The Way To Ensure Your Sauce Covers Every Bite Of Pasta
Pasta is supposed to be one of the easiest dishes out there, right? It should be as easy as boiling water, but there are still plenty of ways to screw it up. Without the proper know-how, it's easy for the pasta to overcook, stick together in a big ball, or just end up bland and tasteless. It can be challenging to coat your pasta in its sauce perfectly. Yes, you can just dump some marinara out of a jar onto spaghetti, but you'll likely end up with tasteless, naked noodles, or a puddle of sauce left in your dish after eating.
So, next time you're hungry for your favorite Italian dish, there is a simple way to give it an upgrade. The good news is that it doesn't even take any extra, pricey ingredients. Yes, you can still upgrade to some fresh pasta, though you may not need to. This easy trick actually uses all the ingredients you'll already have on hand.
Dress the pasta like a salad
No matter what your favorite sauce is, you'll want it to coat every inch of your pasta. You don't want the nooks and crannies of your pasta to go un-sauced. Luckily, there's an easy approach that can help it better cling to your pasta and elevate your meal. Institute of Culinary Education instructor and chef Frank Proto told Eat This, Not That his secret is to think of dressing the pasta like a salad. To do this, he suggests heating your pasta sauce in a separate pan while the pasta cooks. Once it's finished, take it directly from the water into the pan and toss it until it's completely coated and 'dressed' sufficiently like a salad.
The key to this is to add some of the extra pasta water as you go. According to The Kitchn, the sauce will absorb the starches present in the water and act as a thickening agent. They also help the sauce cling to the pasta's surface. Doing this while tossing the pasta in the sauce ensures that every inch of your pasta is sufficiently coated. It also helps to use the proper amount of water as well. Pasta water with more concentrated starch levels helps the sauce cling without making things too watery. The Kitchn also recommends going a step further by undercooking your pasta, and letting it finish in the sauce.