The problem with trying to create a restaurant level pasta dish at home is achieving the silky-smooth, delicious sauce that lightly clings to the pasta. This is because professional pasta chefs have a secrete ingredient most home cooks don't have access to ... ... STARCHY PASTA WATER!
When batch after batch of pasta is cooked in the same water, it becomes infused with dissolved starch molecules. This helps to form a light glaze that clings to the pasta and can be flavored with any ingredients you can imagine.
In most restaurant, the lighter style pasta dishes and sauces are created in the pan, a la minute. When the pasta is dropped in the water, the chef will start a saute pan, cooking vegetables and aromatics of choice. The chef will then deglaze with liquid (commonly wine), place pasta in the pan with a little bit of the cooking water, and finish with fresh herbs and fat (commonly butter or olive oil).
Using this method, a simple process based approach can be formed to create almost any pasta dish you want.
1. Drop pasta in water.
2. Saute complimentary ingredients.
3. Deglaze with liquid of choice (usually wine). Reduce au sec.
4. Add stock (optional). Reduce to concentrate flavors.
5. Add pasta with a little bit of starchy pasta water.
6. Reduce pasta water until pasta is glazed.
7. Finish with fresh herbs and fat of choice.
8. Check for seasoning and adjust to taste with salt, acid, and pepper.
HOWEVER, since you commonly don't have access for starchy pasta water at home, you need to change your approach and rethink your pasta cooking process.
In this video, we solve this problem by cooking our pasta "a la risotto," using just enough liquid to cover the pasta, adding small amounts of liquid throughout the cooking process, resulting in perfectly cooked pasta with a beautiful, versatile sauce.
USED IN THIS VIDEO
* PASTA USED (affiliate link) -
SUPPLEMENTAL VIDEO TECHNIQUES RELATED TO THIS VIDEO CAN BE FOUND ON THE STELLA CULINARY SHOW NOTES PAGE HERE:
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