EPISODE 78

Pasta is a wonderful food stuff, loved by gourmets and toddlers alike, though perhaps with different sauces.

Normal Dried Wheat Pasta:

80 grams a person tends to be a perfect serving size if you’re serving your pasta with sauce or veggies. However if you’re just eating the pasta alone with some butter or olive oil and perhaps a scattering of cheese and herbs, you’ll probably plow through 100g.

Pasta should be cooked in a large pot of heavily salted water. The large quantity of water allows the delicious carb space to release its starches without causing the pieces to stick together. The first 30 seconds of cooking are when the pasta releases most of its starches so you want to be sure to do lots of stirring during that time. There’s no point in adding oil to your cooking water as it won’t help the pasta not stick and it will probably prevent the sauce from properly adhering to the pasta.

If you’re adding your pasta straight to your sauce, drain your pasta 2 minutes before it’s to your desired texture, making sure to reserve around 1 cup of the starchy cooking water first. Don’t rinse your pasta if you’re putting it straight into the sauce as that that will rinse off all the starches which (along with some of the pasta cooking water) will help your pasta and sauce meld together beautifully.

If however, you’re making your pasta to be used at a later date, rinse lightly and drizzle with olive oil to prevent the pieces from sticking together. Try not to eat all the pasta immediately as this combination is stupendously delicious as long as you’ve added enough salt to the cooking water.

Gluten free pasta (rice, quinoa, black bean, spelt, etc) :

There are a few slight differences between gluten-free pasta and regular wheat pasta. The first being that I find closer to 100g suitable per person as I find it less filling.

Gf pasta also releases more starches into the cooking water, so you’ll need to stir it more frequently, around once every minute and a half, as well as during the first 30 seconds of cooking time.

I find that GF pasta goes from being undercooked to mushy in a matter of seconds, so when you’re given cooking time in 2 minutes away from being done, keep a close eye on the pasta and taste taste taste to make sure you get your desired consistency.

Make sure to rinse your pasta really well once it’s drained, if not, it tends to have a sort of claggy coating on it from the starches it’s released. By rinsing it well, then adding it to the sauce (with a bit of your reserved cooking liquid), you’ll achieve the desired consistency of a light pasta with sauce that clings perfectly.

Please let me know if you’d like me to do a video on pasta shapes and what shapes are best for what sauce!

Bon apetito ❤