How many pasta dishes are there?

Answer 1

There are other ways, such as microwaving (which isn't so good, and reduces your control over the cooking process), but the way to achieve perfect pasta is to bring approximately a litre of water to 100g (a quart to 4 oz) of pasta to the boil. When it reaches a fast boil, add about a teaspoon of salt per litre, add the pasta and cover the pot until it returns to the boil. Use long tongs to stir it. Remove the lid as soon as the pasta boils again. You can use packet instructions as a guide, but only as a guide; the way to be sure when your pasta is ready is to keep tasting it. Once the pasta is perfect, turn off the heat, throw in a cup of cold water, and tip the lot into a colander in the sink. At this stage you can use the tongs to stir in a little olive oil. I don't believe it's worth taking the trouble to cook less than half a kilo (1 lb) at a time. Since most dried pasta comes in half-kilo packages, this is convenient. If you won't use it all you can (I hope no Italians are reading this!) rinse what's left in cold water, let it drain and put it into a freezer bag. It'll keep in the fridge for a few days and is easily reheated in the microwave or a pan. I've served pasta reheated in this way to Italians and they don't know the difference. The important thing is to remember it goes on cooking in the colander, so it must be just under al dente when you remove it from the heat. The other important thing is to remember you've a big pot of rapidly boiling water in your kitchen and you mustn't wander off to do other things, especially if you have children or pets around.

Answer 2

These are the 8 simple steps to cook a good pasta.

1) Be sure the pasta you are going to cook is made in Italy and of good quality, otherwise don't bother about it being bad.

2) Check the cooking time on the pasta's package. Every kind of pasta has it's own time for proper cooking, but keep it just as a hint, you choose when it's ready.

3) Put some water in a big pot with a lid and make it boil.

4) When it boils remove the lid and put in a handful of coarse sea salt.

5) Remove the lid and throw in the pasta, if it's spaghetti before doing so break them in two, it would be easier to cook them properly and to eat them! In Italy we do so.

6) Stir many times while cooking for the appropriate time as described on step2, but remember to taste it many times during the cooking so you can choose when it's ready by yorself. We eat it "al dente" when it's soft but not too much.

7) Use a colander to dry from water.

8) Mix it with the sauce in a bowl, add Italian Parmigiano cheese if you like it, and enjoy!

Tip:

If you don't have Italian Parmigiano cheese or another Italian cheese such as Pecorino, don't add any cheese, or you'll ruin it. Pasta is very good even without cheese, for example i eat it always without cheese on, it's a matter of tastes, it's not essential.

This is how to do a good and simple sauce for your pasta:

(we call it simply "Pomodoro e Basilico" that means "Tomato and Basil")

For three people you need:

a big onion or two small ones,

some leaves of basil,

1 can of natural Tomato Juice (please not ketchup!),

extravirgin olive oil (must be olive and not seeds or other)

salt

1) Cut the onions in small pieces

2) Put some extravirgin olive oil in a pan and heat up

3) Put in the onions and let them fry for a while, when they get a little brownish (but not burnt!) add the tomato juice.

4) Let it cook for a while, until it boils. When it starts boiling add the basil leaves and keep stirring for about 5 minutes, then turn off the fire.

5) Your sauce is ready for the pasta! You can prepare this while the water for pasta is boiling, so that when it's done everything will be ready, otherwise you can prepare it some time before cooking the pasta to be sure, but not after, pasta is good when it's hot, just made. After it gets bad without the sauce.

Tip:

If you have left some pasta with sauce over, you can store it in a container in fridge for a few days, then when you want you can take it out and put it in a pan with a lid adding some olive oil to heat it up, it's very good also!

Pasta can be eaten with lots of different sauces, in Italy we usually eat it with Pomodoro e Basilico, Ragù, Spezzatino, Carbonara, Amatriciana, Puttanesca, Pesto, Sugo ai Formaggi, ai Funghi, ai Frutti di Mare, alle Verdure, ecc...

It changes from a region to another and there are a lot of recipes trough all Italy. Remember Northern and Southern Italy are very different, both with good flavours and recipes. I suggest you to go in Italy and try by yourself!

Answer 3

There is over 100 recipes for pasta........but the main ones are like mac and cheese, spaghetti bolongese and lasagna