A nice selection of kitchen utensils and supplies is not always common among college students. When trying out recipes, the fewer dishes required, the better.

Spaghetti is wonderful because it is a one-pot wonder. It can be made with as little as a single pot, making cleanup easy. For this recipe, it would be convenient to have an extra saucepan or pot for sauce, but it is not necessary. 

Ingredients:

Pasta — We all call it spaghetti, but basically any pasta tastes fine topped with a marinara sauce. White spaghetti noodles are traditional, but also consider whole grain, spinach, tomato, wheat and gluten-free varieties. Linguini, vermicelli and angel hair each have a different thickness. These offer essentially the same taste with different textures.

Sauce — While it is possible to make a sauce from scratch, doing so requires more time and ingredients than using a store-bought jar of sauce for a base. Jarred sauces can easily be improved by adding one, two or a few of the following ingredients: olives, onions, bell pepper, capers, basil, mushrooms, meat, celery, carrots or garlic. 

This recipe demonstrates making spaghetti with onions, bell pepper and olives. Grocery stores often carry relatively cheap frozen bags of bell pepper and onions and can be kept in the freezer until ready to use.

Direction

1. Bring a pot of water to a boil. Follow the directions on the pasta box to determine how much pasta and water to use. Once the water is boiling, add pasta. Cook until desired tenderness is reached. (This varies depending on the shape and flavor of pasta, but anywhere from 8-11 minutes is common.)

Note: If you only have one pot, perform step three first, then return to step two.

2. In a separate saucepan, sauté the peppers and onions over med-hi heat until onions are translucent. Add sauce to the pan, and reduce heat to low. Continue heating for 10 minutes to allow flavors to combine. Optional: Add chopped olives to the sauce, if desired.

3. After the pasta is tender, drain. If you don’t have a strainer, carefully use a fork or bowl to hold the pasta back as you drain water into the sink. If you need to use the same pot for sauce, place spaghetti in a bowl or separate container.

4. After sauce has had time to heat up, pour over pasta and serve.