Pasta is a go-to weeknight dinner because it’s hearty, satisfying, and often within reach after work or a busy day. But it can be made even better and faster if we help you reimagine a few basic techniques and change the way you approach a few key ingredients.
But first, a word about equipment. Pasta requires larger cookware than you might think. No, you don’t want to use a Dutch oven unless it’s specifically called for. But break out the large saucepan and the big colander, if only to give the pasta plenty of space to cook, to help the sauce reduce, and to make sure nothing tasty gets accidentally sloshed down the drain. As you’ll see, some of these recipes require a very large colander. A new one is around ten bucks.
The recipes in this chapter show some of the largest range in the book: from a kid-friendly carbonara that you can make in minutes to a simple (if not everyday) way to make fat, tasty udon noodles to enliven a pot of chicken soup. There are dinner-party-worthy gnocchi in a third of the time and one-pot weeknight pasta suppers that save you cleanup later on. The recipes show off the nature of a true shortcut: a bit of simplifying in the service of, well, betterifying.
Not a one of these recipes calls for fresh pasta. They’re all made with dried—which should be a pantry staple for quick cooks. However, not all dried pasta is created equal. Look for sturdy, thick noodles for a better texture after cooking. The old saw is not true for all things but it’s almost always true for dried pasta: You get what you pay for. Some of these recipes have gluten-free substitutions. Use gluten-free noodles that require cooking, not just soaking.
But before you rush off to the recipes, here’s one small, counterintuitive tip about cooking not just pasta but almost everything more efficiently: Be open to change. Don’t plan out your meals too far in advance. Quick-cooking books aplenty praise the virtues of the monthly meal planner. “On the first weekend of the month, sit down to write out everything you’ll eat for the next 30 days.”
Sure, it sounds good to set dinner menus far in advance. But it’s pretty stifling, too. What if you hear a friend mention a great, new idea for vegetables or read about a newfangled weeknight casserole? Or what if next Thursday comes and you don’t want the salmon dinner you’ve scheduled? Or better, if someone walks in and offers to take you to dinner?
Give yourself the freedom to plan ahead and to fly by the seat of your pants. A recipe you don’t want to cook becomes by nature a slower one. And a little grace in the kitchen (and in life) goes a long way toward making everything better.