Reach For One Ingredient For Pasta Dishes Packed With Flavor - Tasting Table

"Few low-prep dishes satisfy and delight on busy weeknights like one-pot pastas, and one of the best ingredients to take your pasta dishes to the next level is vegetable broth. Boiling dry pasta directly in vegetable broth instead of water imparts bolder flavor as the pasta soaks it up. Plus, you'll end up with a pot full of starchy cooking liquid from the boiled pasta, which can provide a solid base for building a pan sauce."

"As a general rule, for constructing sauces from one-pot pastas like this, the golden ratio is roughly 4 ½ cups (or a 32-ounce store-bought carton) of vegetable broth per 12 ounces of dry pasta. If you're going the store-bought route, just be sure to taste-test the pasta (or sauce) as you season, as premade broths tend to be saltier than homemade."

"Try combining veggie broth, white wine, heavy cream, black garlic, and tarragon for a luscious pan sauce. Or, for a satisfying vegan sauce, build that vegetable broth with a base of sauteed shallots and garlic, plus a kick of lemon juice, nutritional yeast, and any fresh herbs of your choice. Alternatively, if you prefer to cook your pasta the traditional way, then vegetable broth also works wonders as an ingredient in homemade tomato sauces, counterbalancing the natural sweetness of the tomatoes while taming their acidity."

Boiling dry pasta in vegetable broth instead of water infuses the pasta with bolder flavor and produces starchy cooking liquid that forms the foundation of a pan sauce. A useful guideline is roughly 4 ½ cups of vegetable broth per 12 ounces of dry pasta for constructing one-pot sauces. Homemade broth stretches further and feels thrifty, while store-bought broth works well but may require taste-testing for salt. Sauce ideas include a creamier mix with white wine, heavy cream, black garlic, and tarragon, or a vegan sauce built from sauteed shallots, garlic, lemon, nutritional yeast, and fresh herbs. Vegetable broth also balances sweetness and acidity in tomato sauces.

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