Skinny Italian: Eat It and Enjoy It (12 page)

As soon as the water has started to boil, add a tablespoon of salt. Let the salt dissolve, and then add the pasta.

Step 3
•
Stir the Pot

To keep pasta from sticking together,
you want to give it a stir every once in a while. For spaghetti, don’t lay it in a clump on one side of the pot. Hold it in the middle of the pot and then open your hand and let it fall to all sides, sort of like an upside-down teepee.

Step 4
•
Boil Until
Al Dente

Al dente
means “to the tooth,”
and it means the pasta is ready to be drained when it still has a tiny, tiny “bite” to it. Not too firm, but not mushy, either.

There is no perfect amount of time because every pasta brand and shape and amount you are cooking will be different. Look at the time recommendations on the box, and start taste-testing from the pot two minutes before you think it’s done.

Step 5
•
Drain but Do NOT Rinse

As soon as your pasta is finished cooking,
drain it in a colander right away. If you leave it in the pot because you’re afraid it will get cold, you will have a mushy noodle mess.

Shake the water off the pasta, but don’t rinse it at all. I don’t know where this rumor started, but if you wash all the starch off it, the sauce won’t stick and you’ll have a slimy dish.

Step 6
•
Don’t Use Oil

Italian pasta is perfect on its own.
It doesn’t need any oil poured over it until you’re adding your dressings. If you pour oil over the pasta when it’s in the colander, you’re basically just pouring money down the sink.

Do You Come Here Often? Famous Pasta Pairings

I know I said you can mix and match whatever pasta with whatever sauce you want. Still true. There are no rules. But for those of you that want to know the most classic pairings, I will help a sister out.

Generally, you put smooth sauces like a marinara on long pasta, and you use shorter shapes with holes and ridges for chunky sauces (so the pasta can cling to the vegetable or meaty bit). Here are some traditional pairings:

Before I leave you with my favorite pasta recipes, I wanted to give you one more little Italian lesson. Pasta shapes are named after things in Italy, so learning the proper name is an easy way to start learning Italian. (And, to be honest, I can’t stand in the pasta aisle one more second and hear people mangle the pronunciation!) Here are my favorites. Learn how to say them correctly, and please, please tell all your friends.

CAVATAPPI
(CAV-vah-top-pee)
•
I know there are a million spiral pasta shapes, but
cavatappi
actually means “corkscrew” in Italian. Somehow, there’s a way to turn this into a curse word, I just know it . . .

CONCHIGLIE
(con-KEEL-yay)
•
In Italian, this word means “shells,” and the pasta is shaped just like shells. This one is a bitch to pronounce, though, if you don’t speak Italian, so you’re welcome.

DITALINI
(dee-tah-LEE-nee)
•
This adorable pasta means “little thimbles.” So yummy in soups!

FARFALLE
(far-FALL-lay)
•
I can kind of see the bow-tie connection (but since when do bow ties have jagged edges?), but
farfalle
means “butterfly” in Italian. Much sweeter, no?

FETTUCCINE
(fay-too-CHEE-nay)
•
In Italian,
fetta
means a “slice” or a “ribbon,” so
fettuccine
is “little ribbons.”

FUSILLI
(foo-ZEE-lee)
•
Fusilli
comes from the Italian word for “spindle,” which makes sense because these long, spiral noodles used to be formed by hand around knitting needles. My main concern here, though, is that you begin the word with “foo” and not “few.”

LINGUINE
(lin-GWEEN-ay)
•
This is a sexy one because
linguetta
means “tongue” in Italian, so you’re slurping down “little tongues.” (Or maybe they’re slurping you . . . ?)

ORECCHIETTE
(oh-reck-ee-ET-tay)
•
I’m going to admit, this pasta shape kind of freaks me out. In Italian,
orecchio
is “ear,” so this pasta is really “small ears.” And if you look at them, they even have little veins in them and stuff. Kind of creepy. But it does give your mouth a nice massage (and if you can learn to say this one, you’ll definitely impress the girls).

RUOTE
(roo-OH-tay) and
Rotelle
(row-TELL-ay)
•
Ruote
means “wheels” in Italian, and
rotelle
means “little wheels,” so pick one and use it. I never want to hear “wagon wheels” to describe Italian pasta again. (And yes, I know that some pasta companies also use the word
rotelle
on their fat spiral shapes, but I don’t care. Just as long as we never use “wagon wheels” again.)

STROZZAPRETTI
(stroat-zah-PRAY-tee)
•
This pasta looks sort of like a small, rolled-up towel, and it’s one of my favorites for the name alone. In Italian, it means “priest stranglers.” Don’t get me wrong; I love priests as much as the next good Italian girl. But according to a legend in Italy, a priest actually suffocated to death while eating this kind of pasta, so they renamed it. I find that kind of hilarious. You’d better have good manners when you eat in Italy, or they might name a pasta after you! (It’s worth serving this kind of pasta just to be able to tell the story at the dinner table.)