Pasta on Bruce loves to cook

Cooking pasta in the pan

Mon, 12 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The pasta cooks in the pan it’ll be sauced in, in just enough salted water to cover it. That’s the whole trick. A big pot of water dilutes the starch the pasta gives off; a pan with a little water keeps it, and the starch is what tightens the sauce later.

Pasta sauces

Mon, 12 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The sauce either comes from a base you made ahead, like a meat sauce or a marinara from the freezer, or it’s built fresh, quickly, in the time the pasta takes. Either way it goes into the pan with the pasta, not over it at the end.

Finishing pasta in the sauce

Mon, 12 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

When the pasta is 2–3 minutes from done, add the sauce to the pan and keep it moving. The pasta finishes cooking in the sauce and takes some of it in, and the starchy water binds the two into one glossy sauce that clings. This is the step a restaurant does with its pasta water; here the water is already in the pan.

Off the heat

Mon, 12 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Take the pan off the heat before the finishing notes go in. Cheese turns grainy and stringy over a flame, butter splits out of the sauce, good oil loses its flavour, and herbs go dark. Off the heat they melt into the sauce instead. Then plate it straight away, since the sauce keeps tightening as it sits.

Cherry tomato and garlic spaghetti

Wed, 14 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Spaghetti, cherry tomatoes, and garlic cooked together in a little oily water, so the sauce makes itself as the water boils off. It’s the [[Cherry tomato and garlic pasta]] build of one-pan pasta.

Cherry tomato and garlic pasta

Mon, 12 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The fresh version: nothing made ahead, just cherry tomatoes, garlic, and oil cooked in the pan with the pasta. It’s also the best way I know to use up the last of the cherry tomatoes.

Lazy tomato soup

Sun, 27 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

A warm bowl of soup on a fall day is a wondrous thing. This is a classic fridge magnet recipe that I use to clean up old veg.

Mechanic

This is a one-pot pasta: the pasta cooks directly in the soup, with starch as the only thickener. Reduce the cooking liquid down to just what the soup needs. The released starch turns it smooth and velvety without any flour or cream.

Fresh egg pasta

Thu, 18 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Making pasta by hand is easier than it looks. It takes about 20 minutes, plus a bit of cleanup.

Mechanic

250g flour to 2 whole eggs plus 4 yolks is the ratio. Extra yolks rather than whole eggs make the pasta richer, more golden, and silkier in texture. The 30-minute rest after kneading relaxes the gluten so the dough sheets smoothly without springing back.

Mushroom Parmesan pasta filling

Mon, 08 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This is a great filling for vegetarian pasta like ravioli, tortellini, or sauced pastas like lasagne or ragù.

Ingredients

1–2 tbsp butter (or oil)
150 g shiitake mushrooms, cleaned, trimmed, and finely diced
150 g cremini mushrooms, cleaned, trimmed, and finely diced
1 tsp ground porcini powder (optional)
2 shallots, finely minced (~¼ cup)
3 cloves garlic, minced (~1 tbsp)
1 tsp thyme leaves, minced (fresh or dried)
kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
125 ml (½ cup) dry red wine or dry sherry
25 g (~½ cup) Parmesan, grated, plus more for serving

Method

Fry the mushrooms in the butter with a pinch of salt. They’ll release their water, the water will evaporate, and then they’ll start to brown, 15–20 minutes. Keep frying and scraping the bottom as you go so the fond doesn’t burn.

Spinach pecan pasta filling

Mon, 08 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This is a great filling for vegetarian pasta like ravioli, tortellini, or sauced pastas like lasagne or ragù.

Ingredients

butter or oil, for frying
40 g pecans, crushed
1 shallot, minced
15 g (2 cloves) garlic, smashed or minced
60 g thawed chopped spinach
20 g fresh herbs (thyme, basil, oregano, etc.), chopped, or about 1 tbsp dried
1–2 g freshly ground black pepper
3 g salt
250 ml ricotta cheese
25 g (~½ cup) Parmesan, grated, plus more for serving

Method

Toast the pecans in a little butter or oil until fragrant. Add the shallot and garlic and cook until soft and translucent.

Yam and sage pasta filling

Mon, 08 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This is a great filling for vegetarian pasta like ravioli, tortellini, or sauced pastas like lasagne or ragù. Makes enough filling for around 50 small stuffed pastas (10 g each).

Sichuan quick noodles

Mon, 01 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0000

A one-pan work-from-home lunch built on a precooked protein base. Twenty minutes, cleanup included.

Mechanic

The noodles cook in the sauce. Start them in just enough water to cover in a wide pan, and add the aromatics and base halfway through; the starch from the noodles thickens the reducing liquid into a sauce that coats them. Add water a spoonful at a time, not all at once. If it ends up as soup, use less water and more heat next time.