HOW TO BEST COOK YOUR PASTA
Pasta is one of the simplest foods to cook, so why people get into such a mess i simply don't know. It might be that pasta as now been around so long in the uk that most people don't regard it as anything other than "fast food" and treat it as such.
This is where most people go wrong, Pasta is a very healthy product ,especially the top quality pasta made with Hard durum wheat flour and air dried in the traditional way. Pasta such as the Martelli pasta from Pisa and the Romita Sapori di Napoli Pasta from Napoli.
These Pastas having been made using the finest of ingredents ,are made slowly and allowed to air dry naturally in the old traditional centuray old way ,unlike some of the cheap and chearful pastas available in some supermarkets which are made with cheaper flours and forced dried , Its the same old story One gets what one pays for !!!!
But i will say one thing once you have tried a traditionally made pasta you will never buy the cheaper brands again.
So where do most people go wrong when cooking pasta , its such a simple and fast dish that there really is no excusses if you follow some basic rules .
One of most common problems is using too small a pan and too little water.
You need at least 4 litres of water for every 500 grams of pasta ,so use a large pan enough to hold both the water and the pasta ,
When the water has boiled and NOT before ,add salt to taste about 1-- 2 tablespoons
Next add the pasta, ALL at the SAME time and NOT bit by bit.
Dried Spaghetti and other long shaped pasta has to be held until it has softened in the hot water and can be bent round to fit the pan.
When the pasta is in the pan, give it a stir to prevent it from sticking .
There is no need to add olive oil to the water to stop the pasta sticking as long as you use a large enough pan and plenty of water.
Once the pasta has come to the boil again, you can cover the pot if you like ,but most Italians don't bother.
Cook the pasta unti it is AL DENTE this is a frase that most people say but really don't know what it means so let me explain it
Al dente means to the teeth , or more correctly in this context firm to the bite, very slighty resistant ,but NEVER cook the pasta unti Soggy ,
You want to end up with a pasta that you can bite into gently . If its soggy you will loose all the delicate taste of the pasta and the sauce will just slide off to the bottom of the plate .
Most packets of Pasta have a cooking time shown , take this as a guild only , as diffferent shapes take different times,Therefore TASTE the pasta about half way through the recomended cooking time , and allow it to cook at a gentle boil till "AL DENTE"
When you are happy that the pasta is cooked to your correct firmness switch off the heat ,and this is also another point in which some people go wrong.
They switch off the gas when they think the pasta is just right and then go away and do other things allowing the pasta to sit in the still hot water and surprise surprise when they come back even a few minutes later the pasta is now over cooked .
To stop this when the pasta is cooked to your taste , SWITCH off the gas/electric and then pour a small glass of COLD water to the pasta and water in the the pan this will instantly STOP the pasta from continuing cooking in the water by reducing the water temperature but one glass of Cold water will not make the pasta cold.
Pasta cools very quickly and should really be served hot so when you pour the pasta through a colander a simple way is to pour the water through the colender over your serving plates to get them nice and warm .
Adding Sauce
the best way to add your sauce is after you have drained the pasta into your colendar pour the pasta back into the now drained but still warm pan and
add your sauce to the pasta and stir as required before serving onto the now warmed plates
And that folks is it , Simple really and all you have to say now is BUON APPETITO
If you have any questions please e mail your question and i will do my best to answer you
ALBERTO CAMISA
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