There is a particular sort of evening — the one where you get home late, the fridge looks a bit sorry for itself, and the idea of cooking anything proper feels like a stretch. That is exactly when a bowl of pasta earns its keep. The trick is not a long shopping list; it is knowing which five sauces you can build from what is already in the cupboard, and how to make each one taste as though you had planned it all along.

Before you start any of them, put a large pan of well-salted water on to boil. Salt it properly — it should taste like the sea — because this is your only real chance to season the pasta itself. And before you drain, scoop out a mugful of the starchy cooking water. It is the single most useful ingredient in this article: it loosens a thick sauce, helps it cling, and turns nothing much into something silky.

Garlic, oil and chilli — the two-minute base

Warm four tablespoons of olive oil in a frying pan over a low heat — warm enough to shimmer, never to smoke — then add three thinly sliced garlic cloves and a good pinch of chilli flakes. Let them whisper for two or three minutes until the garlic is pale gold and the kitchen smells wonderful. Take the pan off the heat the moment it colours; burnt garlic is bitter and there is no rescuing it. Drain your pasta, tip it into the pan with a splash of the cooking water, and toss hard so every strand is coated. Finish with chopped parsley, a little lemon zest, or a grating of hard cheese.

• Try a few strips of lemon zest added with the garlic for a brighter, sharper sauce.
• A spoonful of capers or chopped anchovy melted into the oil adds depth in seconds.
• This is also the perfect home for leftover roasted vegetables or a handful of spinach.

A tin of tomatoes, done properly

Tinned tomatoes are the backbone of a hundred weeknight dinners, but they need a little help. Start with a chopped onion and two cloves of garlic in olive oil, softened gently for eight to ten minutes until sweet and translucent. Add a tin of chopped tomatoes, a pinch of sugar, a good grind of black pepper and a splash of the pasta water. Let it bubble steadily for fifteen minutes — a quick sauce tastes raw, a simmered one tastes generous.

If you have a knob of butter or a drizzle of olive oil to stir in at the end, do it. It rounds off the acidity beautifully. Toss with pasta, then add a torn basil leaf or a pinch of dried oregano.

• A teaspoon of balsamic vinegar deepens the flavour if your tomatoes taste flat.
• Simmer a little longer with a splash of red wine if you have an open bottle.

Pesto — from a jar, or from a handful of anything green

A jar of pesto in the cupboard is a legitimate shortcut, and I will not pretend otherwise. Loosen two heaped tablespoons with a little pasta water in the bottom of a large bowl, then toss the drained pasta through it off the heat. Never heat pesto in a pan — the basil turns dark and bitter. If you fancy making your own, blitz a large handful of basil, rocket or even blanched kale with a small garlic clove, two tablespoons of toasted nuts, a handful of grated cheese and enough olive oil to make a loose paste. It keeps for a week in a jar in the fridge.

• Toasted walnuts, almonds or pumpkin seeds all work in place of pine nuts.
• A squeeze of lemon keeps the colour bright and lifts the whole bowl.

Creamy cheese without cream

You do not need cream to make a creamy sauce. Soften two tablespoons of butter or a good glug of olive oil, whisk in two tablespoons of plain flour and cook it out for a minute, then gradually add around 300ml of milk, whisking as you go. Once it thickens, stir in a handful of grated cheese — mature Cheddar, Gruyère, or anything lurking in the fridge — plus mustard powder, nutmeg and plenty of black pepper. The sauce should be loose enough to fall from the spoon; the pasta water will loosen it further.

• A spoonful of cream cheese or crème fraîche stirred in at the end makes it richer.
• Blue cheese and a little wilted spinach turns this into something rather special.

Whatever vegetables need using

The best pasta sauces are often the ones that began as a clear-out. Soften whatever you have — courgette, peppers, mushrooms, a tired leek — in olive oil over a decent heat until it catches a little colour. Colour means flavour, so resist stirring constantly. Add a crushed garlic clove at the end, then a tin of tomatoes or simply the pasta water to bring it together.

Frozen peas, sweetcorn and spinach are all excellent here and need no chopping at all. A spoonful of mascarpone or a grating of cheese will bind everything into a proper sauce rather than a pile of vegetables sitting on top of pasta.

• Add a pinch of smoked paprika or dried chilli to give the vegetables a lift.
• Roast the vegetables instead of frying them if you have twenty minutes spare.

None of these sauces takes longer than the pasta itself. Keep the cupboard stocked with oil, tinned tomatoes, dried pasta, garlic and a jar of pesto, and you are never more than fifteen minutes from a proper dinner — whatever the evening throws at you.