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Pasta worthy of a chef
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| Knowing how to cook pasta to just the right point is already a good beginning, but true chefs also manage to impart their special touch after draining the pasta. Here are some simple but important techniques for mixing the sauce with the pasta while it is still hot. |
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You just need a few utensils. All you really need is a large frying pan with a strong handle in which to toss the pasta and sauce before serving. Frying pans with titanium bottoms, indestructible, even after years of hard use, are the dream of all aspiring cooks, despite their high cost. Non-stick pans will serve our purposes but they don't last long, while the classic frying pans in aluminum combine toughness with great ease of use, not to mention their affordable price.
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If you intend to give the pasta a final touch by tossing it in the frying pan, then you'll have to take it off the flame and drain it a bit sooner than usual, given the fact that the cooking process continues even after its out of the boiling water. Before adding the sauce, it should always be heated to avoid mixing hot pasta with cold sauce, a dismal combination that would hardly yield the desired results. For the maximum effect, the pasta should be blended with the sauce while the frying pan is not over a flame and then the combination should be tossed over a lively flame, only adding the grated cheese just before preparing the individual servings.
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Tossing the pasta also constitutes an excellent moment for adding your fresh aromatic herbs, ingredients that should never be cooked for very long in the sauce. If you are using basil, it's a good idea to remember that the leaves should be torn up by hand just a few moments before they are used in order not to lose any of their flavor. Sage and rosemary, on the other hand, can be fried in hot oil before tossing the pasta in the frying pan. In general, it's always a good idea to select very fresh herbs that have been taken from young plants.
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Just a few brief hints about adding cheese to the pasta when you are about to toss it. In addition to the classic hard pasta cheeses, like Parmigiano Reggiano, you can also opt for a softer, kneaded-paste cheese. A classic example would be mozzarella, but there are plenty of other tasty alternatives, like Fontina or Taleggio. In order for the cheese to blend well with the rest of the sauce and the pasta itself, it has to soften and begin to go a bit stringy, but without completely melting. An alternative approach is to melt it separately; this way it will maintain in part its original form while blending smoothly with the sauce and pasta.
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A FEW MINUTES IN THE OVEN |
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| 5. |
To give your pasta a final touch, you can pop it into the oven for a quick au-gratin treatment once it's already been put into a serving dish. All you have to do is pop it into a pre-heated oven and turn the grill on to high. Within a few short minutes a fine, crisp au-gratin crust will form on the top, adding extra flavor and a bit of crunch to your dish. A final secret: pre-heat the serving dish in the oven before dishing up the pasta you intend to pop under the grill. Take it from the chef.
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