Save Time in the Kitchen - Cook Pasta
the Way Restaurant Chefs Do
by Skip Lombardi
Have you ever wondered how a restaurant can
get a dish of pasta to your table in about four
minutes when you know it takes ten minutes just
to cook the pasta? Does the water on their stoves
boil at a higher temperature than the water
on yours? Do they know a trick that you don't?
As a matter of fact, they do.
They parboil, or partially pre-cook their pasta;
so when an order comes in to the kitchen, a
cook can turn out a dish of perfectly 'al dente'
pasta in a minute or two. Pre-cooking is a worthwhile
technique for home cooks, because it enables
them to pull together a great sit-down meal
in practically no time, no matter how busy their
day may have been.
It's also a great method to use when you plan
to serve pasta for a crowd. I once catered a
party for fifty, where I had a "pasta bar."
With the assistance of one helper, and two propane
burners, I served fifty portions of freshly
cooked pasta (al dente) without holding anyone
up in the buffet line.
To parboil pasta at home, bring a large pot
of salted water (at least six quarts) to the
boil. Add one pound of pasta and stir until
the pasta wilts (in the case of spaghetti or
linguine) and becomes submerged. When the water
returns to a full, rolling boil, cook the pasta
for exactly two minutes, then drain, shock in
ice water, and drain again. Note: Strand pasta
like spaghetti or linguine will be brittle,
so handle them with care.
Place the pasta in a container large enough
to hold it, then add enough olive oil to just
coat each strand. Cover and refrigerate until
needed. Parboiled pasta will keep, refrigerated,
for four to six hours.
Note: Coating pasta with olive oil flies in
the face of conventional wisdom that says, "Never
coat pasta with olive oil. The sauce won't adhere
to the pasta." Well, conventional wisdom aside,
sauce sticks to parboiled pasta like glue. What
else can I say?
When it's time to cook dinner, bring a large
pot of salted water to the boil, add the pasta
(You'll note that the pasta has softened over
the time you've had it refrigerated. This is
perfectly fine.), cook for one or two minutes,
then drain in a colander. Be sure to taste after
a minute or so. The pasta cooks quickly. Serve
as you would any pasta that you had cooked for
eight to ten minutes.
Again, this is a great, worthwhile technique
to use at home, because you can parboil the
pasta at a time of day when you're not juggling
three or four other tasks, like preparing a
sauce, or a salad. And when it's time to prepare
the rest of dinner, you'll feel more confident
in the outcome, because you can focus more of
your attention on the other parts of the meal.
Try this technique once, and you could be hooked.
You may not be serving fifty or sixty people
per night, but you'll be cooking just like a
chef in a neighborhood Italian restaurant.
About The Author
Skip Lombardi is the author of two cookbooks:
"La Cucina dei Poveri: Recipes from my Sicilian
Grandparents," and "Almost Italian: Recipes
from America's Little Italys." He has been a
Broadway musician, high-school math teacher,
software engineer, and a fledgeling blogger.
But he has never let any of those pursuits get
in the way of his passion for cooking and eating.
Visit his Web site to learn more about his cookbooks.
http://www.skiplombardi.com
or
mailto:info@skiplombardi.com.
