

Toss the pasta in your sauce and serve. If you are not using the pasta right away, toss with a little extra virgin olive oil and add the sauce before serving.Return the test piece to the pot and let cook another minute and test again as soon as the broken piece is a uniform, translucent yellow, drain the pasta.If you see a thin white line or white dot(s) in the middle of the pasta, it's not done yet. You want either an al dente, or chewy "to the tooth" texture or slightly softer-not soft, limp pasta. When the water comes to a boil, remove the cover and add 1 tablespoon of coarse sea salt (a little less if it's fine-grained) per quart of water.


Cover the pot and set it to boil over high heat. A minute before the estimated pasta cooking time is up, remove a piece of the pasta to check for doneness. Fill a pot with 1 quart (4 cups) of water per serving of pasta.Stir the pasta occasionally as it cooks to keep the pieces from sticking to each other or to the pot.Thick dried durum wheat (eggless) pasta (penne, ziti, tortigioni, trofie): 12 to 15 minutes. Dried spaghetti is generally 8 to 9 minutes, depending on the brand and thickness. Thin, dried durum wheat (eggless) pasta (spaghettini, shells, rotini): 6 to 9 minutes. If no time is given, follow these rules-of-thumb, but be careful to check the pasta often for doneness as it cooks: - Fresh pasta, especially egg pasta (fettucine, tagliatelle, lasagna): 3 to 5 minutes. Check the pasta package for pasta cooking time.Wait for the water to return to the second boil. When the water comes back to a rolling boil, add the pasta and give it a good stir with a pasta spoon or wooden spoon to separate the pieces.When the water comes to a boil, remove the cover and add 1 tablespoon of coarse sea salt (a little less if it's fine-grained) per quart of water.Fill a pot with 1 quart (4 cups) of water per serving of pasta.
