Perfect Pasta

You have just made up your pasta according to the directions, but it is still going to be a few minutes before you serve up dinner. What can you do to help keep it warm?

Place your pasta pot about ¼ to 1/3 full of hot water back on the stove over med to med/high heat.

Now place your pasta in a metal or heavy duty plastic colander that can withstand heat.

Place the colander over the top of your pan and let the steam keep your noodles warm with out over cooking them.

FLUFFY RICE

When you are making rice, sometimes you want it light and fluffy. You have seen cooks do it on TV, and even in restaurants, but every time you try you get sticky gummi rice.

When you have a recipe that you want to make that requires fluffy rice you can try these simple steps. Before you cook your rice, measure it all out into a large bowl.

Add some water and swirl gently with a spoon. Dump the water and repeat.

This process will strip any extra rice powder from the rice itself helping it not stick together so bad.

Now take your rinsed rice and place it into your cooking container.

Add a teaspoon of lemon juice to the water/fluid that you will be cooking the rice in, then add your rice and cook as normal.

You will have fluffier, whiter rice for your creation.

LEFT OVER SPAGHETTI?

If you have made up a large spaghetti dinner, but you have some noodles and sauce left over, simply layer the noodles, sauce and some cheese slices in to a casserole dish.

Cover tightly and place in the freezer. Now the next time that you need a quick dinner, pull from the freezer and place in a preheated oven at 350º.

Bake for 35-40 minutes until bubbly on top.

WHAT KIND OF BARLEY?

You are looking at your recipe and it asks for one kind of barley. You go to the store and you see several different kinds on the shelf and wonder what is the difference?

Quick Cooking Barley - Quick cooking barley cooks in about 10-12 minutes, then you let it rest for 5 before serving. Because of the extra processing to make it cook quick it will not be quite as flavorful or nutty as other varieties. For each cup of barley that you cook, your recipe should ask for at least 2 cups of water. Different brands can have different tendancies, so be sure to read the bag for specifics.

Pearl Barley - Pearl barley cooks in 35 - 60 minutes and will become tender. It does have a bit of the nutty flavor, but not as much as whole grain barley. For each cup of barley that you cook, your recipe should ask for at least 3 cups of water. Different brands can have different tendancies, so be sure to read the bag for specifics.

Whole Grain Barley - Whole grain barley takes the longest to cook of all because it still contains all of the bran and some hull. You need to allow at least an hour and a half for cooking, and it will still be chewey. To alleviate some of the cooking time you can try soaking the barley over night, but this will only save you 15 - 20 minutes of cook time. For each cup of barley that you cook, you will need at least 3 cups of liquid in your recipe.

PASTA MIX-UP

Ok, I know that we are all guilty of this at least once. You have about 1 cup of macaroni left, and you need 2 cups.

You buy a new bag, different brand because it was on sale, and you use 1 cup new and 1 cup old.

You bring your pot of water to boil and dump in both cups.

As you are checking for doneness, you find that they are cooked and you dump out to drain.

As you start preparing your pasta you notice that some pieces are cooked, and some are not. What happened?

When you buy pasta, if you buy a brand different than what you have already and need to combine for a recipe, you will have to cook them in 2 different batches.

Not all pasta is equal. One company may manufacture at one thickness, where another company uses a different thickness.

Even a change in ingredients can affect your cooking time.

A good rule of thumb, only cook pasta from the same package or brand/style together.

Same rule would be applied if you want to cook both wagon wheel and macaroni.

Each style of pasta has it’s own cooking time, and usually varies brand by brand.

KEEPING PASTA HOT

When you are making a pasta dinner, sometimes it seems that by the time you get the meal to the table, everything is hot except the noodles.

If you expect a delay in serving the noodles after you have drained them, place them back into the pan that you cooked them in with just enough water to cover the bottom and keep the noodles from sticking. Place over the burner turned on the lowest setting and cover stirring frequently to prevent sticking.

When you are ready to serve the pasta, just drain off the remaining water. If you are adding sauces or other ingredients to the cooked pasta, return the pasta to the cooking pot after you have drained off all the water, then add the sauce or ingredients. Reheat the pasta over medium heat until the pasta and the sauce are brought to serving temperature.

While you are making dinner, take the bowl that you will be serving the pasta in and fill it with very hot water. Let the bowl stand to absorb the heat from the water. After you drain the water from the pasta, dump the water from the serving bowl also. Wipe out the serving bowl with a soft cloth, and then place your pasta directly into the pre-warmed bowl.

STORING RICE

When making dinner we all know that cooking rice can be a pain. It takes a long time to cook, and sometimes planning does not go well and the rest of your meal is waiting for the rice to finish.

The next time that you are making dinner with rice or just have some spare time make up an extra batch or two. Scoop the cooked rice into small storage containers and freeze until firm. (allow about 3-4 hours) Remove the containers from the freezer and remove the rice. Place the frozen rice blocks into a large freezer bag and seal well. Note the date that the rice was made on the bag. Now just place the rice in the freezer until it is needed. The rice can be frozen for up to 6 months in this manner.

To defrost and use, simply pull out how many blocks of rice you will need to prepare, remove from the bags and place in a saucepan. Add approximately 2 tablespoons of water for every 1 cup of cooked rice that is in the pan. Place the saucepan over med-low heat and cover. Simmer until heated through, stirring occasionally to break up and frozen chunks.