Pasta!

It’s a staple in most homes for a quick and easy weeknight dinner. Throw any kind of sauce, roasted veggies, or even just a pat of butter and some parm and you’ve got a meal.   It’s always on hand, easy to make and everyone loves a hearty plate of pasta.  But, do you know how to properly cook pasta?

  1. Large Pot – Large enough for the pasta to move around freely in.
  2. Boiling water – Add a lid to the pot to make the water boil faster.
  3. Salt – Only add salt to the water once it is boiling.  If salt is added prior to boiling it will leave marks on the bottom of a stainless steel pan. Use enough salt so the water tastes like the sea.  This is the only chance to bring the flavor into the pasta.  Most of the salt will be drained out with the water.
  4. Pasta – Add it to the salted boiling water.  Submerge it right away and the move the pasta around so there are no clumps of pasta sticking together.  Stir pasta every few minutes.
  5. Cooking water – Reserve about a 1/4 of a cup of cooking water to add to whatever sauce you are using with your pasta.
  6. Al Dente – Which means “to the tooth”. Cook your pasta 2 minutes less than it say on the package instructions.  Then taste the pasta, it should have a little hardness to it (it is not soft). The pasta will continue to cook in the sauce.
  7. Drain – DO NOT rinse your pasta!  Rinsing the pasta will remove the starch on the pasta which when mixed with the sauce will create that silkiness you get with restaurant made pasta.
  8. Sauce – Immediately add enough sauce to coat your pasta and add the remaining cooking water.  This will prevent the pasta from sticking together.
  9. This is how you properly cook pasta!
  10. Mangia!

These are some of my favorite pasta meals:

Orecchiette with Summer Vegetables

Pasta with Broccoli

Creamy Tomato Farfalle Pasta

Until Next Time…

XOXO