A big pot and plenty of water
You need plenty of water to boil pasta, and of course a pot that will hold all of it. No matter how many you are cooking for, you need plenty of water because it is better to have your pasta swimming freely in the pot than having it stick each other. For best results, each pound of pasta, no matter what shape it takes, needs about 5 quarts of boiling salted water (a couple of tablespoons of salt for this quantity). Lots of water prevents the starches that boil off the pasta to form a paste that bonds the pieces together.Adding salt to the water is important. Wait till the water boils and then add some. But you can do without it if you are watching your sodium intake.
And the pasta trivia off all times!!! Do you add oil to the water? Italians simply put it as “ waste of good oil”. And the reason to that is you end up pouring away that water once the pasta is boiled. What more, once the pasta meets oil it kind of gets sealed and cannot soak up the sauce. So it is also waste of a good recipe.
Stir the pasta into the boiling water
With the water boiling away and the heat on high, add the pasta. If you have enough water, it should not take long for it to return to a full boil. Stir it frequently to keep it moving or it will stick to the bottom. Reduce the heat once it returns to a boil. You want a low boil, not a rolling boil. Once the water calms down, you can cut back on the stirring. Give it a swirl once or twice a minute, but it's not as likely to stick to the bottom once the heat has been turned down.
Time it!
The Italian phrase for perfectly cooked pasta is “al dente”, translating to "to the tooth" and meaning pasta still should have some life in it. Simply put cooked pasta should not have the texture of extruded mashed potatoes and it should not thaw out in your mouth. For perfect pasta, simply follow the cooking times on the package. The larger the shape of the pasta, the longer it will take to cook. Fresh pasta will take from 30 seconds for an angel-hair to three minutes for the heaviest fettuccine. Dried pasta will take longer. If the box says six to nine minutes, that means at six minutes, you need to start tasting it to see if it's done. So fish out a piece of pasta and bite it - it should be resistant, not crunchy, not completely soft. A key thing to remember at this point is that once you decide the pasta is done, it will take you several seconds to turn off the burner, lift the heavy pot and pour the contents into the colander. During this time, the pasta continues to cook. So, you want to take it off before it's completely done.
This brings us to the great cold-water controversy.
If the pasta is done cooking, you want to stop the process. Running a little cold water over the draining pasta will do that.However, many people feel this washes away flavor. I think when you are starting out, you probably will do more good than harm by using the water. As you get more comfortable with exactly how you want your pasta done, you can start pulling it off the stove earlier and forgo the water. If you're going to use water, use a couple of cups. The goal is to stop the cooking, not make the pasta cold.Either way, you also will want to stir the pasta while it is in the colander, lifting it up to let steam and heat out. Then turn it into the warm bowl (first emptying the bowl of pasta water) to be sauced.
Also for certain recipes draining the pasta two or three minutes before perfection and then turning it into the sauce on the stove is recommended. This way pasta absorbs the flavor of the sauce, and the whole will be more consistent. In either case, unless the recipe specifically states otherwise, dress the pasta as soon as it is done.
Tip: Keep the cold water running from the tap but not on the pasta during draining it. This way the steam from the pasta won’t burn you or bother you.
