info - cooking tips

pasta, noodles & rice

• pasta cooking and oil

  Oil is not required when cooking pasta, whether or not it really stops it sticking is argumentative at the best. The only time oil and pasta should meet is when a good quality olive oil is used as part of the sauce or dressing

  To prevent pasta from sticking use a large a pot as possible (5lt per 500gm of pasta is the usual guideline) and have the water on a rapid boil before putting in the pasta. Once the pasta is in it should be stirred until the water comes back up to the boil, with this much water it should re-boil in minutes.

  The water should then be kept on a rolling boil until the pasta is cooked. This volume of water, stirring and the constant boil will prevent it from sticking and will not waste oil.

• pasta cooking and al dente

To the purist pastas should be could al dente (literally translating as 'to the teeth) - means it should still have a chewy centre and not be soft, mushy and overcooked. But as with most degrees of cooking this is a personal preference.

• pasta cooking and refreshing

  The practice of washing cooked pasta under running water is a bad one. This washes away all the starch from the outside of the pasta and prevents any sauce from clinging to it. If it is washed (refreshed) any sauce will just sink onto the plate, particularly relevant to fine pastas and thin sauces sucvh as linguini and seafood

• how do the Chinese manage to get the rice so dry and separated for fried rice?

  Firstly it must be cooked properly, in other words not overcooked. Preferably it should have just a hint of a hard centre. Then the rice should be thoroughly rinsed in cold water to halt the cooking process and rinse away any starch.

  But the real key to it is to spread the rice thinly on a tray and leave in the refrigerator, a crust will form on the surface, toss the rice as it hardens to get an even crust on all the rice. The rice when stir fried will now have that nice nutty texture and stay separated.

• tips for making risotto

  Much has been said and written about risotto making, most recipes will say not to wash the rice.

  I have found washing it does make it less gluggy, so I always rinse it under cold water. I then do something else unusual, I partially cook it. This pre cooking ensures the rice is not hard in the centre and still produces a nice creamy finish, as most of that final finish comes from adding butter and grated parmesan cheese.

  To pre-cook, place the rice into cold water or stock and bring to a boil, and simmer for 2 to 3 minutes only and drain it. Finish cooking the risotto as per recipe.

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