Pot of gold: Alice Zaslavsky’s recipe for one-pan angel hair pasta with tomatoes and burrata

Alice Zaslavsky’s one-pan angel hair pasta: ‘A risotto-paella-pasta situation, where the starch should be embraced and mitigated with cheesiness and acid.’ Photograph: Benjamin Dearnley

One-pan pasta recipes can be a little hit and miss. While one pan implies you won’t need to boil the pasta separately – meaning one less item to clean up – some people find the pasta has a tendency to overcook or undercook. Others are put off by the starchiness, but I like to think of this dish as a risotto-paella-pasta situation, where the starch should be embraced and mitigated with cheesiness and acid.

You can totally add frozen corn, or even peas, to this pasta for bonus veg. Just pour some boiling water over half a cup of them while the garlic is sauteing, and wait until they thaw before adding once the pasta’s done. If you’ve got any zucchini or golden squash about, you could add these in, thinly sliced, with the burrata.

For a gluten-free version, you can use gluten-free pasta. Sadly, I’m yet to find one that behaves the same way in the pan, so it’s better to cook the pasta separately, halve your stock allowance and toss the cooked pasta through the sauce at the end. If burrata is eluding you, tear in some pieces of buffalo mozzarella or blob in some ricotta.

There was a point in culinary history where saffron cost more per gram weight than gold, and cost-of-living pressures means saffron is a nice-to-have rather than a non-negotiable in this recipe. But if you happen to have some saffron kicking around in your pantry from previous paella adventures, you should deploy it here.

If I had to explain what saffron brings to a recipe, beyond the exotic wispy stamen strands that adorn dishes along the spice trail, I’d say it adds a grounding element – an earthiness and aroma with the slightest floral note. There is no substitute for the proper stuff, which has an even colour in a deep red or burnt orange. So if the saffron threads you’re holding in your hands at the shops seem too cheap to be true, they’re more likely to be dyed corn silks or safflower, which will turn the water orange rather than sunny yellow and give you nada in flavour or aroma.

One-pan golden angel hair pasta with cherry tomatoes and burrata – recipe

This recipe makes an extremely generous amount for a lazy midweek dinner party, and is also delicious cold. But if you’d prefer to make a smaller amount, just halve the ingredients.

Serves 6

4 tbsp olive oil, plus extra for dressing

100g butter

1 bunch of basil, leaves picked, stems finely chopped

4-5 garlic cloves, roughly chopped

500g cherry tomatoes

A pinch of saffron threads

(optional, for that X factor)

A pinch of sugar

Zest and juice of 1 lemon

1.25L chicken stock, vegetable stock and/or water (5 cups)

500g dried angel hair egg pasta

100g finely grated parmesan (1 cup)

2 balls of burrata, torn

Lemon cheeks, to serve

Heat the olive oil and butter in a heavy-based saucepan that’s wide enough to fit the pasta lengths whole. (If you don’t have a wide enough pan, hold the pasta with both hands, then twist it to break in two before adding.)

Add the basil stems and garlic and saute for three to four minutes, or until the garlic is fragrant and turning golden. Add the cherry tomatoes and saute for four to five minutes, or until the tomatoes start to blister and burst. Meanwhile, if you’re using saffron, use a mortar and pestle to grind the threads with the sugar to a rough bright powder. Add the lemon juice and allow the saffron to bloom.

Pour your stock combo into a jug and give it a taste. Some shop-bought stocks can be quite salty, so keep this in mind before adding any further seasoning.

Deglaze the pan with the saffron lemon juice by splashing it in and scraping the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon or spatula. Pour in the stock and bring everything to the boil. Add the angel hair pasta, using tongs to submerge the pasta as soon as it starts to soften, then pop on the lid and cook for three to four minutes, or until the pasta is al dente and the liquid has been (mostly) absorbed.

Stir in the parmesan and lemon zest. Season with salt and black pepper to taste. Turn the heat off, plonk in the burrata and cover with the lid again for another three to four minutes.

Serve in the pan at the table, cascaded with basil, swirling into bowls with burrata blobs on top and lemon cheeks on the side.

This is an edited extract from The Joy of Better Cooking by Alice Zaslavsky, published by Murdoch Books in Australia (A$49.99) and UK (£25), and is available as Better Cooking by Alice Zaslavsky in Canada and the US, published by Appetite by Random House (US$35).