Pasta is a great, easy way to get dinner on the table. It is quick to make and the options are endless. Pasta is also endlessly versatile, with a multitude of sauces, toppings and preparation styles.
But making perfect pasta is an art of its own. Xanthos Giannakopoulos shares his tips and tricks on making the perfect pasta this World Pasta Day:
Dos
- Use plenty of water to boil the pasta – 1 litre of water for every 100 grams of pasta.
- Bring the water to a hard boil before you add salt (around 10g of salt for every litre of water). Then pour in the pasta and return to boil.
- Stir occasionally to prevent it from sticking, and continue to boil, without a lid.
- Use a large, deep pot to create a rolling boil so the pasta is able to rotate and cook evenly.
- Keep a little of the water to toss in after the pasta is cooked. Do not rinse the pasta as the starch helps sauce bind to the pasta.
Don’ts
- Don’t over-cook. The pasta should be “al dente”, which means it should be “firm to the bite”, yet cooked through. It’s better to taste the pasta before draining it.
- When ready to drain the pasta, don’t rinse it with cold water. The pasta should be hot when mixed with the sauce. If you are using the pasta for cold salads, you may rinse it with water or drip on a little oil to prevent it from sticking while it cools.
- Do not break up full-length pasta, for example, spaghetti, tagliatelle, or fettuccini.
- Do not soak or rinse pasta before the cooking process. This will remove starch in the cooking process.
- Do not dry bake pasta that has not been boiled as the starch will not activate and cook evenly throughout.
- Timing is important. The sauce and pasta should be ready at the same time. In many recipes, such as carbonara, bad timing would result in a bad pasta. Mix the pasta with the sauce as soon as it is ready. Leaving the pasta on its own might result in sticking.
“With very few exceptions, pasta should be served immediately. According to an Italian saying: “The guest should wait for the pasta, not the pasta for the guest,’” says Giannakopoulos.