‘Al Dente’, meaning a little hard on the tooth, is the traditional Italian way to cook pasta, notoriously difficult to achieve and has surprising health benefits.
We asked Italian celebrity chef Stefano De Pieri to share his top tips on how to cook pasta the ‘al dente’ way.
According to De Pieri, using a good quality durum wheat pasta is important when cooking pasta al dente, as it will retain its shape and firmness while cooking.
When cooked ‘al dente’, the pasta is digested more slowly, resulting in a lower spike in blood sugars.
Overcooking pasta breaks the carbohydrate chains so the stomach absorbs more that it would otherwise.
Tips to Cook Pasta the ‘Al Dente’ Way
• The most important step when trying to achieve pasta al dente is to always follow the timing instructions on the packet
• Ensure you use an appropriately large pot so that there is plenty of water in which the pasta boils. The pasta should be swimming in the water.
• The water must be appropriately salted. To give you a rough idea, imagine your water to taste half as salty as seawater. Use a large salt pig from which abundant handfuls of rock salt can be thrown into the pot. You can always add salt (before adding the pasta), but you can’t subtract it!
• A common mistake when cooking pasta is adding oil to the water. No oil is required in the water. It serves no purpose – oil and water do not mix anyway.
• Traditionally, 100 grams of pasta per person is a significant amount. Eat less pasta, but more often. You can eat pasta every day, just stick to 80–90 grams and keep sauces to a minimum.
• The pleasure of eating pasta is, eating pasta. The sauce should be kept to a minimum and should never drown the pasta. This is much healthier as you avoid excessive use of condiments. The worst thing you can do is to prepare 150 grams of pasta, overcook it, then add 100mls of cream and other fats.
• For Australians on the go, pasta whatever shape can be eaten with a little olive oil, garlic, and a tiny amount of cheese, or just cheese and butter is a quick and tasty winter dish.
• The simplest ingredients will only work when you have excellent pasta for al dente cooking such as Garofalo. They harmonise with the pasta beautifully.
• If cooked properly 30% of the pasta that you have eaten will go straight through you, which explains why Italians are lean!
• And finally, add a little drizzle of Australian extra-virgin olive oil over the pasta, as this is rich in antioxidants
Try these two delicious authentic pasta recipes from Garofalo
