How to cook pasta perfectly

How to cook an awesome pasta ?

Pasta. I love it but cooking a good pasta is an entirely different matter and it’s a prerequisite for a good result of any recipe. You can’t hope to cover a failed pasta with a good sauce, the effect would be disappointing (shame on you!).

In order to cook pasta without failure, you must observe some basic rules:

Bucatini with sausage

 

 

• Add 1 liter of water and half tablesppon of coarse salt every 100 grams of pasta
• The pot should be filled at 75% maximum, in order to avoid a spilling of water during cooking
• Add the salt after the water is boiling, but before throwing pasta. (optional, but this will ensure faster boiling times)
• Check the pasta features on the bag, the suggested cooking time expecially!
• Do you have a colander, don’t you ? Even a plastic one will do!

As soon as the salt is completely melt it’s time to cook your pasta: take a timer and set it accordingly to the suggested cooking time printed on the pasta pack (or bag).

Do not cover the pot ! The increased pressure would probably make the water spill in a matter of moments.

Ok, get a wooden spoon and stir the water every 2 minutes: ideally the pasta should not stick to the base of the pot or shouldn’t form a sticky mass (except for fresh made pasta, but we will talk about it later).

Keep an eye on the water level, if it raise too much lower the flame a bit.

One minute before the time lapse, get some pasta and taste it. This is called “pasta al dente”: Al “dente” pasta is favored by some people, because the pasta is rather solid (but not crunchy). If you like “al dente”, pour the pot in the colander. Otherwise wait to the timer to ring. By the way “dente” is the italian word for “tooth”.

Do not leave the pasta in water over one minute after the recomended time: Even if you turn off the fire, the hot water will keep on cooking the pasta making it too soft and watery. It would ruin even the best sauce.

Let’s suppose you did pour the pasta inside the colander, let it rinse a bit, moving it gently but firmly. Now pour the pasta inside the pot (now empty) along with the sauce (be it tomato, meat or vegetable sauce, it doesn’t matter).

Turn on a small fire under the pot and twist the pasat with a wooden spoon: this method will keep the pasta warm and will heat the sauce. You simply need to heat a little, as soon as you hear some sizzling, twist with more energy for a minute and get out the pasta from the pot.

Serve and enjoy your awesome, yet simpler pasta. With the appropiate cooking even some drops of olive oil and some hot chili can really turn out a common dish of pasta into an awesome one.

What if the person i’m waiting is late and i’ve already started cooking the pasta ?

That’s a very common problem, but there’s also a really simple solution.

Most importantly: do not mix pasta and sauce.

Cook the pasta normally and put it in a plastic or glass container. Instead of throwing away the water, pour it in another pot and put in on the lowest fire you have in order to keep the water warm. 
If the person is only 10-15 minutes late, simply add some spoons of water to your pasta and twist it to make it soft again.
It may sound magical, but it’s not: part of the starch left by the pasta, will remain inside the cooking water. If you use the cooking water, you’re applying some starch over your pasta.

If the person is more than half an hour late, try giving a fast boling in the water (1-2 minutes maximum).
You may also cook another new plate of pasta, all things considered, cooking should be considered a form of art… why settle for a less-then-perfect dish ?

Image Courtesy of “lo spicchio d’aglio“.

Tagged as: bucatini, how to cook pasta, italian, pasta