillon recommends adding their product directly to pasta water . Broth is great in these complementary roles, but if you have a flavor that you really appreciate – I currently absolutely love the BTB mushroom – there’s no reason it can’t be the star of your pantry pasta. All you need is broth and butter.
You can use any broth you want, but I’m partial to the Better Than Bouillon line of products. No one else has their own assortment , and a teaspoon contains the same amount of flavor as a regular bouillon cube. A generous spoonful, along with six tablespoons of oil, is enough to flavor a whole pound of pasta. These are the simple buttered noodles you know and love, but with a lot of flavor.
Some BTB flavors work better than others. I love mushrooms, lobsters, and fried garlic here, and I bet shellfish will do; the ham or chili may be slightly off-flavor. (Not that bad – I would eat ham noodles, especially fried egg. Okay, never mind, I totally talked myself into trying the ham noodles.) If you want to use a different form of broth, start with two teaspoons in butter, stir , try it and add more as needed. Once you get your taste buds add whatever you would normally use to complete your pasta pantry. I added chopped fried chicken, capers and breadcrumbs to my mushroom noodles and it was pretty perfect. To make your own buffet pasta, you will need:
- 1 pound dried pasta
- 6 tablespoons butter
- 1 1/2 tablespoons Better Than Bouillon (any flavor)
- Anything you need to use up in the refrigerator or pantry.
Prepare the pasta according to the directions on the package, but leave 1 cup of pasta water for draining before draining. Drain off remaining water while reducing heat to medium, add butter and BTB to pot of hot paste and stir until butter melts and paste is completely mixed with butter. Return the noodles to the saucepan and stir with tongs to coat, top with water if necessary to create a silky sauce. Mix any other add-ons you want and enjoy.