Well, my Dear, last time @rambo @missy and @lyxzen asked us
2/10: How is it made?
Specifically, Rambo says "We'd love for you to choose something you find really interesting and teach us how its made! :)"
So, long story short, you're asking an italian "How is it made?". What should I teach but pasta??
In a time when a FB page that you surely know (that's Tasty, of course) go on publishing TOTAL BULLSHIT using some kind of pasta, willing to give us advice about cooking, but what I (and many other italians) see is only a big waste of food and energy, I felt somehow obliged to teach something useful.
FIRST OF ALL: YOU DON'T COOK ONE-POT PASTA.
That's not the way you cook pasta, please, if you start cooking it right you'll see the difference and you'll never go back again... You know, once you go AL DENTE you never go back.
One-pot cooking means YOU DON'T CONTROL how much time pasta goes on boiling. That basically means it will get OVERCOOKED. That means: you're going to eat a blob. That sucks.
Does that even look like food?
It look cheesey and tasty, but, really, is that food?
CHICKEN IN PASTA IS ONLY A WAY TO MAKE CHILDREN EAT MEAT
Basically, we have a whole world of pasta sauces, but none is with chicken, I've never eaten pasta and chicken in my whole life. I heard about some chicken-ragù (tomato sauce with minced meat, not that easy to make) that some grandma used to cook for their grandchildren to make them eat some meat, as children often don't like red meat.
LESS IS MORE
Don't put more than 4/5 ingredients in a pasta sauce. You should feel those 4/5 ingredients and taste them totally, not feel something "tasty" that basically tastes like nothing and everything at the same time.
Tha kind of pasta that I truly love is one of the simpliest one: spaghetti with tomato sauce. Tomato sauce mens: boiled tomato juice and pulp (you buy it in bottles, but also many families, most in the south, are used to make it with their own tomatoes, and that's great), a clove of garlic, some oil and, if you want, fresh basil. I'll tell you how to make it later.
Now, let's go on with the basic: if you stop looking in your fridge asking yourself "should I put that too?" the answer is probably NO.
PASTA NEED TO BE BOILED IN SALTED WATER
On the box you bought there's a little number followed by the word "min." That's how much time pasta shall stay in boiling water. That's super easy, my brother could make pasta himself when he was 11, I trust in your skills.
If you still don't trust clocks and the pasta box, taste it by yourself while it's cooking and remember: "al dente" litterally means "to the tooth", it could make no sense for you, but that means thet you should feel pasta between your teeth, DON'T OVERCOOK PASTA. PLEASE. I BEG YOU. ITALY BEGS YOU. PLEASE.
Now, you have the basic. Let's move to the second step: HOW TO.
My fav. one: Spaghetti al Pomodoro (spaghetti tomato sauce)
I love it with some red hot pepper, but it's up to you.
Things you need:
1st. 100 grams of pasta for each person. Many people say "80 grams each", but that's few, I think.
2nd. tomato sauce. Check the ingredients, they should be "tomatoes (at least 90%), salt" NOTHING ELSE
3rd. 1/2 cloves of garlic OR 1 small onion
4th. olive extravirgin oil
5th. red hot pepper (on your taste)
6th. coarse salt
7th. sugar (I like to use the brown one) IF NEEDED
8th. fine salt IF NEEDED
HOW TO
Put a pot of water on the fire and wait for it to boil, in the meanwhile put a saucepan on another fire (a small one should be fine).
Put a bit of olive extravirgin oil in the saucepan, light up the fire and wait until the oil is hot (DON'T BURN IT DEAR!! Low heat), peel a clove of garlic (or two, on your taste), smash it under your hand/a knofe/whatever and you'll peel it easily. Put the garlic in the oil and let it leave its taste, still, don't burn it.
That's your mantra: DON'T-BURN-IT.
When the garlic is done, and you feel it's going to burn, add the tomato sauce, mix it all and let it sowly boil (the sound shall be "blop...blop...blop" not "blblblblblblblblblblblb!!!"), cover it and let it a bit open putting the wooden spoon between the saucepan and its cover. Mix it often using the cover as a shield against all the tomato drops that will try to kill you ;)
In the meanwhile the pasta water is boiling, so add some coarse salt (arond 40 grams, that's a handful) and the pasta, in this case: spaghetti. Use them the size they're sold, DON'T CRUSH THEM FOR ANY REASON. Use a chronometer and check the timing for cooking pasta. Let spaghetti under the water and cover it until it starts back boiling, when it boils let it uncovered and mix it every now and then.
Taste the sauce and check if it needs salt and/or sugar, my mom is from Sicily and teached me to counteract the acid taste of tomato with sugar, but my friend from Calabria is not used to do that. I like tomato sauce to be a bit sweet, but if the sause is a good one I don't add any salt or sugar. Add some red hot pepper if you like. Nothing else is admitted.
When the timer rings pasta is ready, so drain it and put it in the dishes, add the tomato sauce and, if you like, add some fresh basil.
THAT'S IT.
It should look like this one:
To your taste you can add fresh olive extravirgin oil and/or Parmigiano cheese.
Enjoy, and forget all the tipical american bullshit that will make you sick and fat.
When you'll manage this, we could speak about Spaghetti alla Carbonara. Not that easy, but goddamn, they're my way to Heaven!
So, if italian food made me grew up this way, I think it could be worth a try!
(PH Adee Scardigno)
(PH: Gianluca Festinese)
Let me know how it turns out, and enjoy your pasta!
With love,
Brunhild
