Cesare Casella’s Guide on How to Cook Pasta

Ciao! I was looking through old blog posts and realized that I have given you many pasta recipes, but have never shared the REAL way to cook pasta! Enjoy the following guide on the correct pasta cooking technique:

Cesare Casella’s Guide on How to Cook Pasta
·Start with cold water (hot water boils more quickly and picks up odd flavors from your water source).
· For every 1 pound of pasta you need a minimum of 4-quarts of water. If cooking more than 1 pound of pasta, use 2 separate pots. The water will take a longer time to come back to a boil and slow the cooking process if you cook more than a pound of pasta in the same pot.
· Rapidly boiling water is the key to properly cooked pasta. Dried pasta needs room to expand and rehydrate so don’t cook it in a small pot or the pieces will stick together.

· After the pasta comes to a rolling boil, it’s time to add salt: if you’re worried about salt intake, go lightly on the salt in the sauce – but never, ever skimp on the salt in the pasta pot.
· Because your pot contains a lot of water, almost all of the salt goes down the drain with the cooking water so adding at least 1 ½ tablespoons of Kosher salt per 4 quarts of water is a must.
· As long as you have enough water, oil is absolutely unnecessary. Oil makes the pasta slick and the sauce will not cling to oiled noodles.
· Every stove cooks differently and everyone has a different opinion on how soft they like their pasta so don’t follow package instructions or watch the clock.
· Keep tasting and re-tasting the pasta many times during the cooking process in order to decide its doneness.
· If using a heavier sauce with the pasta, take the pot off the flame 30 seconds before you think it’s perfectly cooked and finish cooking it inside the sauce.
· Al dente is Italian for “to the tooth” and every region in Italy has its own idea of al dente pasta.
· In general, pasta should be tender throughout, and have some bounce left to it.
· When the pasta is cooked, reserve some of the cooking water in a measuring cup and set it aside before you drain it. This will insure that if it becomes too dry you can always add more liquid.
· Pour the pasta into a colander and let the water drain– don’t shake it. Having a little water on the noodles is fine.
· Pour the pasta into an oven-warmed bowl to prevent it from cooling too quickly.
· In Italy, pasta is usually served in a shallow bowls because flat plates keep pasta from sliding off the dish.

· Typically pasta is served as a first coarse, followed by a meat, chicken or fish dish, but it can also be served in larger portions as a main course.
· Long, thin strands like linguine or spaghetti are best for smooth sauces with finely chopped ingredients like pesto.
· Long, wide noodles such as fettuccine or tagliatelle are good with creamy sauces.
· Short, narrow, tube-like shapes such as penne or ziti are good with sauces that have small-to-medium-sized pieces of vegetables or other ingredients.
· Small, open, shapes with nooks and crannies such as farfalle and orecchiette are good with moderately chunky sauces.
· Large, open shapes like shells or wide tubes like rigatoni are best with the chunkiest sauces.

** Interesting pasta fact: though pasta with tomatoes is an inseparable concept, the tomato was not introduced to Italy until Christopher Columbus brought them back from the Americas, making pasta with tomato sauce a relatively new creation!

Bon Appetito!

Cesare Casella