My favourite go-to recipe for a relaxed Italian weeknight pasta dish: Spaghetti with dried tomatoes and mozzarella. So easy, so simple, so delicious! It’s actually a two-pot dish; however, if you want to skip the (actually crucial) frying part, you can also make a one-pot dish out of this recipe. As always, especially with Italian-ish recipes, feel absolutely free to adjust the instructions essentially to your liking.

Ingredients for Spaghetti with dried tomatoes and mozzarella

• Spaghetti
• at least four pieces of (sun-)dried tomatoes per person
• Mozzarella, or freshly shredded parmesan cheese
• fresh garlic, optional
• tasty olive oil
• some salt for the pasta water
• pepper, salt, chilli flakes for seasoning

Instructions for this delicious easy Italian weeknight pasta dish

And there you go. First, pour water in a pot big enough to fit Spaghetti, bring the water to a boil, add a generous pinch of table salt, stir, and add the uncooked spaghetti. Cook them al dente, minus 1 to 2 minutes under the labelled cooking time.
While the Spaghettis are well cared for in the simmering water pot, start to heat a pan on medium heat. While this happens, – optional: slice half a clove of garlic per person, and – slice the dried tomato pieces at least 2 to three times, to create easy eatable pieces. Once the pan is hot, add some olive oil, and add the garlic/tomato pieces.

Fry the tomatoes until crispy, and, the olive oil turns slightly red. Season with pepper and, optional, some chilli flakes. At this point, the spaghetti should be cooked and ready, too. Just pour them in the pan, stir and serve immediately. If the spaghetti, still in the pan, appear to be rather dry, either add some of the pasta water, or more olive oil. You really want to have rather oily than dry Spaghetti.

Fun fact: upon writing this recipe I craved it so much, I just had to prepare another one, even after I have just had a small mixed salad for dinner… those Spaghetti with dried tomatoes are just so good!