Cooking technique · 5 min read
A better bowl of weeknight pasta
From salting the water to finishing in the pan, a few small decisions make a simple pasta dinner taste more complete.
Choose the sauce before the shape
Long strands work well with smooth sauces that coat each noodle. Short shapes with ridges or hollow centres are useful for thicker sauces with small pieces of vegetables. Neither choice needs to be expensive: start with the pasta you have and consider how the sauce will cling to it.
For a tomato-cream sauce, penne or rigatoni makes an easy starting point. If you're using spaghetti instead, keep the sauce smooth and toss thoroughly before serving.
Build flavour gently
Warm a little olive oil in a pan, add finely chopped garlic, and let it become fragrant without browning deeply. Burnt garlic can make the whole sauce bitter. Add tomatoes and let them simmer while the pasta cooks, stirring occasionally.
Taste the tomatoes before adding cream. Season gradually with salt and pepper. If the sauce tastes flat, it may need a little more salt rather than a longer list of ingredients.
Keep a mug of cooking water
Before draining, scoop out some pasta water. The starch in it helps the sauce coat the pasta. Transfer the pasta to the sauce while it still has a little bite, then add the reserved water a splash at a time.
Toss over gentle heat until the noodles look glossy and the sauce clings rather than pools. Stop adding water as soon as the texture is right; a thick sauce and a thin sauce won't need the same amount.
Finish off the heat
Take the pan off the heat before adding finely grated parmesan and fresh basil. Stir and taste once more. Serve immediately in warm bowls, with extra cheese at the table for anyone who wants it.
The useful habit is not a secret ingredient: it's finishing the pasta in the sauce instead of spooning sauce onto drained noodles. Try it with your next tomato sauce and notice the difference in each forkful.