Cooking Pasta
Cooking Skills: Pasta 1
Chapter 2 · Cooking Pasta
Skill goal
Cook dried pasta properly every time: enough water, salt, careful timing, and saved cooking water.
Shopping list for this chapter
The basics
Cooking pasta looks too simple to have a method, and that is why so many people do it badly. Five things matter: enough water, salt, timing, saving some of the cooking water, and finishing the pasta in the sauce.
| Step | What to do | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Big pan, lots of water | About 1 litre per 100 g of pasta, in a pan big enough to move it around | Keeps the water boiling when the pasta goes in, and dilutes the starch so the pieces don't stick |
| Salt the boiling water | About 1 teaspoon per litre | Flavours the pasta from the inside, and most of the salt is poured away |
| Stir at the start | 30 seconds to a minute after adding | Stops the pieces sticking while the starch is wet and sticky |
| Lid off, steady boil | A rolling boil, not a lid-rattling one | Even cooking, and no boil-overs |
| Taste early | A minute or two before the packet time | Only your teeth can tell you when it is done |
| Save a mug of water | Before you drain | It makes the sauce silky and helps it cling |
| Don't rinse, don't add oil | Drain and sauce at once | Rinsing washes away the starch the sauce needs; oil in the water coats the pasta and makes the sauce slide off |
| Finish in the pan | Toss with the sauce for a minute or so over the heat | The pasta soaks up flavour and the sauce clings |
The only time you rinse is when the pasta is going into a cold dish, such as a salad.
Try it
Level 1 · Start here
Spaghetti with olive oil, lemon and parmesan
A sauce with almost nothing in it, so the technique is on show. This is the recipe to practise the whole method on: boil, taste, save water, drain and finish in the pan.
Ingredients (1 portion)
- 75 g dried spaghetti or linguine
- 1 litre water
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
- ½ lemon, zest and a squeeze of juice
- 15 g parmesan, finely grated
- 1 pinch black pepper
- Fill a medium pan with the water, cover, and bring to a full rolling boil. Add the salt (it foams up, so add it carefully), then the spaghetti. Push it under as it softens, and stir for the first 30 seconds.
- Set a timer for 2 minutes less than the packet time. At that point, take out a piece, let it cool for a moment and bite it. Repeat every 30 seconds until it is tender with a tiny firmness in the middle.
- Scoop out a mugful of the cooking water. Drain the pasta (don't rinse it), and return it to the pan off the heat.
- Add the olive oil, lemon zest, a squeeze of juice, the parmesan, pepper and 3 tablespoons of the cooking water. Toss with tongs for 30 seconds, until glossy and lightly creamy. Add a splash more water if it looks dry.
Why the cooking water?
The cooking water is cloudy with starch. A splash makes oil and cheese cling to the pasta as a creamy sauce instead of sliding to the bottom of the bowl. Always scoop some out before you drain.
Level 2 · Vegetables in the pot
Pasta with peas, lemon and ricotta
Frozen peas go into the same pan as the pasta for the last few minutes, so you only need one pan and one colander.
Ingredients (1 portion)
- 75 g dried penne or conchiglie
- 1 litre water
- 1 tsp salt
- 80 g frozen peas
- ½ lemon, zest and a squeeze of juice
- 40 g ricotta
- 1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 tbsp chopped mint or parsley
- 1 pinch black pepper
- Boil the pasta in the salted water for the packet time minus 3 minutes.
- Add the frozen peas to the pan and cook for the last 3 minutes, until the pasta is tender.
- Scoop out a mugful of the cooking water, then drain.
- Return to the warm pan with the lemon zest and juice, ricotta, olive oil, herbs and pepper. Add 3 tablespoons of the cooking water and stir until the ricotta melts into a light, creamy sauce.
Level 2 · Cold
Pasta salad
Warm pasta is sticky with starch, which is great in a hot sauce but sticks into a lump in a cold salad. Here, you rinse the pasta, and let it cool completely before dressing.
Ingredients (1 portion)
- 75 g dried fusilli or farfalle
- 1 litre water
- 1 tsp salt
- 6 cherry tomatoes, quartered
- 5 cm cucumber, diced
- 40 g feta or mozzarella pearls
- 1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 tsp lemon juice or red wine vinegar
- 4 basil leaves, torn
- Boil the pasta in the salted water for the packet time, so it is fully tender (it firms up as it cools).
- Drain and rinse under cold running water for about 30 seconds, until the pasta is cool. Shake off the water and leave it in the colander for 5 minutes to dry.
- Toss with the olive oil and lemon juice first, then fold in the tomatoes, cucumber, cheese and basil. Season with pepper.
- Eat at once, or chill. For a lunchbox, pack with an ice pack.
Level 3 · A different way
One-pan pasta (the less-water method)
The pasta cooks in just enough water, together with the sauce, and the starch it releases thickens the liquid into a sauce. It is quick and gives you less washing up, though it needs more attention than the boil-and-drain method.
Ingredients (1 portion)
- 75 g dried penne or spaghetti, spaghetti snapped in half to fit
- 200 g cherry tomatoes, halved
- 1 garlic clove, thinly sliced
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 300 ml cold water
- 1 pinch salt
- 4 basil leaves, torn
- 15 g parmesan, grated
- Put the pasta, tomatoes, garlic, oil, water and salt in a wide, deep frying pan or sauté pan. The pasta should be mostly under the water.
- Bring to the boil, then keep the liquid bubbling steadily. Stir often for 10 to 12 minutes, pressing the tomatoes against the pan to burst them.
- When the pasta is tender and the liquid has reduced to a creamy sauce that coats it, take off the heat. If it is dry but the pasta is still hard, add a splash of hot water.
- Stir in the basil and parmesan and serve at once.
Experiments
Experiment
How much water
Is a big pan really needed?
- Cook three lots of 75 g spaghetti in 500 ml, 1 litre and 2 litres of boiling salted water, all for the same time. Use pans of different sizes if you must.
- Drain each and compare how sticky and evenly cooked they are.
Look for: The smallest pan of water may clump and cook unevenly. More water is gentler, but there is a point at which you gain nothing more.
Experiment
Time to bite
Learn what al dente tastes like.
- Boil 100 g of spaghetti in 1.5 litres of salted water.
- Fish out a piece at 8, 10 and 12 minutes (or use your packet's time minus 2, exactly, and plus 2). Cool for a moment and taste each.
- Write down how each one felt.
Look for: The first has a firm white core, the last is soft with no resistance. The middle one is al dente. Where do you like it?
Experiment
Oil in the water, or not
Does oil stop the pasta sticking?
- Cook two lots of 75 g penne, one in water with a tablespoon of oil added and one in plain salted water.
- Drain both and stir each with 3 tablespoons of tomato sauce. Compare how well the sauce clings.
Look for: Oil doesn't stop sticking (stirring does). It can make the pasta slippery so the sauce slides off. Save your oil for the sauce.
Experiment
Rinsed or not rinsed
When does rinsing help?
- Cook two lots of fusilli. Rinse one under cold water. Leave the other, but spread it on a plate to cool.
- Dress each with oil and lemon as for the pasta salad, and look at them an hour later.
Look for: The unrinsed pasta tends to clump and stick, the rinsed pasta stays loose. In a hot sauce the situation is reversed: you want the starch.
Tasting notes
| What I tried | Method or amount | What I saw | What I thought | Will I do it again? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spaghetti with oil, lemon and parmesan | ||||
| Pasta with peas, lemon and ricotta | ||||
| Pasta salad | ||||
| One-pan pasta | ||||
| 500 ml, 1 litre, 2 litres | ||||
| 8, 10 and 12 minutes | ||||
| Oil in the water | ||||
| Rinsed vs unrinsed |
Troubleshooting
| Problem | Likely cause | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Pasta stuck in lumps | Not enough water, or not stirred | Use more water, and stir in the first minute |
| Water boils over | Heat too high, or pan too full | Lower the heat a little; use a bigger pan; lid off |
| Sauce slides off | Pasta rinsed, or oil in the water | Don't rinse (unless it's a salad); toss with a splash of starchy water |
| Sauce too dry | Pasta absorbed it | Add a splash of the cooking water and toss |
| Pasta gone cold while you made the sauce | Sauce not ready in time | Make the sauce first, or keep it warm; finish the pasta in the sauce pan |
| Pasta salad is dry | Pasta absorbed the dressing | Add a little more oil and lemon just before serving |
Food safety: leftover and cold pasta
Cooked pasta is a starchy food, and like rice it can grow bacteria if it is left warm. There is no pasta-specific official guidance, so this course uses the cautious rule: cool it quickly (within about an hour), put it in the fridge, and eat it within 24 hours; freeze it if you won't. Reheat until steaming hot all the way through. Pasta salad for a lunchbox needs an ice pack and an insulated bag, and should be eaten the same day.
Checkpoint: can you do this now?
- I can cook pasta in the right amount of salted water.
- I can tell when pasta is al dente.
- I know why I save the cooking water and finish pasta in the pan.
- I know why I don't rinse or add oil (and when I do rinse).
- I can cook a pasta salad and an easy one-pan pasta.
Next chapter
Cooking Skills: Pasta 1, chapter 3 is Tomato Sauces: quick, slow, arrabbiata and puttanesca, from a tin of tomatoes and a few store-cupboard flavours.