Cooking Tips

It is important to have the correct pasta shape to pair with your sauce. You want the sauce to bind to the pasta or for the pasta to absorb the sauce. Using the wrong pasta shape can cause the flavor to be lost, or for the sauce to dry up. When choosing a shape, you have to think about how heavy a noodle is compared to how thick the sauce is. To balance everything out, pair a hearty pasta shape like a rigatoni, with a hearty sauce like a bolognese. If you are having a lighter sauce, like pasta with zucchini, you can use spaghetti or smaller noodles. For a pesto, you can use spaghetti or even fusilli, because the twists in the pasta shape ensure the sauce clings onto the noodles.

You always want to cook your pasta in a large pan. Make sure you salt the boiling water like the ocean. Do not cook your pasta all the way through, but instead drain your pasta 3-4 minutes before it is done cooking, and save around a cup of pasta water. Add your pasta to the sauce and gradually add the water you saved. The starch that has been released in the water acts like a glue, which gives the pasta a creamy consistency. When the pasta and the sauce is a good consistency, you want to remove the pan from the heat and add cheese or olive oil (if the dish calls for it). You want to mix all of the ingredients together to create an emulsion. This technique is called mantecatura, and it is essential in elevating a pasta dish. 

The secret of Italian cuisine lies in its simplicity. It is all about quality over quantity. You want every single ingredient to stand out and be the star of the show. You never want one ingredient to overpower the other. You need good quality pasta (my favorite brands are Di Cecco or Garofalo,) seasonal and fresh vegetables, good quality olive oil and simple seasoning. You never want to overdo it with seasoning. You want to use just enough where it brings out the flavor of the ingredients, but not too much where it takes away the flavor of the other ingredients. All you need is salt, fresh garlic (never use garlic powder) and fresh basil. 

Cheese intensifies the flavors of your pasta dish and adds a nice texture. The most commonly used cheese for pasta is Parmigiano Reggiano. It is made from cow's milk and has a sharp rich flavor. Use this for all of your pasta dishes, except those with fish and shellfish because it can overpower the flavor of the fish. If you want a sharper flavor, use Pecorino Romano, as it is more tangy and made from sheep's milk. Stray away from mozzarella unless you are making a crudaoila. Mozarella is not a dry cheese, so it melts and clumps in your sauce and does not incorporate well. If you are making pasta with tomato sauce, top it with some ricotta cheese as it adds a nice creamy texture to your pasta. 

I picked up this technique one summer while I was watching my grandmother make pesto. She cut potatoes into small cubes and added them into the pasta water. Then when the pasta was ready, she took the potatoes out with the pasta and added them into the sauce. The soft potatoes blended in perfectly with the pasta sauce and made everything so much creamier. 

Italian recipes are mainly passed down orally, so it is often difficult to try and find exact measurements for dishes. When I was learning how to cook, my family never gave me measurements, but instead I just watched and figured it out on my own. I was told to add  “quanto basta” which means “just enough.” This means that it is up to the individual to decide how much enough is. This gives you creative license and allows you to personalize a dish however you like.