Italian food is one of my family’s favorite cuisines. When I serve it at my house, it draws everyone to the dinner table.
I can’t think of any other everyday meal that gets everybody’s attention and brings the family together like a great pasta dish. Pasta is easy and quick to prepare and one of the most affordable meals you can feed your family.
Pasta is a perfect foundation for a healthy and nutritious meal, especially with the whole-grain varieties available today. It is low in sodium and cholesterol free. Generally, pasta is paired with a food partner, such as an antioxidant rich tomato sauce, poultry, lean meats, fiber-filled vegetables, beans and protein-packed cheese.
Pasta is also a comfort food for families and a treasured staple in family meals around the world.
Pasta is made from the simplest ingredients — flour and water — to form a dough and comes in two forms — fresh and dried. Fresh pasta usually includes eggs, while dried pasta is made without. Dried egg noodles are an exception — eggs or egg yolks are added in addition to flour and water; this addition is the main difference between a dried noodle and pasta such as macaroni or spaghetti.
Pasta dough can be made from various grains such as rice and wheat, but the best-dried pasta is made from semolina, which is coarse flour ground from durum wheat. Semolina is a hard wheat with high protein content. This hardness allows the pasta to keep its shape when cooked.
When choosing boxed pasta, look for 100 percent semolina or durum wheat on the label. Dried pastas are available in a wide range of shapes, sizes and colors that have been tinted red with tomato paste or beet juice, and green with spinach. Choose fresh pasta by its expiration date — the fresher the better. Fresh noodles can be cut into flat, thick or thin strips of various lengths, as well as into squares.
Here is a basic rule of thumb to pair pasta with sauce: Thin, delicate pasta like angel hair is suitable for light, thin sauces such as oil and garlic. Thicker, straight pasta such as spaghetti or fettuccine is appropriate for heavier sauces like alfredo or pesto. Shaped pasta, or pasta with edges or holes like farfalle or macaroni, is a good choice for chunky sauces. Dried pasta goes best with tomato or oil-based sauces and fresh egg pasta works well with butter, cream and cheese sauces.
When should you rinse your pasta? Only rinse the pasta if it is to be used cold, as in a salad or when you want to stop the cooking process. Starches on the cooked pasta help the sauce cling to each noodle. Rinsing the pasta removes these starches. I like to toss hot pasta with the hot sauce, which allows the pasta to absorb more sauce and flavor. I do this by scooping the cooked pasta out of the water with a big ladle-type strainer or spaghetti fork. I let the pasta drain over the pot for a few seconds and then dump it into the hot sauce. I add quite a bit of salt to my pasta water, which brings out the flavor of the pasta as it cooks and swells. I also add a small amount of the pasta water to my sauce to help thicken the mixture and it helps eliminate the need for additional salt in the sauce.
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