This dish is a worker: it is fast and easy to cook while being delicious and rich in vegetables and flavors.

I have been cooking variations of this dish for as long as I have been cooking for myself, starting when I had my first apartment. It has evolved a lot since its inception but it is still one of my favorite way to eat pasta.

• 160 grams of pasta (80 grams per person, you could go up to 100 grams), I like fusilli for this dish but most pasta types would be fine
• half a jar of organic¹ ratatouille (this is where I lose my US readers, you simply cannot find this stuff in the US: you might replace it with a jar of tomato sauce that contains a generous amount of eggplants and assorted vegetables)
• some salted soy sauce (the salt will be useful)
• some olive oil (we will cook it so no need for high-quality stuff)
• some salt (optional)
• some cayenne pepper (optional)

• fill a pan with water and bring it to a boil (big bubbles, small bubbles do not count as boiling, you will be delighted to discover that I met people for which this is not obvious)
• you can optionally add a generous amount of salt to your pasta water, the pasta will taste better but, you do not need it here
• add the pasta when the water starts boiling and keep cooking for about 10 minutes (until your pasta is cooked)

• once the pasta is in the water, put the ratatouille in a wok (or similar large pan) on low heat
• add a generous splash of olive oil
• add a generous splash of soy sauce (this will bring you the salt in the dish plus a lot of the flavor)
• optionally, add a sprinkle of cayenne pepper (you want enough for people to realize the dish has some hotness but no more, it is not a hot dish)
• cook on low heat

• once the pasta is cooked, add a splash of pasta water to the wok, this will help with the sauce consistency (you can be approximate with the quantity, too little and your sauce will miss a bit of thickness, too much and you will have to reduce longer: either way the result will be fine and you can do better next time) you can do it directly from the pasta pan, no need for an intermediate container (that would give you additional opportunities to burn yourself)
• strain the pasta and add them to the wok (it is okay if there is some pasta water left with the pasta, we have pasta water in the wok anyway)
• raise to medium heat and keep mixing until you get the sauce consistency you want (the mixing time will depend on the amount of water you put, you should be done in two minutes)
• serve on a plate, feel free to add butter and shredded Parmesan to pimp the result slightly

I used soy sauce and a jar of ratatouille because my father put them in my very first grocery bag as an independent student.

Using the pasta water comes from French guy cooking’s Alex and is a game-changer for pasta sauces.

The cayenne pepper comes, obviously, from food wishes’ Chef John.