For most weeknight dinners, my goal is to reduce the amount of time between entering my apartment and eating pasta. The ultimate victory, of course, would be to walk through the door while eating pasta (or — if angels have descended — to arrive home to a table already set with mac and cheese). Instead, I usually settle for marinara sauce made from scratch in 30-ish minutes: Bring water to a boil while changing clothes; cook noodles while sautéing greens with fresh garlic; add pasta to said greens with a splash of cooking liquid and copious amounts of pecorino, olive oil, and fresh herbs; face-plant into plate.
My parents, on the other hand, reduced the door-to-pasta period by handily employing the microwave and a glass jar of store-bought marinara sauce we always had in the fridge. Boil pasta, microwave sauce (or heat it up in a saucepan on the stove if you're really feeling extra), mix the two together, and hush your hungry crew of children.
