Pasta

Pasta is another essential dish to know how to prepare. With the many different kinds of noodles and the many different applications of them, this simple dish can lead to endless possibilities. It's also a good "leftover user" dish, which means if you have lots of leftovers in your fridge you can most likely find a way to eat them with pasta.
Submitted by --icepaxx 23:42, 30 June 2009 (UTC)

• Big pot, size depends on how much you are making.
  
• Noodle spatula
  
• Noodle strainer
  

• Noodles. If they're like angel hair or regular pasta, you can measure out servings by putting your thumb and index finger together in a circle. However much fits inside that is basically enough for one person. The idea is that it's about an inch in diameter. Any other kind just go by what it looks like, I'd say about a cup an d a half would be a healthy single serving.
  
• Vegetable oil
  
• Salt
  

1. Fill the pot with water and heat till boiling
   
2. When water is boiling add a squirt or two of vegetable oil into the pot. I say squirt because I keep some handy in a squirt bottle for this and using in a pan, I would say it's about 3-4 tablespoons worth but you don't have to measure. The top should have a bubble on the top of oil, but you don't need a lot. The oil is for helping the noodles not stick together so much when they are done.
   
3. Add noodles, I like to break my angel hair in half before I put them in but it really doesn't matter. It's personal pref.
   
4. If you want to add salt this would be the time to do it. I like to add salt no matter what just because salt is kissing delicious, but you don't have to. You add it now because you wont be able to really add flavor to the noodles themselves after they're cooked. By adding it just as they go in, while they're cooking and absorbing water they're taking in the salt too.
   
5. Wait a while
   
6. Now, there are a couple of ways to know when your pasta is done. You can do the old "throw it on the wall" trick, which if it sticks to the wall then it's done, but I've never been a fan or wasting food so I don't do that. I just eat some and see if it tastes right. Now you can pull it out when it's still a little firm but not hard and that's called "Al dente". That is considered to be the best way for pasta to be cooked, but most people like it a little bit more soft. So, just keep pullin' pieces out and eatin em till it tastes good.
   
7. Take out pasta, strain it, and you have yourself the base ingredient for most dishes!
   

• You don't really need to stir pasta, but every once in a while it might be a good idea to make sure none are stuck to the bottom jic.
  

1. If you're really low on ingredients, just add butter to the pasta you just made an guess what! You have butter noodles! Delicious!!!!!