# Pasta: do you serve it with the sauce on top? Or mix it all together, then plate?



## abefroman (Mar 12, 2005)

Pasta: do you serve it with the sauce on top?  Or mix it all together, then plate?


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## ishbel (Jan 5, 2007)

Always mix sauce and pasta.

HATE having it presented on top.


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## siduri (Aug 13, 2006)

Do i dare to answer this one? 

If you don;t mix the pasta with the sauce, you have sticky pasta, with a sauce that won't mix with it.  If you like gluey white pasta, and a pile of sauce, who am i to say?    it's a matter of taste.  But if you don't, then mix it.  It's not because it's "traditional" or "authentic" but because it's not particularly pleasant to have nude pasta.


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## michaelga (Jan 30, 2012)

Both...

I mix enough sauce to evenly and completely coat the pasta, then I plate it and put a generous spoonful on top for presentation.

Shaved parmesan and not too much please.


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## koukouvagia (Apr 3, 2008)

I grew up eating naked noodles with sauce ladled on top.  Now I consider adding the noodles to the sauce as part of the cooking process.  If you skip that step your dish incomplete   I cook the pasta with the sauce, just the right amount of sauce - then I place a little bowl of extra sauce on the table and inwardly roll my eyes at anyone who tops their dish with more sauce... and they all do.


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## minas6907 (Aug 14, 2012)

I grew up having the sauce on top with bare pasta...and I hated every second of it! For an absolute certainty I cook the pasta with the sauce.


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## someday (Aug 15, 2003)

Lol, I work the pasta station at a very busy little high end italian restaurant. Like, the kind of place where they pay 1-2 people a day to do nothing but make house made pastas. 

Always cook the pasta in the sauce. Doesn't matter the pasta, doesn't matter the sauce. Add a little pasta water too, while you are at it. The pasta water is the magic. It's part good cooking technique and art form. It takes a while to develop a feel for it. 

Hell, even if you are using Prego still cook your spag. in the sauce (but please don't use Prego). Again, thin it with a little pasta water and let it cook.


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## vonshu (Oct 5, 2012)

Someday said:


> Lol, I work the pasta station at a very busy little high end italian restaurant. Like, the kind of place where they pay 1-2 people a day to do nothing but make house made pastas.
> 
> Always cook the pasta in the sauce. Doesn't matter the pasta, doesn't matter the sauce. Add a little pasta water too, while you are at it. The pasta water is the magic. It's part good cooking technique and art form. It takes a while to develop a feel for it.
> 
> Hell, even if you are using Prego still cook your spag. in the sauce (but please don't use Prego). Again, thin it with a little pasta water and let it cook.


what is the benefit of adding the pasta water?


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## teamfat (Nov 5, 2007)

We had a bit of this discussion in the "gravy" thread recently.

My wife grew up with the blob of pasta, blob of sauce approach and I usually present it to her like that if it is a heavier red sauce with chunks of sausage or chicken in it.  But I'm slowly converting her.

mjb.


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## michaelga (Jan 30, 2012)

teamfat said:


> We had a bit of this discussion in the "gravy" thread recently.
> 
> My wife grew up with the blob of pasta, blob of sauce approach and I usually present it to her like that if it is a heavier red sauce with chunks of sausage or chicken in it. But I'm slowly converting her.
> 
> mjb.


pretty much the same here in my situation - family was brought up all wrong  he he

mix the pasta with some of the sauce to increase flavour - then plate and blob a spoon of sauce on top.... they'll hardly notice the difference but rave about your pasta.... especially if you do like I do and top it all with a good sprinkling of tomato concasse if you have good tomato's (peeled and seeded tomato)

Layer the flavours....

- Tomatoey pasta because it was cooked in tomatoes at the end

- Tomatoey sauce with some pasta water to top it

- Tomatoey bits of fresh tomatoes on top of it

To really drive people crazy you can drizzle a little tomato-basil-olive oil around the plate and then add a fine but sparse dusting of dried tomato bits around the plate.

Bringing the whole dish to 5 layers of tomato bliss.

edit - ps you can bring it to 6 layers by using dried tomato in the pasta!

edit - pps you can get a few more layers in if you want to play in the molecular world....

edit - I'm sorry for going off track.

re-rail:

Cook the pasta in some of the sauce then serve it with a good spoonful on top!


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## siduri (Aug 13, 2006)

When you all say "cook the pasta in the sauce" i presume you mean "finish" cooking it in the sauce, right?  I can't imagine how much sauce you'd need to actually cook the pasta in the sauce. 

Once when i was 12 my father took us with him on a business trip to Quebec.  He used to talk to everyone, people liked him, and i think at a business dinner they'd eaten at a pretty fancy italian restaurant there.  He had chatted with the owner, and the owner said to bring his family that night.   Anyway, it was amazing.  I had never been treated like this before (nor have i ever since) and i was only 12.  There were three waiters, with formal black suits and long white aprons, one behind each chair.  My sweater fell off the back of the chair and it was picked up before it hit the ground.  My mother's ashtray was emptied and changed before she had another ash to put in it.  The other guests didn;t get this attention so I still wonder what he'd said to him.  My father was born in italy, so maybe they both came from the same town or something. 

I don't remember the food except for the pasta.  I had asked for a simple pasta with tomato, and the owner came to the table with a little cart, lit one of those heating things, with a pot on top, and put the pasta and some sauce and some butter (this was a novelty for me, nobody ever put butter on at the end) and cooked it a minute before serving it.  It was really amazingly good.  But i've never had that treatment again.  alas.  (I'm not talking about the over-attentive waiters, which i'd find silly and embarrassing, but the attention to the food).


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## koukouvagia (Apr 3, 2008)

Oh yes, butter in the pasta is a special treat to myself.  Actually, when I have leftover sauce in the fridge what I do is boil the pasta, drain, and put back into the pot with a big knob of butter.  Stir it in and turn the heat off when you hear it sizzle.  Then mix in a little sauce and voila, it's a perfect treat - hubby doesn't like it so this is strictly for my leftovers hehe!


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## french fries (Sep 5, 2008)

siduri said:


> When you all say "cook the pasta in the sauce" i presume you mean "finish" cooking it in the sauce, right? I can't imagine how much sauce you'd need to actually cook the pasta in the sauce.


You don't need that much, you just make the sauce a bit more liquid. On the other hand it takes longer than cooking it in water. I've done it with great results though: the starch of the pasta goes into the sauce (rather than in the pasta water), making the sauce velvety and creamy... Kinda like risotto-pasta. Here's a recipe by Alain Ducasse:

OLIVE MILL PASTA

Time: 45 minutes

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

4 tablespoons butter

2 medium-small onions, minced

1/4 pound fingerling potatoes, peeled and sliced 1/4-inch thick

5 1/2 cups, approximately, vegetable or light chicken stock

14 ounces artisanal strozzapreti pasta

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 medium-size ripe tomatoes, peeled, seeded, juiced and diced, or 2/3 cup diced sun-dried tomatoes, not oil-cured, covered with boiling water and drained

1 garlic clove, peeled and crushed

8 branches fresh basil or arugula, leaves removed and slivered, stems lightly crushed

1 bunch scallions, trimmed, slant-cut in 1-inch pieces

3 ounces freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, about 1 cup.

1. Heat 1/4 cup oil in a 10-inch sauté pan. Add butter. When it melts, add onions and potatoes. Cook, stirring gently, over medium heat until they begin to turn golden.

2. In a small saucepan, bring stock to a slow simmer.

3. Add pasta to sauté pan, and stir gently. Lightly season with salt and pepper, and add tomatoes, garlic and basil or arugula stems. Add 1 1/2 cups stock. Cook, stirring gently, until nearly all stock has evaporated. Add scallions and another cup of stock, and cook, stirring, adding additional stock from time to time, so there is always some liquid in the pan, until pasta is al dente, about 18 minutes. Remove garlic and herb stems.

4. Fold in cheese and all but 1 tablespoon remaining oil. Add slivered herbs. Season with additional salt and pepper if needed. Transfer to warm soup plates, taking care that the ingredients are well distributed. Drizzle remaining oil over each and serve.


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## siduri (Aug 13, 2006)

I've never heard of anyone doing that, FF! I've only heard of finishing it in the sauce. I can't imagine how that would work, pasta needs so much liquid to cook right without becoming gummy, and then wouldn't you have a ton of sauce on it? watery sauce at that? And if sauce boils at a rolling boil as you need to cook pasta, it might reduce but then it would burn, and otherwise it would be too liquidy. How do you solve that?

The only cooking in anything i ever heard of is boiling the broccoletti (broccoli rabe) or something in the same water along with the pasta, but since both are then normally drained, the water is all drained off. Then you'd finish the mixture of both in oil and garlic and hot pepper, as you would have finished the vegetable alone.

I was surprised when i came here that most people even cook soup pasta or rice for soup separately and then mix in the end, not to cloud the soup.


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## koukouvagia (Apr 3, 2008)

siduri said:


> I've never heard of anyone doing that, FF! I've only heard of finishing it in the sauce. I can't imagine how that would work, pasta needs so much liquid to cook right without becoming gummy, and then wouldn't you have a ton of sauce on it? watery sauce at that? And if sauce boils at a rolling boil as you need to cook pasta, it might reduce but then it would burn, and otherwise it would be too liquidy. How do you solve that?
> 
> The only cooking in anything i ever heard of is boiling the broccoletti (broccoli rabe) or something in the same water along with the pasta, but since both are then normally drained, the water is all drained off. Then you'd finish the mixture of both in oil and garlic and hot pepper, as you would have finished the vegetable alone.
> 
> I was surprised when i came here that most people even cook soup pasta or rice for soup separately and then mix in the end, not to cloud the soup.


Come to think of it, there is one dish I prepare that I cook pasta directly in the sauce. It's called giouvetsi and it's a greek tomato and meat stew that is typically made with lamb. I make it with beef. It's a very simple stew of onions, garlic, bay leaf, meat and tomato and water for the braising liquid. When the meat is cooked all the way through I remove it from the pot and add a lb of dry orzo to the same cooking vessel and it drinks up all the braising liquid. Traditionally it gets a few dobs of feta cheese and a bit of water and is covered and put back into the oven to continue cooking. But instead I finish it off on the stove top without cheese and add water as needed like risotto. The consistency of the pasta comes out creamy like risotto, when you ladle it on your plate it should easily spread. I've had this dish made by others who precooked the pasta before adding it to the sauce and it really does not taste right, it comes out very light like a pasta dish I suppose but the traditional way of cooking the orzo in the sauce from start to finish makes this a rich creamy dish.

I always cook pasta or rice directly in the soup.


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## pjswim (Nov 5, 2011)

your right Siduri, Tony's mom always cooked her pasta in salted water than placed it in the big serving dish with the gravy (sauce) over top. And of course they call it gravy not pasta sauce. & we do it the same way. but if TC wants to cheat a little, he will mix the gravy & pasta at the stove & add the grated stinky cheese. but BOY! is that cheese GOOD!  i think we calls it Lochitelli, i cant spell it.


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## siduri (Aug 13, 2006)

Locatelli is a brand of cheese here, so it wouldn;t be the type of cheese but the brand.  Maybe it's a pecorino (sheep cheese)


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## pjswim (Nov 5, 2011)

Yup! ur right it is Locatelli cheese. that's the only kind we buy. I actually never had such a cheese like that till I married my husband. Plus never had such good Italian food, cuz I'm PA dutch. But now I cook mostly Italian...


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## michaelga (Jan 30, 2012)

siduri said:


> I've never heard of anyone doing that, FF! I've only heard of finishing it in the sauce. I can't imagine how that would work, pasta needs so much liquid to cook right without becoming gummy, and then wouldn't you have a ton of sauce on it? watery sauce at that? And if sauce boils at a rolling boil as you need to cook pasta, it might reduce but then it would burn, and otherwise it would be too liquidy. How do you solve that?
> 
> The only cooking in anything i ever heard of is boiling the broccoletti (broccoli rabe) or something in the same water along with the pasta, but since both are then normally drained, the water is all drained off. Then you'd finish the mixture of both in oil and garlic and hot pepper, as you would have finished the vegetable alone.
> 
> I was surprised when i came here that most people even cook soup pasta or rice for soup separately and then mix in the end, not to cloud the soup.


This will probably blow your mind.... it's far from traditional but give it a try.

Summary:

You don't need boiling water to cook pasta and you don't need a lot of water to cook pasta.

http://www.seriouseats.com/2010/05/how-to-cook-pasta-salt-water-boiling-tips-the-food-lab.html


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## ordo (Mar 19, 2009)

Check Bao Zi, Guo Tie, Won Ton. Lo Mein, Chow Mein, etc. recipes for "new" ways to cook pasta, even with minimum water, vapor in fact.

But if it's Italian, please, give me a lot of water and the _mantecatura_.


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## french fries (Sep 5, 2008)

siduri said:


> I've never heard of anyone doing that, FF! I've only heard of finishing it in the sauce. I can't imagine how that would work, pasta needs so much liquid to cook right without becoming gummy, and then wouldn't you have a ton of sauce on it? watery sauce at that? And if sauce boils at a rolling boil as you need to cook pasta, it might reduce but then it would burn, and otherwise it would be too liquidy. How do you solve that?


Try it Siduri!! I've done it many times and it works great. You think pasta needs so much liquid to cook without becoming gummy because that's how you've always done it, but that's not the only way to do it. No, you don't need tons of water. No, the sauce is not watery. No, you don't need the sauce to be at a rolling boil as you cook the pasta. No, the sauce doesn't burn, and no, it's not too liquidy!!!

After all, it's pretty much like rice! You can cook rice in plenty of water (like we do in France), but you can also cook it like a risotto. Same with pasta. You make the sauce to the desired final consistency. You add the pasta and cook for a bit, laddle some water, cook a bit more, laddle more water etc.. until the pasta is cooked and the sauce has the right consistency. And like risotto, some of the starch of the pasta goes into the sauce to make it deliciously velvety smooth.

Try it one time! 

BTW If you've never heard of Alain Ducasse (who I was the first to hear cooking pasta like risotto), he's a very very famous 3-michelin star French chef: http://www.alain-ducasse.com - I posted his recipe as an example but that's not the recipe I use, in fact I don't use a recipe, I just make a tomato/meat sauce and cook the pasta in the sauce.


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## siduri (Aug 13, 2006)

French Fries said:


> After all, it's pretty much like rice! You can cook rice in plenty of water (like we do in France), but you can also cook it like a risotto. Same with pasta. You make the sauce to the desired final consistency. You add the pasta and cook for a bit, laddle some water, cook a bit more, laddle more water etc.. until the pasta is cooked and the sauce has the right consistency. And like risotto, some of the starch of the pasta goes into the sauce to make it deliciously velvety smooth.


I think the very quality of risotto is what i would avoid in pasta. I don;t even like risotto, i have to say. I like boiled long grain rice with only butter on top (not even parmigiano), and it was a great revelation to learn to cook rice like you cook pasta in plenty of water. In the states they would always cook it with exactly the right quantity of water, covered, for exactly the right time - chinese style i guess. I prefer boiled.

But when i do make risotto (the family likes it) I usually make a mess of it because i just hate waiting around watching while thing simmers, adding more water, just at the right time, etc. I always do twenty things at the same time and it always ends up sticking. 


French Fries said:


> Try it Siduri!! I've done it many times and it works great. You think pasta needs so much liquid to cook without becoming gummy because that's how you've always done it, but that's not the only way to do it. No, you don't need tons of water. No, the sauce is not watery. No, you don't need the sauce to be at a rolling boil as you cook the pasta. No, the sauce doesn't burn, and no, it's not too liquidy!!!
> Try it one time!
> 
> BTW If you've never heard of Alain Ducasse (who I was the first to hear cooking pasta like risotto), he's a very very famous 3-michelin star French chef: http://www.alain-ducasse.com - I posted his recipe as an example but that's not the recipe I use, in fact I don't use a recipe, I just make a tomato/meat sauce and cook the pasta in the sauce.


Ok, FF, i might try it once. Though to me it sounds like it takes more time and more watching than with lots of water. If you have lots of water, you set the timer to a couple of minutes before it's cooked and then you go and taste the last minute or two. But if you have a sauce, which seems to slow the cooking, you sort of have to hover. I never hover. I always get bored and whatever i cook burns /img/vbsmilies/smilies/frown.gif Also my husband hates tomato sauce (yeah, i know, i married the only italian who hates tomato sauce, right?) so it's rare that i make it. Usually it's pasta with cauliflower or aglio olio tuna, or some other non red sauce, which are never liquid. The tomato sauces i like taste of fresh tomato (even if canned) - not cooked too much. Some are very garlicky with sharp tomato flavor (not siuted to creamy) or cooked quickly and for little time so they aren't suited to the ten or more minutes extra to cook the pasta. .

And for pasta (OR rice) I'm not much of a fan of creamy, with the exception of chicken tetrazzini and macaroni and cheese..

But i'll let you know if i do do it.

Just to say, it's not for the tradition or authenticity, which i don;t care about but there are other reasons.


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## koukouvagia (Apr 3, 2008)

Oh jeez Siduri just try it. You don't like risotto, you don't like tomato, so you might hate it but try it anyway. But don't try my recipe because it involves braised meat and you hate that lol. But you might like orzotto, a dish I make that's like risotto but with orzo instead. You make just like you would risotto, with chicken stock. I start off by sweating onion and celery and then add the orzo, let it toast and get coated with the olive oil. Then splash in some white wine or vermouth. Then ladle in the broth little by little until the orzo is cooked through. Make sure that the consistency is liquidy... because as it sits it starts to tighten up. Throw in a big handful of cheese (I quite like parmesan and a few sprinkles of blue cheese) and a knob of butter. Serve as is or with your protein of choice. This is osso bucco with orzotto.





  








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## mike9 (Jul 13, 2012)

I always finish cooking my pasta in the sauce.  That way it absorbs sauce and the pasta is flavored.


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## siduri (Aug 13, 2006)

KK, I love to be contrary - maybe ornery - gives me some character.  Otherwise i just look like a sweet old lady!

But it's my husband who doesn';t iike tomato sauce - i love tomato sauce on pasta , just not things cooked in tomato sauce (meat, string beans, artichokes, etc)

I like "fresh" type tomato sauce, not cooked long, just quickly. 

I don't really want creamy pasta in tomato - certainly not enough to spend the time to make it.  But maybe one day, when the kids are here, i might try it. 

The orzo dish sounds good but i'm not likely to make it - but i'll look for it if i ever go to greece or a greek restaurant.  By orzo you mean the pastina called "orzo" or do you mean barley?  (orzo is barley).


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## french fries (Sep 5, 2008)

siduri said:


> Though to me it sounds like it takes more time and more watching than with lots of water. If you have lots of water, you set the timer to a couple of minutes before it's cooked and then you go and taste the last minute or two. But if you have a sauce, which seems to slow the cooking, you sort of have to hover. I never hover.


Well yeah.. it's not like risotto where you have to be constantly stirring, but you do have to check for sauce consistency and pasta cooking every once in a while, and add water when needed. On top of that the pasta will take about 3 times the time it usually takes to cook: 10-12mn pasta may well need 30mn to cook in the sauce.

I wouldn't say of the sauce that it's creamy, more.... "starchy"? Same idea as when you add a laddle of pasta water to the sauce to add some of the pasta starch to make the sauce a bit thicker, but pushed to the extreme.

The pasta itself is... kinda like... "melt in your mouth"... and I know when saying that that you're probably thinking "Who would ever want pasta to melt in your mouth?" but it's... just different, you have to keep an open mind to it and not think of the dish as a regular pasta dish, just like you can't think of risotto like a regular rice dish.

But in any case after all you've stated I'm not so sure you should try it, you will probably think the whole process is ridiculously long and you may not even enjoy the results.

PS: Your cauliflower pasta recipe is still, to this day, a staple pasta dish in our household. Something I would have never come across if you hadn't posted it. Thank you.


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## koukouvagia (Apr 3, 2008)

siduri said:


> KK, I love to be contrary - maybe ornery - gives me some character. Otherwise i just look like a sweet old lady!
> 
> But it's my husband who doesn';t iike tomato sauce - i love tomato sauce on pasta , just not things cooked in tomato sauce (meat, string beans, artichokes, etc)
> 
> ...


I don't like to cook things in a tomato sauce either. But I like fresh chopped tomatoes to cook with string beans.

I wouldn't say the pasta is creamy, like FF says it's more starchy and plump. It has a different texture than most pastas. Orzo here is rice shaped pasta. Giouvetsi you will find in most greek restaurants, but not the osso bucco.


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## mike9 (Jul 13, 2012)

I love Greek style string beans cooked in tomatos, lemon juice, oregano and olive oil.  You don't know what you are missing - especially with a roast "Buti" (leg) of lamb with the bone unbroken.  It's magic with some roasted beets and skordalia.


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## siduri (Aug 13, 2006)

Mike9 said:


> I love Greek style string beans cooked in tomatos, lemon juice, oregano and olive oil. You don't know what you are missing - especially with a roast "Buti" (leg) of lamb with the bone unbroken. It's magic with some roasted beets and skordalia.


I DO know what i'm missing Mike9 - i _grew up_ with stringbeans cooked in tomato sauce. And had to eat them all or else. Best way to make a person permanently hate a food! If you look on this site you may find my mother's recipe for artichokes cooked in tomato sauce which i think i posted once, which you'd probably like as well. Everyone loved it. I didn't. But i do know how to make it. If you can;t find it start a thread and i'll post it!

de gustibus what is it, non es disputandum? never got the grammar


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## koukouvagia (Apr 3, 2008)

Mike9 said:


> I love Greek style string beans cooked in tomatos, lemon juice, oregano and olive oil. You don't know what you are missing - especially with a roast "Buti" (leg) of lamb with the bone unbroken. It's magic with some roasted beets and skordalia.


I've never made it with oregano or lemon juice. Just tomatoes, onions, garlic, and plenty of olive oil. The oil turns a gorgeous red color and screams "dip me some bread!"


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## flipflopgirl (Jun 27, 2012)

After many tries and soo many re-reads of threads like this one.....

TA-DA!

I was able to get my timing right on point and the sauce was finished and waiting for the pasta.

Still hot.

Was able to finish the sauce and it was still steaming when the timer went off for my slightly too al dente noodles.

I used a pair of tongs to move the noodles from the water to the pan, dragging a bit of the water along.

Was just enough (water) to thin things down and pasta was just at the right stage that it finished cooking as well as thickening things back up.

Just wanted to thank those of you who graciously answer the same questions over and over, patiently explaining things in different ways so people like me (not a reader learner, but can look at a technique a few times and nail it)  can finally ace a dish.

Oh and sorry if I was a bit redundant in my posting.

Feel like a little kid.

mimi


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## koukouvagia (Apr 3, 2008)

flipflopgirl said:


> After many tries and soo many re-reads of threads like this one.....
> 
> TA-DA!
> 
> ...


Glad it worked out. Don't be overly concerned with timing the noodles and the sauce just right. Usually the sauce can be made and left to wait while the noodles are cooked just right. Unless it's a clam sauce and you want the clams to be served fresh and steamy rather than left too long to become rubbery. But even then I remove the clams when they are just a little underdone, and go ahead with the noodles and by the time I'm ready to serve I toss the clams back in to reheat.


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## flipflopgirl (Jun 27, 2012)

/img/vbsmilies/smilies/smiles.gif

I love clams.

mimi


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## ed buchanan (May 29, 2006)

Depends on the dish.


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## red1 (May 14, 2013)

The benefit of adding a small amount of pasta water in the finishing process is the starch in the water gives a nice velvety gloss to the dish. The salt from the pasta water also adds extra flavour. The trick is not adding too much.


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## jamaster14 (May 25, 2013)

siduri said:


> I've never heard of anyone doing that, FF! I've only heard of finishing it in the sauce. I can't imagine how that would work, pasta needs so much liquid to cook right without becoming gummy, and then wouldn't you have a ton of sauce on it? watery sauce at that? And if sauce boils at a rolling boil as you need to cook pasta, it might reduce but then it would burn, and otherwise it would be too liquidy. How do you solve that?
> 
> The only cooking in anything i ever heard of is boiling the broccoletti (broccoli rabe) or something in the same water along with the pasta, but since both are then normally drained, the water is all drained off. Then you'd finish the mixture of both in oil and garlic and hot pepper, as you would have finished the vegetable alone.
> 
> I was surprised when i came here that most people even cook soup pasta or rice for soup separately and then mix in the end, not to cloud the soup.


I believe he is referring to working with fresh made pasta based on his post... and this would make some sense. When using fresh pasta, you basically just need a 2 minute soak in the boiling water. set it aside to drain. then add it to a pan with some of your sauce and some of the pasta water. the starchy pasta water does a good job of adding to your red sauce. im not really sure of the science behind it, but its the method my family has used in their italian restaraunt for years and always produces a great result...especially with a bolognese.


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## french fries (Sep 5, 2008)

jamaster14 said:


> I believe he is referring to working with fresh made pasta based on his post


No, I was referring to dry pasta. I even posted a recipe from a 3 star michelin chef, Alain Ducasse, who makes this recipe.

Anyway, a friend of mine who's a chef showed me how to do that (cook the pasta from dry, directly in the sauce). And me too, when I saw him do that, I thought I was hallucinating. But then we ate his pasta and it was delicious. Since then I've done it many times, and it's a great different way to cook pasta. Try it one day.


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## flipflopgirl (Jun 27, 2012)

oops...redundant

mimi


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## j0hnny (May 22, 2013)

Just about every pasta dish I cook I mix it at the end, including loosening with pasta water if needed. My only exception is Spaghetti Bolognese which I alway serve on top.


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## fred tiber (May 27, 2013)

Mix them, the oily source stops the pasta from sticking to each other, this is especially true if I store extra portions and eat it cold later on.


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## petalsandcoco (Aug 25, 2009)

French Fries said:


> No, I was referring to dry pasta. I even posted a recipe from a 3 star michelin chef, Alain Ducasse, who makes this recipe.
> 
> Anyway, a friend of mine who's a chef showed me how to do that (cook the pasta from dry, directly in the sauce). And me too, when I saw him do that, I thought I was hallucinating. But then we ate his pasta and it was delicious. Since then I've done it many times, and it's a great different way to cook pasta. Try it one day.


Oh it can be done. FF is right . : risotto style pasta, paying attention to stirring.





  








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8 cups of sauce + 3 cups of water (there is alot of garlic confit in that sauce)





  








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Add dry pasta





  








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Stir on med/high heat. You will see the changes after 5 minutes. Continue cooking for 10 more minutes





  








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petalsandcoco


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May 28, 2013







Toss in some shrimp or leave as is, done.





  








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petalsandcoco


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May 28, 2013







Done.


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## ed buchanan (May 29, 2006)

Only time I have ever cooked the pasta in sauce is when I made lasagna. It does however require much more sauce as the noodle absorb it but it came out fine. I still make it this way at home not commercially


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## cacioepepe (Apr 3, 2011)

I've had friends who worked an italian spot that cooked dried pasta by blanching it for a minute or two in water, then adding the nearly hard pasta to the sauce.  They would add water as necessary to cook the pasta.  Its a strange technique and yields a starchier result, but it's still good.


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