The appearance of the paste will tell about its quality. The highest quality product has a creamy, yellowish or golden color, an even surface without kinks. True, there are pasta with natural additives: their color can be black, green, red. The gray color is of poor quality paste, it is better to refuse such a purchase. The most correct, healthy and tasty pasta is group A, made from durum wheat.

However, even such a correct pasta must be properly prepared. Italian chefs recommend observing the correct ratio of the amount of pasta, water and salt: so for 100 g of pasta you need 1 liter of water and 10 g of salt. First, you need to bring water to a boil in a thick-walled saucepan, quite voluminous, 3/4 full of water, add salt, and then add pasta to the center of the pan, where the boil is most violent. Cook the pasta over low heat without a lid, stirring occasionally, adhering to the cooking time specified by the manufacturer. Italians prefer a slightly undercooked pasta that is slightly crunchy, although quite soft.

It is not worth rinsing the paste with water: properly cooked products will not stick together anyway, but vitamins can be lost due to a sharp temperature drop.

The variety of pasta sauces is amazing: with meat, poultry, herbs, vegetables, mushrooms, seafood, wine, tomato, creamy, white, red - in short, for every taste and color.
Prepare sauces in advance so that you can immediately fill them with ready-made pasta.

There are quite popular sauces that are most harmoniously combined with it and have become classics of world cuisine: carbonara, bolognese, pesto and others. It's easy to cook them. Take at least carbonara paste... In olive oil (1 tablespoon) heated in a saucepan, fry 2 chopped cloves of garlic for 1 minute. Add bacon cubes (350 g) and fry for 4 minutes. In the meantime, beat separately the heavy cream (220 g) and the yolks (4 pcs.). Gently add this mixture to the bacon, stir and heat over low heat for 1 minute. Serve the sauce with spaghetti sprinkled with black pepper and parmesan.

A great option for pasta sauce is with vegetables and herbs. Simmer tomatoes with parsley in olive oil, with a little sweet pepper and chopped garlic. At the end, add the leaves of chopped basil, salt, pepper, serve with the finished pasta, after mixing.

The simplest and most aromatic is obtained pasta with herbs and garlic... In 2 tbsp. tablespoons of warmed olive oil add 2 tbsp each. chopped parsley and fresh basil, and 1 tbsp. garlic, a couple of tablespoons of lemon juice, pepper to taste. Mix, remove from heat. Mix the pasta and sauce and serve, put on plates and sprinkle with grated Parmesan.

A homemade Italian pasta recipe can involve the use of completely different ingredients. Someone makes such a dish with minced meat, someone with mushrooms, and someone uses only vegetables at all. In any case, properly prepared Italian pasta turns out to be very satisfying and tasty.

Step-by-step recipe for Italian pasta at home (with photo) with minced meat

To prepare such a dish, it is best to purchase special Italian pasta, which is sold in almost all stores. If you cannot find it, then you can use regular spaghetti. The main thing is that they are made from durum wheat. After all, this is the only way you will get a very tasty and nutritious pasta.

So, for cooking we need the following ingredients:

• poultry breasts - about 400 g;
• high fat cream - about 100 ml;
• hard cheese - 100 g;
• fresh tomatoes - 2 fleshy pcs.;
• white onions - 2 large heads.

Minced meat preparation and food processing

As you can see, the recipe for Italian pasta at home does not require the purchase of expensive and overseas products. To prepare such a dish, you should first of all make delicious minced chicken. To do this, the breasts must be cleaned of bones and skin, and then chopped in a meat grinder along with one onion. Add pepper and salt to the ingredients. At the end, you should have a delicate and aromatic minced meat.

In addition to meat, vegetables are also required to be processed. The onions should be peeled and chopped. As for fresh tomatoes, it is recommended to grind them in a blender. At the very end, you need to grate hard cheese.

Decoction of spaghetti

According to the method of preparation, the recipe for Italian pasta at home is practically no different from naval pasta.

First of all, you need to boil the spaghetti in boiling salted water. To prevent them from sticking together, it is recommended to add a large spoon to the dishes. Having achieved the softness of the products, they should be discarded in a colander and rinsed thoroughly. In the future, the spaghetti must be left aside and all the liquid must be allowed to drain.

Heat treatment of minced meat

If you decide to apply the Italian pasta recipe at home, then you should take care of the presence of a deep stewpan with vegetable oil in it, and then put the minced chicken and these ingredients should be cooked for 17 minutes. In this case, the meat product should acquire a golden hue.

After frying the minced meat, you need to add spices, tomato gruel and high-fat cream to it. After mixing the products, they must be cooked over high heat until some of the moisture evaporates and the sauce turns out to be thick.

The final stage

After a thick meat sauce is formed in the stewpan, add previously boiled spaghetti to it and mix everything thoroughly. When the dish is warm, it should be removed from the heat and nicely laid out on plates. Top with Italian pasta, sprinkle with grated cheese.

Homemade Italian pasta recipe with mushrooms

As mentioned above, you can make an Italian dish not only from minced meat, but also using mushrooms. With them, the pasta will turn out to be very fragrant and satisfying.

So, we need the following ingredients:

• medium-sized champignons - about 250 g;
• medium fat sour cream - about 100 ml;
• durum wheat spaghetti - 400 g;
• hard cheese - 100 g;
• any spices - use at your discretion;
• large juicy carrot - 1 pc .;
• refined oil - about 45 ml;
• onion - 1 large head.

Processing components

Fresh mushrooms must be washed and cut into strips. You also need to peel vegetables and chop them (carrots - grated, onions - with a knife). As for the cheese, just grate it and add it only to the ready-made meal.

Cooking spaghetti

After preparing the spaghetti, they should be discarded in a colander, rinsed well and deprived of all moisture.

Cooking mushrooms

Before making Italian pasta, you need to fry the vegetables and mushrooms. Put the mushrooms in a preheated pan with oil, evaporate all the moisture, and then cook for about 10 minutes. After browning the mushrooms, you need to add a chopped onion and grated carrots to them. After seasoning food with spices, they should be cooked over medium heat until completely soft.

Finally, add sour cream to the ingredients and mix thoroughly. After extinguishing the mushrooms with vegetables for another 3 minutes, you need to put boiled spaghetti to them.

Serving to the dining table

After thoroughly mixing the ingredients over high heat, the finished dish should be laid out on plates. It is recommended to sprinkle the Italian pasta with mushrooms on top with grated cheese and fresh herbs.

Let's summarize

Now you know the recipe for Italian pasta at home. You could familiarize yourself with a photo of this dish in the presented article.

It should be noted that such a dinner is made not only using minced meat and mushrooms, but also using other ingredients. Many chefs prepare pasta with pieces of beef, poultry, and even pork. If you need to make a very quick and hearty lunch, then instead of meat, you can add chopped ham or sausages to such a dish. However, before that, sausages are recommended to be thoroughly fried in vegetable oil.

How to cook Italian pasta properly? For many, the process of cooking pasta seems very simple, in fact, there are many nuances that should be paid attention to. The end result just depends on such little things that may seem insignificant at first glance.

The first thing to do is get the right amount of water. Many chefs make the mistake of using less water in order to save time. In no case should this be done, since:

• The water will begin to foam and flow out of the pot. As a result, the dishes and the stove will get dirty.
• If you cook pasta in an insufficient amount of water, it will simply stick together.

The main component of the paste is flour, which contains starch. During the cooking process, the starch swells and makes the pasta soft. Protein prevents the products from boiling, which makes the finished paste elastic. For dry pasta to reach the desired state, the starch must absorb enough water. So, for example, 400 g of dry products can absorb about a liter of water (the amount of water varies depending on the shape of the pasta). During cooking, part of the starch goes into the water, and if there is not enough liquid, it will look like a paste, which, when boiled, will begin to foam and glue the paste.

To avoid all this, you need to strictly observe the proportions: for cooking short pasta, three parts of water are taken for one part of the products, long products should be cooked in a ratio of 1 to 4.

How do you prevent the paste from sticking?

First, boil Italian pasta with enough water. During the cooking process, the pasta must be stirred periodically, especially this must be done immediately after loading the products into the pan.

Some people add a little sunflower oil to the water, but it can in no way affect the quality of cooking. When it comes to gluing after boiling, the main thing here is how the sauce is added. The pasta should be immediately mixed with the sauce, after which it can be laid out on plates. A common mistake is pouring sauce over the pasta after it has been portioned out.

What about salt

Many do not add salt at the beginning of boiling because the salted water takes longer to boil. Salt does increase the boiling point, but this does not matter in cooking since the volumes of water and salt are small. So, for example, to increase the boiling temperature of a liter of water by one degree, you need to add 60 grams of salt. Thus, the water can be safely salted at the beginning - the taste of the dish will only improve from this. For 3.5 liters of water, usually take a tablespoon of salt.

How much to cook

Manufacturers usually indicate the boil time on a pack of pasta. You should not be guided by the proposed cooking method, since the specified time may not be enough or, conversely, too much. In order for the pasta to cook normally, it must be checked two minutes before the end of the time indicated on the pack.

How to understand that pasta is cooked

Correctly cooked products should be in a state of al dente (translated from Italian - "to the teeth"). If you cut the pasta across, there should be a thin, subtle point of light on the cut. In general, the pasta should be soft and easy to chew.

When removing the pasta from the heat, it must be borne in mind that it will reach readiness while draining the water and dressing with the sauce. Therefore, you need to remove the pan thirty seconds before it is ready.

Rinsing the paste

The pasta is washed only if it is intended to prepare the pasta salad. Or in the case of Asian noodles. In all other cases, the finished paste is not washed. Otherwise, two problems arise:

• The starch, which is needed for the sauce to saturate the pasta, will be washed off from the products. After rinsing, the dressing will slide off the paste and drip to the bottom of the dish.
• Rinsing the pasta makes it cold.

Depends on what kind of sauce the pasta will have. If it is thick and satisfying, then 90 grams is enough. If, for example, spaghetti alio-olio, then you need 120 grams.

In which saucepan do you need to cook the pasta?

Depends on how much pasta you cook. The more pasta, the larger the pan should be.

How much water do you need to cook the pasta?

At least three times the volume of pastes. And it is better if it is four or even five times more. Accordingly, it is necessary to proceed from this and picking up a pan. A large amount of water is needed for the pasta to cook better. If it is not enough, then the starch that is released from the paste will lower the temperature of the water: it will no longer be 100 degrees, but 95 or even less, and the paste will cook longer.

How much salt should you put in the water?

I always put it on the eye, but in general the water should be saltier than you think it is normal. The standard amount is considered to be about 1 tablespoon of salt per 1 liter of water.

Why is so much salt needed?

Thanks to the salt, the pasta will taste good on its own, no matter how much salt is in the sauce. And the pasta, of course, will not take all the salt out of the water - 70–80 percent.

When should you salt your water?

Immediately when the water boils. When the water starts to boil, add salt. And then after a couple of minutes pasta. In advance, in cold water, you do not need to put salt.

Why should the pasta be salted at the beginning of cooking, and not at the end?

If you salt it at the end, then it will be salty only on the outside.

What kind of salt is better to salt water?

It is more convenient for me to salt sea coarse. But in general - no difference.

How much should the water boil when the pasta is put in it?

It should boil, that is, its temperature should be 95-100 degrees.

Do I need to pour olive oil into a pot of water?

No. It's completely useless. Don't do that at all. It has no effect. The legend about the benefits of adding butter arose, probably, because butter is added to homemade pasta, because it sticks more to each other if you do not mix it right away. Don't add oil, it doesn't affect anything at all.

What heat should be used to cook the pasta?

On medium strength. The water should always boil, but not too much.

Do I need to cover the pot with a lid?

Not necessary. A cover is needed if the tiles are weak. It's not about the lid, but about the boiling water all the time.

What does the time they write on the packs mean?

If, say, twelve minutes is written on a pack, then after twelve minutes it is neither undercooked nor overcooked. Ideal for a child, for example. To make pasta al dente, you need to reduce this time by about 10%. It is written ten minutes - cook nine, if eight minutes - then seven minutes fifteen seconds. But when choosing a pasta, I would advise you not to look at the cooking time, it does not affect the quality of the pasta - look at the protein content. In the pasta that we use in the restaurant, it is 14.5%. If this figure is below 12%, this is a poor quality paste.

If the pasta mixes with the sauce, when should you stop cooking?

There are two approaches. First: add 2-3 tablespoons of starch foam, which forms during cooking, to the sauce, remove the pasta from the heat a minute earlier than the time indicated on the pack, and prepare the pasta in the sauce for a minute or a half. Second: when the pasta is ready, not completely drain the water, but leave a little - and when the pasta is put in a frying pan, it merges with the sauce, so just stir everything quickly and the pasta is ready.

Does the paste need to be rinsed with water?

Rinse? I'm shocked. Hopefully nobody else does that. It's like washing your car in the rain. Even worse: all the salt that remains on the surface of the pasta, all the starch, which helps the pasta to combine with the sauce, will go away.

Should the pasta be stirred during cooking?

You can stir several times, at once and every four minutes, especially if there is not very much water and the pan is not very large.

How does the cooking time depend on the type of pasta?

It depends on the thickness of the dough in the paste itself: the thicker the dough, the longer it takes to cook.

Does the cooking time of factory-made pasta differ from the cooking time of fresh pasta?

Factory cooked takes longer because it dries more and this helps it hold its texture. Fresh needs two to three minutes - depending on whether durum wheat flour is added. I would say that if you make it only from ordinary flour and eggs, then you just need a minute - and half a minute with the sauce.

• How to cook pasta properly: explains Christian Lorenzini

The "ancestors" of modern Italian pasta appeared in the 1st century and consisted of wide noodles made from durum wheat, which were not boiled, but baked in an oven. A little later, under the influence of Arab cuisine, Italians began to add spices to the dough, and in the XIV century, pasta finally got its current name “pasta” (“dough”). Due to the possibility of long-term storage, pasta has become a popular food for travelers and sailors, however, they ate it with their hands, so this dish was considered food for commoners.

After the invention of the special four-pronged fork, which made it possible to deal with long pasta in an elegant way, the dish became part of the diet of the upper class, while the methods of preparing and serving it were improved.

Soon they began to cook in milk with sugar and serve with butter and cheese, but only wealthy people could afford this delicacy, and the poor were limited to pasta with garlic and vegetables. Since the 19th century, after the invention of the machine for making pasta, it began to be produced on an industrial scale, although the first recipes for the dish were published in the 10th century by the Italian chef Martin Corno in the culinary collection The Art of Sicilian Pasta and Noodles. Now pasta is considered the national Italian dish, there are dozens of its types, although the term “pasta” is used to refer to all types of dough products. Italians love pasta and eat it 25-30 kg a year, because for them it is not just a national dish, but also an exquisite delicacy and the best delicacy in the world.

Types of Italian pasta and the secrets of their preparation

Many Russians call any type of pasta pasta, and this is not entirely correct. Hollow tube pasta is a type of Neapolitan pasta and contains soft wheat flour. Pasta can also be dry and fresh - fresh pasta is prepared immediately before boiling from eggs and white flour, and dry pasta is made for future use from water and flour from durum wheat, so that it is stored longer and does not fall apart during cooking.

And now let's try to figure out what types of pasta exist, how they differ from each other and how to cook them correctly.

Straight and long types of pasta

Spaghetti- paste, which is the basis for other types of pastes, and this word is translated as "small ropes", their diameter is 1.8-2 mm, and the length reaches 15 cm and more. Thin spaghetti is known in cooking as spaghetini and thick ones - like spaghettoni... They are served with thick tomato and cheese sauces, flavored with spices and garlic. This group includes cappellini- thin spaghetti with a diameter of just over 1 mm, intertwined in the form of balls resembling nests, which are called "angel hair". Typically, this pasta is used to dress soups and broths, and as a second course, it is served with hot light sauces and vegetables. Vermicelli, called "little worms", is somewhat similar to a cappellini and is prepared in a similar way, and is served both cold and hot. Name of narrow, flat and long pasta linguini translates as "little tongues". This pasta is considered versatile and delicious with any dressing, especially pesto, seafood sauce, ham, cheese and cream.

Fettuccine The 1cm wide ribbon paste that is sold as twisted nests is especially fond of creamy sauces and olive oil gravies. A popular type of tape paste is lasagna, which is made from rectangular sheets with straight or curly edges. In the finished form, lasagna resembles a cake baked in the oven from layers of pasta with meat, fish, vegetable and cheese fillings, poured with thick tomato and cream sauces. Pappardelle, 2 cm wide long egg noodles, are very similar to fettuccine, and in translation the name sounds like "greedy", as this pasta is very tasty and sometimes difficult to stop during the tasting process. Parpadelle is cooked for just two minutes, used to make casseroles or served with meat with thick and savory sauces. Another tape paste tagliatelle, 5–8 mm wide, does not look as flat as fettuccine, has a porous structure that well absorbs various ingredients, and it is usually served in casseroles, with soups, meat and thick bolognese sauces. Long ribbon paste with wavy edges reginette(mafaldine), invented in Naples, is served with Neapolitan sauce, seafood and curry, which must include saffron, ginger and horseradish.

Twisty and curly-shaped pasta

Spiral-shaped paste is called fusilli spiral("Small wheels") - they can be short or long, thin or thick. The multi-colored fusilli are ideal for salads and soups, they are served as a side dish with pesto sauce and give dishes a bright, unusual look. There are the following types of dough spirals: mini fusilli(small spirals), fusilli bucati corti(hollow spirals), fusilli rigati- grooved pasta for better absorption of the sauce. Short spirals, equal in thickness to spaghetti, rotini, served both cold and hot, in salads or with very thick sauces.

Hollow pasta

Small short tubes in Italian are called ditalini("Thimbles") - they are very popular in Sicily, where they are served with mushroom, tomato, garlic sauce, ricotta cheese and broccoli. Elbow macaroni(horns) are used to cook cheese dishes, in soups and vegetable salads, and hollow spaghetti pechutelle delicious with eggplant and meat sauces. Wedding pasta ziti 20 cm long before cooking, break into several pieces, and the pasta penne("Feathers") with oblique cuts and grooves and Medze Penne Rigate(half as long as penne) easily hold the sauce inside and out, wonderfully combining with any food. Medze manike are a wider variety of penne and are combined with onions and courgettes. Cannelloni- large, medium-length pipes with a smooth surface, served hot, with minced meat and thick sauce. Kawatappi, medium-sized hollow "worms", served both hot and cold, with various sauces.

Unusual pasta of various shapes

Children pasta alphabet made from selected wheat, filtered water and natural additives, has the shape of letters and is specially designed for baby food. Graceful rings anelli, squares quadretti, asterisks stelline, original paste farfalle in the form of butterflies-bows, familiar to us by their shell shape conquillet, pasta orzo Rice-like Wheeled Pasta rotelle and radiators radiators used in soups, salads and gourmet side dishes,. Pasta castellane, reminiscent of bell skirts, was first prepared in the Italian city of Parma, and is traditionally served with cauliflower sauce. Among the pasta of an unusual shape, there are also: perlini- small pearl shells, lumaconi- large snails, kifferi- small snails, orecchiette- resemble halves of a walnut, grattoni- small balls, merletti- round medallions with ornaments.

Stuffed pasta

Pasta for stuffing is very popular in Italy. Pasta angelotti in the form of a crescent, stuffed with cottage cheese, meat, cheese and spinach. Gnocchi("Small dumplings") are ideally combined with semolina and vegetables. Tortellinni, dumplings in the form of rings, stuffed with vegetables, cheese, squid, and served with thick sauces or with olive oil, parmesan, pepper and garlic. Square dumplings ravioli They are cooked with meat, fish, cheese, vegetable and sweet fillings, and poured over with exceptionally simple sauces that do not interrupt the main taste of the dish.

How to cook pasta properly

The main way to make pasta is to boil it in plenty of water. Italian pasta does not contain salt, so you need to salt the water before laying the product.

The paste should only be dipped in boiling water, and most importantly - not covered with a lid! Long types of pasta do not need to be broken, just wait for the bottom to soften and press down on the top. When the pasta is ready, you need to quickly drain the water and immediately season the pasta with olive oil or sauce so that the flavors mix together.

The cooking time of the pasta depends on its size and thickness. For example, thin "angel hair" will be ready in 2-3 minutes, large snails and all kinds of pipes are boiled for about 15 minutes. In any case, pay attention to the packaging. Do not forget that pasta for salads and for a side dish is usually prepared "al dente" - not until it is completely softened, but so that there is a hard core inside. Pasta cooked al dente has been shown to contain fewer calories than cooked pasta. Italians don't always boil pasta in water. If the pasta is cooked in meat or chicken broth, you get pasta - a light soup made from broth and pasta.

Carbonara and Neapolitano sauce

Cooking sauce for pasta is considered the highest culinary art in Italy, it is no coincidence that Italian chefs say: "Pasta is the body, and sauce is the soul." Often, the sauce is mixed with other products for the piquancy and richness of the dish. Pasta carbonara is one of these national masterpieces, which is spaghetti with slices of bacon or raw smoked ham, drenched in an egg-cheese sauce based on cream, to which other ingredients are added depending on the recipe - cognac, white wine, chicken broth, basil, parsley , parmesan, zucchini, garlic, pecorino cheese, olive oil and black pepper.

If you dress penne pasta with Neapolitano sauce, made from stewed tomatoes and carrots, with parmesan, celery, basil and onions and garlic fried in olive oil, you get a dish that in past centuries adorned the royal table.

How to serve pasta correctly? The most important rule: it is not customary to serve pasta on the table without sauce - meat, fish, creamy, mushroom, vegetable, cheese, nut or tomato sauce. The sauce can be tender, light, airy, thick, tangy, fatty, sour or sweet, but whichever sauce you choose, it will almost always contain parmesan, olive oil, garlic, aromatic herbs and spices. Short types of pasta are best combined with sauces, which include pieces of meat, fish and vegetables, and long pasta is in harmony with homogeneous gravies. The sauce transforms the taste of pasta, saturates it with new shades and turns it into a royal delicacy - it is no coincidence that this dish is considered one of the most popular and beloved in world cuisine. An Italian proverb says, "If you want to live forever, eat pasta."