I’m Making Stanley Tucci’s 3-Ingredient Pasta on Repeat This Winter

Want an easy three-ingredient pasta that satisfies a mac ‘n cheese craving with elevated cacio e pepe vibes? Try Stanley Tucci’s Pastina Classica recipe, which I recently found on Allrecipes. It’s a creamy pasta made with Parmigiano Reggiano, butter, and teeny tiny pasta.

I trust this particular actor slash celebrity chef not only because he played Julia Child’s husband Paul in Julie & Julia and ate his way through his docuseries Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy, but also because he’s curious about—and loves to eat—good food. And he knows it’s sometimes the simplest ingredients that really shine.

I remember flipping through cooking magazines as an aspiring wannabe domestic goddess, reading profiles on jet-setting cooks who always seemed to keep pasta and hard cheese stocked in the fridge for late-night arrivals when takeout or groceries might not be available. I imagined a fabulous life where I could craft an easy, breezy, luxuriously gourmet meal at the drop of a hat. (Somehow, there would be candles and wine and jazz records playing in the background, right?) Well, this three-ingredient pasta is that dish, and you can play it on repeat.

This one comes together with minimal effort and an ultra-cheesy payoff in minutes. It’s a warm, nourishing oasis at the end of a long day, a no-brainer for busy weeknights, and the perfect side dish to complement the main event.

How To Make Stanley Tucci’s 3-Ingredient Bowl of Comfort

The recipe is so simple: Cook the pasta, stir it with butter, Parmigiano Reggiano, and some reserved pasta water. That’s it!

Instead of Tucci’s suggested stelline pasta (aka, little stars, estrellas, or pastina), I used the smallest size I could find: teeny tiny Barbie elbows. OK, they’re really called Rummo Elbows No. 160 which sounds like the first movement of a macaroni symphony. (Sign me up for backstage VIP passes.)

I also grated my own hunk of Parmigiano Reggiano cheese instead of buying the pre-grated stuff. It’s a small delight to shave something with a rind over the finished dish. Plus, if there’s one thing I know about celebrity chefs, it’s that a little showmanship involving cheese never hurt anybody.

The recipe also calls for one cup plus six tablespoons of finely grated Parmigiano Reggiano. Brownie points if you already know that you’ll get about a cup of grated cheese from every three-ounce wedge of hard cheese sold in stores. I bought an eight-ounce wedge because I would invest in a grated Parmigiano Reggiano vending machine if they made those.

I cooked my pasta one minute short of the instructions on the packaging. Since I knew the pasta was going to stay on the heat for a little longer, I wanted to steer clear of mushy noodle territory. The elbows turned out perfectly chewy even after I tossed them with the reserved pasta water (Don’t throw out that liquid gold!) and two rounds of cheese.

For a finishing touch, salt and pepper everything to taste. Keep in mind that Parmigiano Reggiano is a salty cheese, and the butter is also salted. But even with all that built-in seasoning, a few big pinches of salt and plenty of cracked black pepper made this my new favorite go-to comfort cuisine.