Food - Drink
The Best Way To Cool Pasta For Pasta Salad
By JOHN J LEE
When cooking your pasta for your pasta salad, most people will just run the pasta under cold water or even shock it in an ice bath to halt the cooking process and to just generally cool it down. While this method might work decently well, there's an even better technique that will result in deliciously tender pasta.
Running the pasta under cold water produces a beautifully tender pasta, but it can also result in some less-than-creamy pasta salads. As an alternative, consider transferring the cooked pasta to a sheet tray, lightly coating it with oil, and letting it sit for approximately 30 minutes before putting the pasta in the refrigerator to cool even further.
Another thing to keep in mind is to make sure the water is boiling before you put the pasta in, season the dish properly, and always save that pasta water. You can get the most deliciously tender and flavorful pasta by cooking your pasta salad just a little bit past al dente, which will guarantee that the dressing penetrates into the noodles.