Who agrees that making pasta is just about the easiest thing ever? It can be the quickest and most satisfying meal as long as you don’t labor over a slow cooking sauce. That makes it perfect for preparing on vacation…. except when your airbnb rental doesn’t have a proper pot for boiling pasta water!
Listen up, hosts of short-term rentals. A big stock pot is one of the most necessary items to provide in a kitchen where guests are expected to prepare their own meals. Upon arrival to any new destination where I’ll be spending more than a night or two, I am bound to pick up a few basic essentials. For me that includes grapeseed oil, garlic, pasta, eggs and a fresh vegetable or two. My most recent Airbnb experience required some ingenuity as there was very little in the way of kitchen equipment. So, lacking a big pot, I learned to make skillet pasta. You know I’m always up for a challenge to try doing something in a new way!
How I Made Skillet Pasta With Rapini
First, I boiled water in the small saucepan that I had. Breaking the dry spaghetti in half so that it would fit in a skillet, I placed it in the bottom of an empty one. In the other skillet, I blanched some cut rapini or broccoli rabe. After draining, I sauteed it in grapeseed oil with chopped garlic. Once the water in the saucepan boiled, I poured it into the skillet with the spaghetti and turned the burner on to simmer. This took longer than boiling in a big pot, but it worked out just fine.
Not knowing how this process would work exactly, I kept some water boiling on the back burner while I simmered the pasta so that I could add more water as needed. My idea was to have very little water remaining by the time the pasta was al dente and then to toss it with the rapini. Then I realized I needed a protein, so I whisked a couple of eggs together…using a fork, of course. You didn’t think a kitchen without a stockpot had a whisk, did you?! LOL.
Once the pasta was done, I spooned some of the hot water into the raw egg mixture while whisking. I wanted to temper the eggs so that they would gently cook without becoming scrambled. Tossing the tempered eggs with the cooked pasta and rapini finished their cooking process and yielded a richness to this simple meal of skillet pasta with rapini. Yum. My husband said, “Wouldn’t it be nice if we had some crusty garlic bread?” LOL. I reminded him it was like camping in this bad Airbnb that didn’t even have a coffee maker and I had done quite enough, thank you. Bless his heart. He got the message. He picked up some delicious Korean take-out the next night.
Is the idea of cooking eggs this way with pasta new to you? Try My Awesome Carbonara next.
Hi Karyn, I liked your ingenuity…. something to try even at home. Sat hi to Mike for me.
Thanks, Gerry!