Cooking pasta directly in the sauce—rather than boiling the noodles first in water, then saucing them—is easier and produces more flavorful pasta because it absorbs the sauce instead of just water. Try it with our one-pot simple capellini with smoked paprika and olives, which is inspired by Catalan fideuà, a paella-­like dish. Or for an even more robust version, try the anchovy, caper and roasted red pepper variation.

SHOPPING

Be sure to select diced tomatoes, not crushed, pureed, whole or sauce. Diced tomatoes have a better texture for this dish; they also have the correct moisture content for cooking the pasta. Other products can leave the capellini undercooked. When selecting the pasta, stick with basic brands; high-end pastas with a rough, floury appearance release too much starch during cooking. That’s fine when cooked in ample water but not when cooked in the sauce.

TIP

Stir the pasta often during cooking. The limited volume of water makes it easier for the pasta to stick to the bottom. Also, stir constantly after adding the garlic and smoked paprika (or anchovies and garlic). They develop deeper flavor from the brief stint in the hot oil, but also can easily burn and turn acrid.