If boiling water and preparing tea don’t count, then you can say pasta is my first ever kitchen experiment. In fact it was the only other dish (apart from stuffed baked potatoes) that I’d prepare on my own almost everyday as an evening snack when I was in college. Yes, you heard it right – an evening snack that served as a one of kind occasion for brother-sister bonding when we’d indulge in the sheer richness and flavour of pastas.
Cooking Pasta is like cooking sadam (rice) – a seemingly simple culinary task that can become quite difficult to master given the long list of criteria for that perfect bite of pasta.
I’ve had my share of “Al Dente” mishaps on a couple of occasions. The first one was when the time I tried Fusilli – I undercooked these interesting worms and tossed them in sauce in my over enthusiasm. Thankfully a few minutes in the microwave fixed the pasta. The second one was the first time I cooked fresh lasagna sheets. It was difficult to distinguish the vegetables. There wasn’t much to salvage this time.
Pasta that is cooked “Al dente”, literally meaning “to the tooth”, is soft but holds shape, chewy but not brittle and well separated but starchy enough for the sauce to stick. Over the several times that I’ve cooked pasta, I’ve acquired the practice enough to confidently prepare “Al Dente” pasta even in the middle of the night.
Method
- Take water in a large bring the water to boil. About 4-5 times the amount of pasta is a good measure of how much water one needs. I use 1 litre for 250 gms of spaghetti and some more if its penne or fussili.
- Add Salt to the water. About 2 tsp for 250 gms is the amount of salt I use. Not all of the salt will show on the pasta.
- Add the pasta to the pot. Drop the pasta in slowly. Lower the heat to medium once pasta has been added. Keep the heat between medium to high. Water needs to be at a heat that keeps it just about agitated to keep the pasta separate, but does not necessarily need to be bubbling.
- For the first two minutes stir the Pasta a few times. You can decrease the frequency of stirring after this. In general if you’ve used enough water and if you’re keeping the water at the right temperature, the pasta is not likely to stick to the pot very easily.
- Take a piece of pasta and slice and check if it has a white core a couple of minutes before the pasta is fully cooked. For dried pasta one should generally check at the 4th minute for thin spaghetti, the 5th or 6th minute for Penne and about the 8th or 9th minute for Fusilli.
- Cook for a minute more and check if the white core has disappeared. Taste the pasta. If it sticks to the back of your teeth, you can safely cook for an additional minute. Alternatively you can remove the pasta at this stage if this is your preferred chewiness level or if you’re going to toss this in a really hot sauce. For most Olive Oil based sauces, its preferable to have the pasta cooked till it doesn’t stick to your teeth.
- Drain the water immediately by pouring into a colander. Shake colander to drain water. Retain some of the water for non tomato based sauces. Reserve some of the water if the recipe calls for it. Toss pasta in sauce.
Notes:
- Many people add oil to the water while cooking pasta. I used to do this on a chef’s recommendation but discontinued after sometime. Oil makes the pasta slippery and I found the amount of sauce that sticks especially to spaghetti can be unsatisfactory.
- Many people wash pasta after its been cooked to keep the pasta separate. If you have your sauce ready before the pasta is cooked, which you should, its pointless to wash the pasta. Washing pasta again reduces the amount of sauce that gets transferred onto the pasta and hinders the overall flavour. For sauces like Pesto, retaining some of the water in the pasta without shaking it all off through the colander should help you toss the pasta in without the pasta looking sticky. Adding olive oil or a teaspoon of butter while adding the pasta to sauce also works. In short, keep your sauce ready, don’t make your pasta go cold.
Other Recipe Marathoners:
- Siri – Baked Fries
- Srivalli – Sadda Garallu
- Dhivya – Masala Oil
- Ranji – Dal Makhani and Jeera Rice
- Swati – Oats Upma
- Arundathi – Cutlets
- Bhags – Tofu Coconut Soup
- Raaga – Ullipaya Pachadi
- Divya Vikram – Ginger Chutney
Made Pasta soup y’day, will post next week. Great infot. Giant bear hug to you back!:))
How to check if pasta is cooked? Throw a noodle on the fridge door and if it sticks, it’s ready! Hahaha!!
[…] Helen at the World Foodie Guide has a detailed post on how to cook pasta al dente. […]
I made home made eggless pasta last night – delicious. Your post is wonderful and quite detailed. I love Asha’s method of telling if pasta is cooked 🙂
This is a great post for all us loving pasta folks 😀
I check my pasta by lifting a strand and breaking it through my fingers to how cooked it is.
Rosie x
Oh these were delicious. Thanks for the recipe!
The perfect way to cook pasta aldente is to drop pasta in salted boiling water,cook for a minute,switch off flame and close the lid tightly and leave for another 3 or 4 min.You can open the lid quickly in between and stir the pasta once to even out the heat as the pasta at the lower end of the pot has more heat.Uncover and drain.Leave a cup of pasta water in it so that the pasta does not become too dry.Stir in some olive oil and you have the perfect pasta.works for me every time.
[…] a cup of pasta water to add to add to the sauce to thin at the end, if necessary. When the pasta is al dente, scoop it out with a slotted spoon and add it to the pan with the pasta sauce. Give it a good […]
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