Tips for Pasta

Pasta may be passe; in low-carb dieters' circles, but it makes a great,
quick dinner for many.

A warm, comforting bowl of tender pasta, either dressed simply with garlic,
olive oil and herbs, or sauced with a hearty Bolognese, is always a crowd
pleaser. It's economical -- a pound of spaghetti costs about $3, is
quick-to-fix, and for the single cook, reheats beautifully. Here's a quick
tutorial that will make a pasta meal easy to fix.

Sharp, salty cheeses such as Parmesan and Romano should be freshly grated
over pasta.

-- Allow 2 ounces per person for light eaters, or 4 ounces for hearty diners.

-- Eight ounces of strands, such as spaghetti, or ribbons such as linguine
will increase to 4 to 5 cups cooked pasta.

-- Small soup pasta such as orzo will double in volume, while 3 cups tubular
or molded shapes will provide about 4 to 41/2 cups cooked.

-- Dry pasta can be stored in a tightly sealed package -- zip-top storage
bags are perfect -- or in a container for up to 2 years.

-- Cook pasta in 8- to 10-quart pot with ample water that allows it to
circulate during cooking. (This will prevent the strands from clumping together.)

-- For each pound of pasta, bring 5 quarts water to a boil. Adding 2 to 3
teaspoons of salt not only flavors pasta but helps to keep it firm and from
getting sticky.

For each pound of pasta to be cooked, use five quarts of water.

-- Don't add oil to water. That will cause the sauce to slip off the noodles
and pool on the bottom of the bowl.

-- Never rinse cooked pasta. The pasta flavor will be washed away.

-- Once the water comes to a full boil, gradually add pasta, stirring well,
to keep it at a boil. Partially cover the pot until the water comes back to
a rolling boil, then remove the cover immediately or the water will boil
over. Stir occasionally to keep pasta from sticking to itself and to the
bottom of the pan.

-- Once pasta is dressed with sauce, it can absorb liquid quickly and become
dry and lumpy. To prevent that from happening, reserve at least 1/2 cup
cooking water before draining pasta. Then pour sauce over pasta in a warm bowl.

Tossing the pasta so it's lightly coated with sauce is somewhat like folding
a cake batter. Heavier ingredients can sink, so use a large spoon and scoop
them from the bottom of the bowl to the top.

If more liquid is needed, add a bit of the reserved cooking water. (If
you're a sloppy tosser, it will be easier to put the drained pasta back into
the cooking pot and then toss with the sauce.)

-- Sharp, salty cheeses such as Parmesan, Romano or Asiago preferably should
be freshly grated. But supermarkets with well-stocked cheese sections often
sell their own blends of grated cheese, which also taste just fine.

-- Italians don't mix cheese with seafood sauces, but if you must, use a
lighter hand than with meat sauces.