Life and my love for good food: Pasta .... Tweaked

I must admit I have been a little busy lately. But I am not one to order pizza every night to satisfy my appetite. And in this scenario, who wants to spend hours chopping up veggies and meat in the kitchen anyway? My solution to busy days and nights... shortcuts!! A little buying, a little chopping and you will have yourself a delicious meal. My lunch today..Pasta with store bought Vodka Sauce.. tweaked ofcourse! Here's what you need to cook this pasta for one...

1/2 - 3/4 cup uncooked pasta ( I use Rotelle)
1/4 onion, thinly sliced
Store bought pasta sauce (I just eyeball)
1/2 - 1 tsp red pepper flakes (or more :))
A tiny pad of butter
Olive oil
Salt and Pepper, to taste
A saucepan and water

Method

1)Pour water in a medium size saucepan and bring it to a boil (takes about 10 minutes on medium heat, could take more or less).

2) Once the water comes to a roaring boil, add lots of salt and a splash of olive oil. Adding the salt is key here as this is your only chance to add taste to your pasta. The oil prevents the pasta from sticking. Give this a big stir and throw in the uncooked pasta, stir again.

3) While the pasta cooks, thinly slice the onion. Let me tell you why, in a bit :)

4)Once the pasta cooks to al-dente (to the bite), reserve some pasta water , drain the pasta, toss it a little, and set aside. Now comes the tweaking part...

5)In the same saucepan ( yes, why would I want to wash yet another utensil ! ), on medium-low heat, add a splash of olive oil, a tiny pad of butter and throw in the sliced onion. Now add a teeny bit of salt and stir it up. Yes, I am caramelizing the onions (yummy). The salt releases the juices from the onions which help them cook well and ultimately caramelize.

6) Now, you might reach a point of being impatient (just like I did). Add couple spoonfuls of water into the pot in 5 minute intervals and stir. This accelerated the caramelization process. Regardless, be patient, take a small walk around your home, throw in the laundry or dance or something.

7)In about 10-15 minutes, this is what happened...

8) The onions continue to caramelize after another splash of water. Once they reach a slightly darker shade than the picture above, add the red pepper flakes. Notice the color of the onions now :)

9) Ok, give it one more stir and add the pasta sauce. Your almost done, I promise. Next, wait a minute until all the ingredients incorporate and add the cooked pasta. You might want to add the reserved pasta water if the sauce is too thick for you. Check seasonings, I like a little pepper.