How to Boil Pasta

You thought you knew how to do this didn’t you? Me too. However, here are some tips and tricks!

• Put a splash of olive oil into the water to keep the noodles from sticking to each other. Though some experts say that this prevents the sauce from sticking to the noodles…I’m not an expert.

• Salt the water generously. It should almost taste good on its own.

• Save some of the pasta water to thin out sauces -it’ll be pre-seasoned.

• The hole in the middle of a spaghetti spoon is sized for about one serving of pasta.

• Snap the spaghetti in half over the sink before dropping it in the water. I hate it when half the noodle sticks out over the pot.

• Cook for the minimum amount of time suggested on the box for al dente pasta. Drain immediately and rinse with cold-ish water. This is to stop the noodles from continuing to cook. However, I like my food piping hot, so I’d rather stop boiling the pasta sooner and let it cool down slowly without rinsing.

• If cooking pasta for a dish that requires a second cook (like mac and cheese), stop boiling even sooner. The pasta will get even softer in the oven as it bubbles with all your toppings.

• Cooked pasta sticks to walls. For a fun time, fling a strand against your backsplash!