Cooking

Congratulations for making it to this point. You have successfully made, worked, and shaped your pasta. After you finish this step, your pasta will be ready to eat. I will not cover the eating step, I am sure that you can figure out how eat pasta on your own.

There are two slight variations on cooking pasta. One is to cook it until it is done and top with sauce or anything else and eat it. The other is to cook the pasta to the point that it is almost done and then finish cooking the pasta with the sauce or whatever else it will be served with. The second technique allows the flavors of the pasta companion to be absorbed by the pasta. This is generally the preferred technique, but the choice is up to you. Most the steps of cooking the pasta remain the same, so I have designated the difference below as Version 1 (top pasta) and Version 2 (combine with sauce). Look under resources for a sauce recipe.

Add Water to Pot Pasta requires large quantities of water to cook.
Add Salt Add enough of salt so that the water tastes like seawater.
Cover Pot and turn stove on high I usually start my pot boiling while I am rolling out the dough on my pasta machine. The water is then usually at a boil when I have finished creating my pasta.
Start Heating Sauce (Version 2) If adding the partially cooked pasta to the sauce to finish cooking it, the sauce should be started at this point. The partially cooked pasta will be added to the already hot sauce.
Add Pasta to the boiling pot of salt water Give the pasta a quick stir at this point.
Recover the pot Keep the cover on until the water resumes its boil. Then remove the cover.
Test the pasta (Version 1) In about two minutes the pasta will be done. Taste the pasta to make sure it is finished.
Test the pasta (Version 2) In about a minute, taste the pasta, it should be firm but mostly cooked through.
Drain Pasta Use a colander to drain the pasta.
Top Pasta (Version 1) Top pasta as desired. Serve.
Cook pasta in sauce (Version 2) Add drained pasta to the sauté pan, and finish cooking the pasta for another minute until done. Taste the pasta to ensure that it is finished. Serve.
Enjoy

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