Artichoke and Tomato "Pantry" Pasta

I'm heading out of town soon so I didn't want to stock up on loads of groceries only to have them spoil. So, scrounging around in my pantry tonight for dinner meant I was going to have pasta! This is why it's always good to stock up on canned tomatoes, artichokes and things like that. This is super easy, and can be easily tweaked for your tastes. The key for this recipe, and any pasta recipe, is the technique for finishing the noodles in the sauce. Rule number one is not to overcook beyond al dente. Rule number two is to save some of that starchy pasta water to add to your sauce so that when you finish the noodles in the sauce pan (which, by the way, is rule number three - finish the noodles IN the sauce) the starchiness of the water you've added to the sauce will coat and stick to the noodles. Do this and all your homemade pasta sauces will be phenomenal.

Ingredients:

• 8 oz spaghetti
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 cup minced onion or 1 minced shallot
• 1 can fire roasted diced tomatoes
• 1 can quartered artichoke hearts, rinsed and drained
• 1/2 tsp of red pepper flakes
• 1 chicken bouillon cube
• 1/3 to 1 cup of reserved pasta water
• 2 Tbs heavy cream
• Parmesan cheese

Directions:

1. Heat a pot of salted water to a boil, cook noodles until al dente.
2. In a saucepan heat olive oil to medium-high heat. Add onion and cook until transluscent. Add garlic and red pepper flakes and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add tomatoes and drained artichokes to the pan and saute for 5-10 minutes.
3. Crush chicken bouillon cube and add to sauce. As your noodles finish cooking, begin adding pasta water to the tomato sauce starting out with about a 1/3 of a cup, adding enough for as thin or as thick of a sauce as you want. If you add a little more pasta water than you want, cook the sauce on high heat uncovered to evaporate some of the water.
4. When the pasta is al dente, drain and immediately add to the sauce pan. Add cream and saute for 2-3 minutes on medium-high heat tossing the sauce and noodles together to coat.
5. Serve with fresh grated Parmesan cheese.