There’s one thing you can do to make any pasta dish easier, and arguably more satisfying: Cook the pasta and the sauce together in a single pot.

The technique hinges on the magic of the starchy cooking water, which is often added to pasta dishes to help the sauce come together. But here, the very water the pasta is cooked in seasons the noodles and becomes the velvety sauce. Practically any pasta that cooks in 10 minutes or less works, but make sure to use the correct ratio of pasta to water. That’s the key to the dish’s success.