Start tasting two minutes before the package directions say the pasta will be done, and take it out sooner if you want it firmer. Cook the pasta in the sauce no more than a minute, and serve it immediately in bowls heated with some of the cooking water. Hot pasta waits for no one. Sam Gugino, Wine Spectator 's Tastes columnist, is the author of Low-Fat Cooking to Beat the Clock , to be published in December. You're talking only a few bucks more for four people.
All good pasta begins with durum semolina, the milled endosperm from hard or winter wheat.
Italy is the only country that won't allow dried pasta to be made with any other form of wheat. Although excellent wheat grows in regions including Le Marche, Apulia, Abruzzo and Campania, Italy can't grow enough to meet its pasta needs. Many pasta makers augment their supply with wheat from the United States or Canada. All Rights Reserved.