Toscani's five tips on cooking perfect pasta

Tags: Pasta, Cooking Pasta, Italian Cooking, Essentials, Quality Ingredients

Pasta is the essence of Italian cooking and is the pride of every Italian kitchen. The key to an extraordinary and delicious pasta dish is ensuring that you cook the pasta to perfection. Toscani's chef's are skilled at cooking pasta and preparing perfect pasta dishes that will make your mouths water. They would like to share with you the secrets of cooking the perfect pasta, so you to can prepare your own delicious dishes at home.

Tip 1: Use good quality pasta. Poor quality pasta often ends up soggy and sticky. When you purchase your pasta, make sure it is durum wheat semolina pasta.

Tip 2: Always use a very large cooking pot, making sure you have at least 2.25 litres of water to every 225 grams of pasta. Then add 1 level teaspoon of salt to taste. Before the pasta goes in, make sure the water is boiling rapidly. Add pasta quickly and stir just once to separate it.

Tip 3: Don't cover the pot with a lid. If you put a lid on it is likely to boil over the edge of the pot. For top-quality pasta, put a timer on for about 10 – 15 minutes. This varies on the shape and type of pasta you are using, so the only real way to tell is to do a taste test.

Tip 4: When the pasta is cooked to perfection, pour into a colander and stir to get rid of excess water. Don't drain too much; it is good to have a few drops of moisture still clinging to the pasta to prevent it from going dry.

Tip 5: Serve the pasta on deep warmed plates to keep it hot. You don't want it to go cold as it will go sticky and gluey, so serve it Presto Pronto! – soon and quickly!

At Toscani's we pay passionate attention to cooking the perfect pasta. We want you to savor and enjoy your favorite pasta dishes like our Fettuccini Carbonara and Spaghetti Bolognaise. We hope these tips now help you to also create perfect pasta dishes for your friends and family at home.