How to Sauce Pasta
Don't make the beginner's mistake of draining your pasta through a colander. Create restaurant-style pasta – and win rave reviews from dinner guests.
Instructions
- Step 1: Heat sauce Heat the sauce in a saucepan over medium-low heat while the pasta is cooking.
- Step 2: Remove pasta from water Remove the pasta from the hot water with a skimmer – a flat, slotted utensil – once it has finished cooking. Reserve the water for later.
- Step 3: Add pasta to sauce Add the pasta to the sauce and mix. Heat the pasta and sauce together for one minute.
- TIP: Don't "oversauce" your pasta – use just enough to coat the noodles evenly.
- Step 4: Add starchy water Add half a ladle of the starchy water to the saucepan and mix. Starch water gives your sauce a good consistency and keeps your pasta moist.
- Step 5: Add fat Turn off the heat and add a small scoop of butter and a dash of olive oil and mix.
- Step 6: Add cheese Grate a handful of parmesan cheese and mix it through the pasta.
- Step 7: Add herbs Mix in basil or parsley just before serving. Ring the dinner bell quickly so everyone can enjoy your creation while it's hot.
- FACT: The Chinese cooked with pasta as early as 5,000 B.C.
You Will Need
- A saucepan
- Sauce
- Pasta
- A skimmer
- A ladle
- Butter
- Olive oil
- Grated parmesan cheese
- Fresh basil or parsley
