If a non-Italian thinks of Italian food, two dishes come to mind: pasta and pizza. Making the dough for a pizza means some effort, so the first meal that most people cook if they want to ‘cook Italian’, they try a pasta dish.
Despite the fact that there are thousands of Italian pasta (and pizza) recipes, most non-Italians do not cook a dish that an Italian would identify as Italian. In the remainder of this article we will take a look at how to make these meals more authentic without having to move home to southern Europe.
As this piece is about pasta dishes, we ought to begin with the pasta itself. Assuming that you want to use dry pasta and boil it, you should only purchase pasta that is made from durum wheat semolina flour. If you want whole wheat durum semolina flour, that is all right as well.
Do not be contented with a pasta merely because it has an Italian name. Check the ingredients. Once you have the pasta, inspect it.
Feel it, even look at it under a magnifying glass. It should be course and rough. When it swells up this roughness will allow the pasta to pick up more sauce than ‘smooth’ pasta.
Durum semolina flour is course, rough and solid which is why it is used. It is not being used because it is less expensive, so do not let anyone tell you that pasta made from high quality bread flour is better. It most definitely is not.
Pasta is best consumed al dente according to Italians, which means ‘to the teeth’ or a bit chewy. Pasta made from most flours other than durum will not achieve that quality, because it goes straight from dry to soft or over-cooked. You can easily spot this poor quality if the pasta collapses or breaks up.
When you have bought decent pasta, you have to cook it well. Pasta is starchy and will give off starch, exactly like rice, so it should be boiled in a substantial pan with lots of water. Add salt after the water has boiled, if you need to and then add the pasta.
Purchasing the correct pasta is only half the battle, unless you just want to pour some olive oil on it or eat it with a salad.
Different pastas take different amounts of time to cook, but most cooks will have started the sauce long before cooking the pasta anyway.
However, if the sauce is too thick and the pasta water is not too salty, you could use some of it to water the sauce down before serving. This blends the flavours rather well.
The sauce is also of local importance, but it contains tomatoes more frequently than not in the south and less so as you travel north, where it is cooler.
In the north a sauce to be served with pasta may contain more vegetables and oil than in the south or the pasta may be consumed in a salad.
Owen Jones, the writer of this article writes on a number of subjects, but is at present involved with Recipes to Lower Your High Blood Pressure. If you want to know more, go to our website at Gourmet Recipes and Good Health.