How do I stop my fresh pasta sticking before I cook it?

Answer 1

Dust with flour like already mentioned (before you take it through the pasta machine). You can spread the fresh pasta on a kitchentowel and cover with another towel for the next layer

(The answers "with oil" is *during* cooking, but not quite necesarry if the water is boiling well before you put in the pasta)

Answer 2

Cooking Pasta the Right Way

Cooking pasta the right way... We could do a whole class just on this subject. After all, if your pasta isn't properly cooked, no sauce can mask its shortcomings. So here are ten things to keep in mind when cooking pasta...

1. First of all, start with a big pot. None of those squat pans, and no need for nonstick unless you happen to have only a nonstick stockpot.

2. Bring 4 cups of water to a boil for every 3 and 1/2 ounces of pasta you intend to cook. The water should be at a rolling boil when you add the pasta.

3. Add about 1 tablespoon of salt per quart of water when the water comes to a boil (if you add it earlier, it will simply make the water come to a boil more slowly).

4. Don't add oil! The pasta won't stick together unless you don't stir it often enough as it cooks. (Adding oil to the water will create a slippery surface on the pasta; the sauce will adhere poorly to the pasta when it's time to combine the two.)

5. Add the pasta all at once, and stir with a long-handled tool. If you are making long pasta, keep stirring until it becomes supple, loses rigidity, and is entirely submerged in the water.

6. Keep the water boiling the whole time as the pasta cooks: to do this, cover the pot with a lid. (If the pasta water is not boiling, the outside of the pasta will be overcooked by the time the inside is al dente.)

7. Stir the pasta every minute or so. This is crucial to prevent sticking and to ensure even cooking.

8. Check often to see how the pasta is coming along, and drain it when it's al dente (meaning to the tooth, because it should offer a little bite when it's drained): there should still be a thin white dot at the center. (Pasta drained when it is al dente has been shown to be more easily digested by the human organism... So it's not just a matter of taste!)

9. Reserve about 1 cup of the cooking water before you drain the pasta. Use as much of this reserved pasta cooking water as needed to thin out your sauce (this allows you to cut down on olive oil or butter). Also, because the pasta cooking water is so rich in starch, it helps the sauce bind to the pasta--making for pasta with a lovely, velvety quality. And, the residual heat in the reserved pasta cooking water will help your pasta stay hot for longer...

10. NEVER rinse pasta after you drain it, even if you plan to serve the pasta cold: it will wash out the starch and much of the flavor. (To cool drained pasta for use in cold dishes, toss it with a touch of olive oil and spread it out on a large tray until it reaches room temperature--about 15 minutes.)

Your pasta is now ready to toss with sauce in a heated bowl or large skillet... Buon appetito!

Answer 3

Add a little olive oil to the water before cooking, then rinse the pasta in cold water once it's done cooking.

Answer 4

I would usually add a teaspoon of olive oil give the water a stir then add the pasta, i usually find that giving the pasta a stir half way through cooking also does the trick.

Answer 5

Add a drop of olive oil to boiling water before adding pasta. Stir the pasta once it hits the water to seperate.

Answer 6

I cook pasta everyday and it's never sticking...
No olive oil or anything added, just enough salt, just put enough water, like 1litre of water for 100gramms of pasta, stir the pasta every minute and just one minute before you think it's finish, you drain the pasta and sauce it with whatever you ant. Pasta always cooks some more, even after you think it's finished, that's why you have to drain it one minute before it's done...There's non need to put cold water on it after its cooking.

Answer 7

You stop it sticking after you have cooked it by draining it when it is still slighly firm (the Italians call this al dente) returning it to the heat with the heat turned down and stirring in a little olive oil or butter or if you have to, sunflower oil. Only a little but it adds to the flavour and stops it sticking

Answer 8

there's no need to put oil in the water if you make sure you add the pasta when the water is at a 'rolling' boil and stir it a couple of times during cooking.....
fresh pasta, mmmm.

Answer 9

put a little oil in water before placing pasta and and stir every once in a while. when pasta is cooked place under cold running water until ready to use.

Answer 10

Put olive oil in the cooking water when you add the pasta -I never measure- -I guess about 1Tablespoonof oil.