Quick Pasta

[tommy]

Quote: from Jason Perlow on 11:58 am on Oct. 22, 2001

The pasta water contains starches which are helpful for allowing sauce to stick to pasta.

with any luck, this (fact) will counter act the anti-sticking substance (oil - fiction) that you seem to want to put in your pasta!! ;)

seriously, my pasta *never* sticks.  i attribute that to a good boil, one that comes back quickly, and to a lot of water.  these three issues are related, in my experience.  skimping on water will lead to a few things:

1) the water takes too long to come back up to a boil after you've added the pasta.  the more water, the more energy, and the faster you get up to boiling.

2) the water becomes too saturated with the starch from the pasta, which leads to a gummy sticky water, which will lead to gummy sticky pasta.

3) the pasta doesn't have a lot of room to move around.  i've read that for long pastas especially, the consistency is affected (in a positive way) by how much it gets to "swim" around your pot in the great rolling boil.

i'm not sure if this is touched on in any of my science of cooking books, but i'll take a look-see.

[Katherine]

" The pasta water contains starches which are helpful for allowing sauce to stick to pasta. Which is why you should never, ever wash your pasta after it has been transferred to the colander because all those starches are on the surface of the pasta."

Don't use a watery sauce, and it will stick just fine.

If your sauce breaks down into a pile of tomato pulp and a pool of splishy-splashy tomato water, there's nothing you can do to get it to stick to the pasta.

[pepperAnn]

I just boil my pasta and eat it!!

Being new to this site, I can see I've got a lot to learn!

[Mabelline]

pepperAnn: Welcome to the big eG! You shall find a multitude of positions, opinions,recommendations, and pure nonsense.

Got to vote for 5 Bros. It's just plain ole good.

Cooking pasta. I've always gone with the method of Craig Claiborne: Start with cold water. That has something to do with the molecules available in cold vs. hot. Bring the water to a furious boil, put pasta in, bring back to boil for 2 minutes, then turn off the burner, cover the pot, and wait 8 minutes. Don't knock it till you try it.Killer!!!

[nessa]

I like the Barilla Black and Green Olive. It used to be called Putanesca, which is what I still call it. I eat it out of the jar. Cold. God I love olives!! It is on the salty side, which doesn't bother me at all.

[Pan]

nessa, do you think they changed the name for PC reasons (puttanesca = in the style of the whore, so-called because it can be prepared quickly, for those times when you just have to get back to your clients )

[Mabelline]

Ah, I got to tell you about my little kid in a fur coat(one of my cats)... green olives drive him absolutely BONZO!!! I always keep some, and my cat Sneaker, will roll on the ground, catch the olive in his mouth, fling it around etc. Has ANYBODY ever seen a cat act like this? Also, both my cats will clean you out of watermelon or cantaloupe, if it's sliced anywhere near them.

[robyn]

Actually my main complaint that night was that I didn't want to cook anything at all and I really had a craving for pizza but the one good pizza place in my delivery radius had stopped delivering at 10:00pm.<p>Robert, can you elaborate on how you'd use some concentrated poultry or veal stock to make a simple sauce for ravioli? Are you saying just add some salt and toss with the pasta? Is that actually good? It's a use for stock I've never thought about.<p>How long does it take you all, from start to finish (from the time you pull the first pot down from the rack and start filling it with water to the time you have pasta on the table), to make pasta and marinara? It takes me about 35-40 minutes, because I use a really big pot of water and it has to come to a boil. So the limitation for me isn't really the time it takes to make the sauce. My resistance to making sauce in that instance had more to do with the labor and cleanup requirements. I also use only whole canned tomatoes, not chopped. The chopped never taste as good to me, and I think based on their taste they typically have too much salt bound up in their molecules. So I force myself into an extra step of deconstructing the canned tomatoes, which means I have to deal with the blender or the food processor, though I've also had decent luck with Martha Stewart's method of using poultry shears right in the can. This yields a pleasantly chunky sauce.<p>I must be in a minority, but I don't buy into the notion that pasta is such an easy meal to make. It is a production requiring multiple utensils and -- even if you use too small a pot of water (which most people do, even professional chefs) -- I can't see getting the process down much below half an hour. <p>In very close to that time, since I always have stock on hand, I can prep and cook risotto. In less than that time, I can cook hamburgers, steaks, chicken parts, chocolate chip cookies, lots of stuff. I think it's more correct to say that cooking pasta can be done in the time it takes to cook the average home meal, and that it requires less skill -- though I can barely stomach a pasta-and-sauce dish made by an unskilled cook.<p>In that time, I can make ten omelettes. My omelette choreography has developed to the point where I can make myself an omelette in about seven minutes, and then I can generate additional ones at two-three minute intervals thereafter. Now that's an easy meal. It is in fact what I had. One omelette, not ten, that is.<p>I've never had a packaged pasta sauce as good as a basic marinara made from high-quality canned whole tomatoes. And I've tried some costing as much as ผ for a jar. The main problems, I think, are that they're too salty, the pepper has lost its flavor in the solution, the herbs have lost their freshness, and these sauces are universally overcooked. You can add more salt or more pepper or more herbs, but then you have too much of each of those things in there.<p>I'll happily spend eight or ten hours, or even three days, cooking a meal I want to cook. But when I'm looking to nourish myself at 10:00pm, and I have work to get done, the pasta meal just isn't on my short list of candidates.

You're right that the determining factor is how long it takes to get a big pot of water to boil. Fastest meal I can put on the table is pasta with pesto - and it never takes less than 30 minutes to boil the water and cook the pasta.

I make fresh pesto during the summer and find that it keeps ok in my refrigerator for about 6 months if I seal the containers with a bit of olive oil (sometimes I grow some mold which I scrape off). You need gobs of fresh basil to make lots of pesto - but basil is easy. All you need is heat and water and sun. Try pots anywhere outside if you don't have a garden - even on a fire escape if you live in New York. I also use the pine nuts from Costco.

If you want something faster - my husband and I buy the Freschette pepperoni (sp?) pizzas from Costco (3 for about $12). While the oven is heating - we cut up onions - peppers - mushrooms - whatever is in the refrigerator. We can usually finish the cutting by the time the oven is heated up. Throw them on the pizza and cook the pizza. This will take about 30 minutes start to finish - including heating the oven - but it's a good pizza - and all you have to clean is your cutting board and knife. Robyn

[robyn]

How long does it take you all, from start to finish (from the time you pull the first pot down from the rack and start filling it with water to the time you have pasta on the table), to make pasta and marinara? It takes me about 35-40 minutes<p>25 minutes tops, even when making a quick homemade sauce out of canned tomatoes. Your pot is too #### big Shaw. :)

How big is yours ? Mine is - default - 8 quarts - for 8-16 ounces of dry pasta. Never timed it - but I think it takes about 20-30 minutes to boil. I'll use a larger pot for things like lasagne noodles - but that's not what we're talking about here.

By the way - I forgot in my last message to recommend boxed Parmalat chopped tomatoes. They make a nice sauce base. Very low salt content. Hope the company doesn't go out of business after all this financial accounting nonsense - don't know what I'd do without their milk and tomatoes. Robyn

[robyn]

I forgot some emoticons in this post and don't have time to do a complete edit this morning. Will post later this weekend when I have the time. Robyn

Edited January 17, 2004 by robyn (log)

[GG Mora]

Here's another quick and delicious treatment for frozen ravioli: drizzle it with good olive oil and balsamic vinegar, sprinkle it with salt, grind on plenty of black pepper and toss in a handful of grated parmesan. Fast & tasty.

If I do use bottled sauce, it's usually Classico. But there's an Italian joint – Bove's – in Burlington VT that bottles their sauce & it's available in my local IGA. A little more expensive, but a little more good, too.

[MRX]

Taragon...add a little taragon to the sauce...also, if you use a pressure cooker, you will be pleased with the results of your sauce.

[Jaymes]

Of those of you that said you've found NO jarred sauces worth your time, I'd like to know how many have tried Mom's? How about Timpone's?

I keep some of each on my shelves just for those late-night emergencies that FG describes. That's because I sometimes get a little kvetchy myself.

[Verjuice]

Jaymes, I have to agree with you about Mom's. It took me completely by surprise, but it is astoundingly good for jarred sauce. I like all of them, but especially the one containing butter and cream.

[Moopheus]

Start with cold water. That has something to do with the molecules available in cold vs. hot.

Hot water out of the tap tends not to have as much dissolved oxygen. When your hot tap water looks cloudy, that's big bubbles of oxygen coming out. What difference this makes to your pasta, I don't know, but I always start with cold water. I usually don't use more than 2 or 3 qts of water, but I'm rarely making more than 1/2-2/3 lb of spaghetti at once. But then, I make my sauce by the gallon, "grandma-style" (or in my case, grandpa-style, since he was the one who made the sauce at my grandparent's house) and freeze it in pints, so that I never run out.

On the other hand, if you need a jar of sauce, you could definitely do a lot worse than the Five Brothers.

Rosie said

Steven--If you want really FAST sauce use ketchup!

It is alleged that when my Jewish father was first dating my Italian mother, he actually did this to my grandfather's pasta, and almost didn't make it out of the house alive. But obviously he did.

Fat Guy said:

I don't like to cook pasta at a rolling boil. I add it to a pot at that temperature, but as the pot comes back to the boil I lower the heat and cook the pasta at a simmer. I don't know if this really makes a difference, but enough chefs have sworn by the method that I'm sticking with it.

My own experience is that if you leave it at a high boil, the pot might start to foam up and overflow; turning the heat down a bit after the boil comes back keeps this from happening.

[Jaymes]

Jaymes, I have to agree with you about Mom's. It took me completely by surprise, but it is astoundingly good for jarred sauce. I like all of them, but especially the one containing butter and cream.

[nessa]

nessa, do you think they changed the name for PC reasons (puttanesca = in the style of the whore, so-called because it can be prepared quickly, for those times when you just have to get back to your clients  )

Yes, Pan, when I saw the name change thats exactly what I thought. Screw this PC crap, its PUTANESCA! It is getting hard to find around here unfortunately even thougth Barilla is everywhere, the putanesca is not.

Edited January 18, 2004 by nessa (log)

[agnolottigirl]

Five Brothers, Muir Glen Organic, and Michelangelo's are all decent when I just can't be bothered. . . . though usually, I come up with something--even if it's oil and black pepper.

[Cusina]

I'm spoiled, my husband spends an afternoon every couple of months making his grandfather's family sauce. It's good to marry an Italian I tell you.

I kind of like Paul Newman's vodka sauce for the cupboard backup. Kind of creamy, cheesy and not so bad. Has a little more flavor to it than some do. Williams Sonoma also sells some very tasty jarred sauce, but you have to be willing to shell out $8 or so for it.

I often bake my ravioli when I need a dinner that is able to have flexible serving times. You need to add a little more sauce this way so it doesn't dry out, but saucy is good.

[bucktown_boffo]

hey everyone, i just discovered this website about a week ago and haven't left the house since! i'm curious how you guys handle leftover sauce. the jar usually just says "refrigerate after opening" -- for me that means use like half a cup, put the rest in the refrigerator, leave there for three months, rediscover, remember how old it is, throw it out without even opening again, then proceed to spend another $6 on another jar. there's gotta be a better way!

[hillvalley]

Welcome to your new addiction Bucktown.

I used to do the same thing until I stopped buying big jars of sauce. If I am not making my own I pick up small Sons of Italy (I think) cans. They have enought for one or two meals, are dirt cheap and taste great with a little doctoring up!

[fifi]

Welcome to eGullet bucktown. This is a fun place to be. You are not addicted, just enlightened.

You brought up a good point that I just thought about. Last night I opened a jar of Mom's putanesca that I found due to Jaymes' recommendation. I only used about a half cup on some rustic pasta I also found. Put the jar in the fridge. I am usually just cooking for me so every few months I am throwing jars out. To compound the problem, I may know that I have a part of a jar in there but want to try that new one. HMMM... I just did that with the new jar of Mom's. There was a perfectly good jar of something else in there (well... maybe not perfectly good) but I opened the new one.

[hillvalley]

Welcome to eGullet bucktown. This is a fun place to be. You are not addicted, just enlightened.

Oh yeah, I forgot

[bucktown_boffo]

thanks guys.

anyone know how long they last after opening? i can't find ANY information on that. take my just opened jar of mom's marinara for instance. on the jar all it says is to refrigerate. i checked their website and there's even less information. my gut tells me probably about a week or two but it'd be nice to know for sure.

also, anyone know if freezing works well?

[KatieLoeb]

Another vote for the Muir Glen organic sauce. Good stuff from the Whole Paycheck.

I've never had a problem putting leftover sauce in small plastic containers with lids and freezing it. However, more often than not it just turns into a penicillin experiment in the back of the fridge and scares the bejesus out of me a few months later...