One meal we know that your family absolutely adores time and again is pasta. Simple, yet complex, this Italian favorite can be concocted in a multitude of ways. Red sauce, white sauce, or no sauce, you want the consistency and texture of the pasta to be perfect every time. So, what arsenal of tools do you need to make a heavenly plate of indulgent pasta? Not much, really, other than these suggestions below! Check them out to get started.
Recognize that not all pasta will cook the same.
You might assume that all pasta will roughly follow the same cooking timeframe – but that is far from the truth. Fresh pasta will cook more quickly than dried pasta. Different shapes and sizes of pasta will cook in different amounts of time. For example, more rigid kinds of pasta, like penne, will require a longer cooking time than spaghetti or elbow macaroni, and if you prefer wheat pasta, be prepared to spend 2 to 4 more minutes cooking it than traditional enriched pasta.
Keep the pasta moving continuously.
After you’ve prepared your large, uncovered pot of boiling water, you might make the mistake of dumping in the uncooked noodles and leaving them be. But, hold it right there! Pasta can and will stick to the bottom of the pot if you don’t stir it frequently. Always keep a watchful eye on your pasta and stir it often. Keeping the water rapidly boiling will help this process too, as the movement of the water keeps the pasta pieces from sticking together and helps with the overall execution of your pasta dish.
Know when to stop cooking the pasta.
Depending on what you’re making, you might come across instructions to cook the pasta “al dente.” This common phrase translates to “to the tooth” and refers to pasta that is slightly undercooked but still edible. However, though many Italian recipes call for al dente pasta, certain dishes – like a big pot of comforting mac and cheese – do well with fully-cooked pasta. The best way to tell when you should drain your pasta is by tasting it. Perfectly al dente pasta will be slightly chewy with a small, uncooked core at the center. For more tender pasta, wait until there is no white uncooked core showing.
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