Makes enough for 1 adult. You know how to multiply.
Ingredients:
100 g
3.5 oz
dry pasta (macaroni, spaghetti, etc.)
1/8 tsp
1/2 mL
salt
water
1 tsp
5 mL
margarine or butter
Instructions:
Fill a pot half full of water. If you fill it further, it will probably boil over later. The 2 pots I use are about 2.5 L (10 cups) and 6 L (24 cups), and I would use the smaller pot for up to 3 people and the bigger pot for 4 or more people.
Heat the pot to boiling. Put the lid on so that it boils faster.
When the water boils, take the lid off and add the pastaand salt. Stir them around a bit so that the pasta doesn't stock to the bottom of the pot.
Stir the pot occasionally so that the pasta doesn't stick.
If the pot starts to boil over:
Blow on the bubbles. This is usually enough.
Turn the heat down slightly. Don't turn it down too far the the water will stop boiling.
Add a little bit of oil.
Wait until the pasta becomes soft. This should take between 6 and 15 minutes, depending on the pasta and how soft you want it. The package it came in should say a number, but it is not always correct. To test, use a big slotted spoon to lift out a piece of pasta, blow on it, and eat it. If it is still chewy, cook the pasta for longer.
When the pasta is done, turn off the burner.
Pour the pasta into a stainer in the sink.
Use a big serving spoon to put a little butter or margarine in the bottom of the pot. The exact amount doesn't matter. Tilt the pot so the margarine slides over most of the bottom. Put the pot back on the still-hot burner. Make sure the burner is turned off.
Run some water over the pasta to wash off the starch. I normally do this three times, jiggling the pasta around in between.
Pour the pasta back into the pot.
Immediately rinse the starch off the stainer. The starch will start to stick in less than 30 seconds, and then it becomes very hard to get off.
Stir up the pasta in the pot so that it doesn't stick to the pot bottom. It will also pick up the butter.
If you are not ready to eat yet, put the lid back on the pot until you are. The residual heat from the burner will jkeep the pasta warm for quite a while. Do not turn the burner back on; if you do the bottom pasta will burn.
Serve with some sort of pasta sauce. Two options are:
Tomato-based pasta sauce from grocery stores with varying amounts of other vegetables added.