Why not cook pasta in the sauce instead of separately in water?

You can do it with regular lasagne noodles (no need to buy the "oven-ready" ones). You do need to use extra sauce, or add some water, because they absorb lots of moisture.

Theoretically, you could cook pasta in a big pot of sauce on the stove, but I think the bottom would burn.
 

I have a recipe that I add regular noodles after all of the other ingredients have been cooked & canned tomatoes added to.

I would try adding either extra water to the sauce or chicken stock which would be absorbed by the noodles. Just keep an eye on it with a lid on to see if you need to add more liquid while its cooking. Also I would do it over low heat on a simmer.
 
Cooking pasta in the sauces really add flavor. I never thought of adding the cooking water to sauces until I seen it several years ago as part of recipies. Found this on the website: https://lifeinitaly.com/how-cook-pasta/

Cook the pasta as indicated on the package, stirring the pasta often to avoid it sticking. Now, cooking pasta is simple and there are no secrets in it. But there is one trick. Pasta is like a sponge: it absorbs the fluid in which it’s immersed. Cooking it immersed in water is ok, but cooking it immersed in the sauce is better! It will be flavoured by the sauce from the inside.

So here’s the trick: one minute before the cooking time is over pour one or two table spoons of cooking water from the pot in the pan where you are heating the sauce, then strain the pasta out of the water and pour it in the pan, mixing it with the sauce and ending the cooking time in there. Let it heat for a minute to a minute and a half, then take the pan from heat and serve your pasta.
 
hahaha! I cook my beef ravioli in water and add a zesty SALSA and parmesan cheese instead of
an Italian sauce. That's because I was married to an Italian, (first husband) and had to cook the
stuff twice a week. (from scratch)
Anyway, Cook the pasta in water first, then drain and add your sauce and meatballs. Cook low
just enough for the flavors to blend. To cook the pasta only in sauce may cause the sauce to
burn in the bottom of the pan, unless it's stirred constantly.
Oh, If you add a tsp of cooking oil to the pasta and water, it may keep it from burning.
 
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Got a huge amount of Pasta boiling right now, then going to try doing a couple.
things differently, noodles galore, two pots going for all that I am going to be
making, a feast lol.
 
I usually cook enough of a pasta dish to last three nights. The leftovers go in the fridge in a large Pyrex bowl with a little water added. By the second night the pasta has expanded to its original size. I remove half and on the third night it is almost as big again. It's magic! The sauce is not as vibrant and could use a little tomato paste for color. And of course, the ziti or whatever is twice as big as when I began.
 
If people wanted pasta to taste like the sauce, it might make sense, but most of us quite enjoy the flavor and lovely al dente texture of the perfectly cooked pasta, and how that flavor marries with a well made sauce.

I wouldn't chance ruining perfectly good pasta by trying to cook it in a sauce, nor would I risk a perfectly good sauce by trying to cook pasta in it. Also, I wouldn't want to risk my Sicilian grandmother haunting me for even considering such a travesty against Italian cooking.
 
I should have added that outside of Alfredo type sauces, I don't combine pasta with sauce until it's plated.

Pasta pots with strainer inserts make pasta cooking so easy.

When my pasta is perfectly al dente I remove it from the heat, lift the strainer from the pot, cock the strainer at an angle so it drains and remains above the hot water, and leave it there. Just before serving, I dunk it back into the hot water for 15 seconds or so and give it a stir. Then lift it again. Hot and ready to serve.

Everybody can the amount of sauce they want - or skip it entirely. Sometimes people prefer a little little olive oil or butter and parm instead of sauce. Leftovers are great - pasta saved separately from sauce means they can be eaten together or separately, but either way the pasta doesn't get gummy by sitting in sauce overnight and the sauce doesn't get overly thick from pasta-leached starch.

Living where water is precious, I water the roses with the cooled pasta water. They seem to thrive on it.
 

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Jules said:
This is what shocked me. It shouldn’t have because I’ve lived in a place where we had to haul water. Guess the difference is that I never had flowers.
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About 20 years ago I happened to rendezvous in Vancouver with my Toronto-based sister for a few days that included Valentine's Day. Hubby and I have never given each other gifts for those kinds of holidays, but when I came home he'd planted a dozen white rose bushes for me outside the kitchen door. ♥️

They still bloom beautifully, particularly after we've had a decent amount of rain (like now). Otherwise they mostly survive on water I collect in a large Tupperware bowl that remains in the kitchen sink. It catches water that would otherwise be wasted.
 
StarSong said:
I should have added that outside of Alfredo type sauces, I don't combine pasta with sauce until it's plated.

Pasta pots with strainer inserts make pasta cooking so easy.

When my pasta is perfectly al dente I remove it from the heat, lift the strainer from the pot, cock the strainer at an angle so it drains and remains above the hot water, and leave it there. Just before serving, I dunk it back into the hot water for 15 seconds or so and give it a stir. Then lift it again. Hot and ready to serve.

Everybody can the amount of sauce they want - or skip it entirely. Sometimes people prefer a little little olive oil or butter and parm instead of sauce. Leftovers are great - pasta saved separately from sauce means they can be eaten together or separately, but either way the pasta doesn't get gummy by sitting in sauce overnight and the sauce doesn't get overly thick from pasta-leached starch.

Living where water is precious, I water the roses with the cooled pasta water. They seem to thrive on it.
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That sounds lovely. I'm afraid I sometimes sacrifice quality for convenience. It's a balancing act.
 
One evening I made pasta for dinner.
I sometimes eat my pasta without sauce or with the Hunt's No Salt Added Tomato Sauce.
This time I added some of the Ragu Old World Style Marinara Sauce.
My goal was to try a sauce containing less spices and less seasonings.
 
A few years ago, a friend told me it didn’t matter what brand of pasta one bought as long as it was a brand imported from Italy. That the flavor and texture would be better than USA brands, I think she said , because of the wheat used in Italy.

I didn’t know if it was true or not but decided to experiment. I do prefer the imported brands. I did notice they require a little longer cooking time.

They’re a little more expensive but I try to stock up when I catch an Italian import on sale.
 

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