Spaghetti is one of Italy’s favorite pasta shapes, and no respectable home would be without it. Spaghetti cooks quickly, is great with sauces and makes us want to roll up everything on our plate. But don’t let the familiarity of spaghetti make you think there are no tricks to cooking it. Spaghetti must be handled carefully, even more so than other pastas, because spaghetti becomes overdone very quickly and can stick together. If you want spaghetti Italian style, carefully follow the steps below.
Once you have learned the basic technique, you’ll be ready to make the great recipes at the end. Enjoy your spaghetti!
How to cook spaghetti
The first step is to boil a pot of water (one quart of water for each 1/4 pound of pasta). When it boils, add salt (at least 1 teaspoon of salt for each 1/4 pound of pasta) and then add the spaghetti, unbroken.
The heat of the water will soften the spaghetti until they sink under the water. At that point, let them cook for about 8 minutes, maybe 9 minutes if they are thick. Quickly drain the cooked pasta in a colander or scoop them out with a skimmer ladle and top them as indicated in the recipes.
The cooking water
Before pouring out all the water used to cook the spaghetti, set a cupful aside, which you can use to dilute the sauce. This is an especially useful trick if the topping is a thick pesto or cream sauce that might get sticky when mixed with the pasta. If the sauce is tomato-based, however, it’s better to use a drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil.