SOME TIPS ON COOKING PASTA
- For every 100g pasta, use 1 litre of water and a little salt added when the water is boiling.
- Stir frequently.
- Drain the pasta when it is 'al dente' - not only because it tastes better, but also because it is easier to digest. In order to stop the cooking, you can add a glass of cold water to the pan before draining the pasta.
- Do not re-heat pasta which has been previously cooked and not eaten as it is less digestible.
- An unusual way of cooking pasta with sauce is to put the dry pasta in an appropriate dish with a relatively liquid sauce directly on it and cook in the oven at a low heat.
- According to gastronomic research, there are at least 9,000 sauces in the different Italian regions, but it is easy to create your own and combine this with the appropriate pasta shape.
- Thin pasta such as spaghettini are better with sauces based on tomato, oil and vegetables rather than heavy, sticky sauces with cheese etc. Short, medium sized pasta are better with butter and grated cheese. Short, thick pasta are appropriate for both simple and elaborate sauces.
- Having drained the pasta, put it into the saucepan in which you have prepared the sauce and cook for a further 2 minutes. This way, the pasta will absorb the sauce perfectly.
- Pasta does not make you fat - it is your diet as a whole that should be considered, not one individual item in it. A daily helping of 60-80g pasta has approximately 210-290 kcal. You must remember to add the calories for the sauce, of course.
View Nestlé Nutrition Information for Pasta & Cheese
