Chef uchecancook weekend special: How to cook pasta

Pasta is a very simple dish that can be prepared very quickly. This technique of cooking will give you perfect pasta without spills.

Enjoy...

Take a very large pot – a stock pot is ideal. Half fill it with water and add enough salt that when you taste the water it tastes like the sea (this is alot of salt, but it is necessary to bring out the flavor in the pasta – it is the way pasta is cooked in Italy).



Do not add oil or anything else to the water. Put the pot on to boil. When the water is boiling vigorously, add the pasta.

You may need to give the pasta a bit
of a stir from time to time, to make sure it doesn’t stick together.

Each type of pasta takes a different time to cook (though it is generally between 8 and ten minutes) – you should find instructions for timing on the packet.

Use that timing but start to check the pasta two minutes before the time is up because packet instructions often put a longer time than is needed.

To test the pasta remove a single piece and bite it – if it is soft on the outside with a firm (but not crunchy) centre, it is ready (this is called the al dente stage).

Reserve one cup of the cooking water, then strain the pasta but do not rinse it and do not strain it dry.

An easy way to serve this (which is popular in Italy) is to mix a good sized knob of butter with the pasta and serve it with parmesan cheese. If you are using a sauce, you can add some of the reserved water to it for added flavour.

Love Always

Sue