protein helps u with muscle recovery, but usually muscle growth is made via carbs/protein combo ... look at composition of any gainer with 70% of carbs and 30% of proteins
also there is protein in your pasta too - check your pasta composition, protein is almost everywhere in various amounts (that's why u can't eat without protein at all)
but lean muscle gains are not made from high calories food (like pasta you mentioned), problem with this kind of food is you gain also lot of fat from it ... for muscle gains rather eat massive amounts of lean protein, slow carb and just enough of fat (1g of fat/kg of lean body mass to help testosterone/hormones production, rest should be lot of chicken/turkey breast, eggs, dairy products like cottage cheese, skyr (icelandic pure protein dairy dessert), greek yoghurt etc. for proteins, rice or whole grains for fast carbs - if you want to slow it down, do it "al dente", lot of veggies like broccoli, green veggies for fiber and slow carbs - btw broccoli is high in protein too)
thing is muscle will not eat itself when you stress it, by training you give information to your body that you need muscles, so body preserve it ... I guess your problem is different, you can be as well overtrained, then muscles stop growth. muscle growth is made not by stress, but with recovery from the stress, it is important not only what you eat, but also when you eat it and also recovery, active recovery, plenty of sleep etc. did you know roger federer, lebron james sleep 12 hours a day? usain bolt up to 10 hours. and regarding active recovery, i found very useful for myself to do one active recovery training a week. active recovery is training when you maintain conversational pace (if u have heart rate monitor, aim for Z2/recovery zone/low aerobic) for about 30 minutes in a row. do what u like: walking, jogging, swimming, bike ... for me it is run in pace around 6min/km (5K in 30 mins helps me recover well)
so it's very complex question with not simple answer to it
