how do you cook pasta?

Question

how much water should one use when cooking pasta (ravioli)? How long should you cook it for? DO you put the pasta in before or after it boils?

Answer 1

You need enough water that will cover the pasta. You could never really put too much water. Just not so close to the top because then when it boils it might spill. Remember that when water boils it gets evaporated so you will loose some water. Also, salt the water, put it to boil first, then add the pasta. Then drain and your done :) Hope I helped.

Answer 2

The amount of water used will vary according to the amount of pasta. A "safe" bet is to use 2 - 21/2 times the water i.e. if cooking 3 cups of pasta use 6-8 cups of water. Salt the water (if desired) and bring to a boil. For ravioli the rule of thumb is to let it cook till it floats on top of the pot and then check the pasta part of the rav for "doneness". Hope this helps.

Answer 3

Use 2 cups of water for every cup of pasta noodles-add the water and a pinch of salt to the pot together and bring to a boil. Once the water is at a rolling boil add the pasta bring it back to a rolling boil again. Reduce the heat to medium high and continue boing until the pasta has reached the desired tenderness/softness and then remove from heat and drain using a colender. Wash the pasta with cold water to stop it from continuing to cook from its own heat and to wash away as much of the released starch a possible. Now add a drop or two of olive oil or vegetable oil or melted butter/margarine to the cooked pasta to keep the noodles from sticking together. Now serve with your selected sauce-this will work for ravioli too but you may want to hold the fat from the last step as most ravioli has a filling that will bleed oil out to handle this step.

Answer 4

The patsa should fill 1/2 of the water. You have to wait until the water boils before you put in the pasta or it will either be too tough or too soft. If you make the pasta itself from scratch it shouldn't take too long too cook but if you get it from the bag it may take a while.

Answer 5

The joke is that people say of a new cook, "she can't boil water"--but water boiling is the most complicated thing anyone does in a kitchen.

Here's the formula, step by step, as I Iearned it and perfected it in a Greek restaurant.

1. Fill a large enough pot with water. You can't have too much, it will just take longer to boil. Add at least four quarts and a half a quart for one pound of thin spaghetti, etc.--you'll lose some in boiling.
2. Add a capful of olive oil to the water; some use salt but it isn't necessary-- so it boils more evenly--and stir it a bit.
3. Put a perforated metal cover (a lid with holes in it) on the pot over the water.
5. Set a timer for fifteen minutes; it should start making noises as gas molecules escape about then--between 14 and 18 minutes.
6. Break spaghetti into thirds and set it into another bowl or pot while waiting.
7. Get a large dish and a colander out, also a large spoon, a fork and a good potholder.
8. When the water boils, let it boil a full minute, at what is called a full rolling boil.
9. Add the spaghetti a bit slowly to prevent splashing.
10. Stir all around and under with the large spoon when you do add it--to prevent sticking or clumping.
11. Allow heat to come back to a full boil, replacing cover, then reduce it to five on electric, just slightly on gas stove.
12. Set timer for whatever your package of spaghetti says, plus two minutes.
13. Stir the spaghetti as it cooks every two minutes, to prevent sticking, using the potholder for safety.
14. When you're within four minutes of the time set, use potholder to pick up lid and get a few strands with the fork; run water on these and taste to see how close they are to being tender enough, but firm. Use your best guess.
15. Replace the lid until the timer goes off. You could reset the timer at this point for a little longer if needed. Rarely, the pasta water may rise a bit near the end, so keep an eye on it; you would turn the heat down a bit if that happened.
16. When the timer has run out, the pasta should be done;
so turn off the heat immediately.
17. Wait one minute, and stir once more. Then pour the spaghetti into a colander in the sink.
18. Follow directions on the package; it may say no rinsing is necessary, or advise using cold water for a salad dish and hot if you're going to eat the spaghetti hot. Do whatever it says to do. Almost no pasta should stick to the pot.
19. Shake the colander side to side to rid the pasta of as much water as possible.
20. Add spaghetti to platter, bowl or large dish.
21. Add whatever you wish. the simplest is olive oil, basil and some parsley or chives of choice. Or diced tomatoes, a tomato sauce pre-heated on another burner, meatballs,
pre-sauteed yellow onion and mixed sweet peppers, or leftover meat of choice. You can also add a can of young peas, garbanzo beans, precooked string beans cut up, white kidney beans, green or black diced olives, etc.

Let the spaghetti cool for a salad and add Ranch or Creamy Caesar dressing, the amount of mayo or Miracle Whip you want, and whatever else you want in such a salad--diced salami, scallion rounds, diced peppers, two shakes of seasoned salt, or garlic salt, pepper if desired, grated Romano or Provolone cheese or diced pickled sweet red peppers; or diced young celery, cut up mixed tomatoes, and leftover chicken, etc., etc.
Enjoy!

Answer 6

It depends on how much pasta you're cooking. You want to boil the water first and then add the pasta. You let it cook for about 7-10 minutes or until tender.

Answer 7

Depends on how much ravioli. Like for a pound of linguini I'll use a pot that can handle 12+ cups of water. For a little package of ravioli I'll use my 2 quart saucepan. Just bring the water to a boil, toss in some salt, return to a boil, and then toss in the pasta and just time it according to the package and drain.

Answer 8

boil water with a little bit of oil. put pasta in the boiling water. you will need about half a pan of water depending on how much pasta your cooking. boil pasta untill it's soft but not too soft. or untill it sticks to the wall.lol

Answer 9

Boil in a 2 qt (nearly full) saucepan for usually 7-10 minutes (depending on package instructions) add pasta after water begins to boil.

Answer 10

fill the pot 3/4ths with water put a dash of salt in it then wait for it to boil after it starts to boil add the pasta noodles and in about 15 minutes they should be done.......i am very surprised that anyone would not know how to cook pasta......