Pasta for Beginners: Episode Two

What I haven’t told you is that all the Pasta Episodes were originally one entry entitled ‘Marin’s Birthday Pasta’. At the end of Episode Three, you will be able to make Marin, or if you don’t know a Marin, any one of your family or friends, a simple pasta dish. I won’t call it a meal because I would like you to also eat a salad or some vegetables to balance things out, but don’t let me get ahead of myself. Let’s proceed! You are well on the way!

New Kitchen Primer Presents
Episode Two: Ingredients

Today’s photo has the ingredients needed to make pasta with cheese.

Water: Get it cold out of the tap. If you want to use filtered, that’s great too. Just make sure you start out with it cold, it’s fresher that way.

Pasta: Pasta (and it’s many forms) is universal. Pasta can be made from scratch, purchased fresh or dried. To simplify matters, let’s start with dried and think Italian. Starting with shapes will also make your life easier. These are called Farfalle or ‘bow ties’. As you become more experienced, you will start to pair the shape of the pasta with the sort of sauce it’s going to keep company with. Whatever the shape, purchase the best pasta that you can afford, which hopefully means pasta from Italy made with Durum flour. The better the quality, the less likely you will be to over cook it.

Salt: I keep this little pot of kosher salt next to the stove. Kosher salt is very inexpensive and comes in a large box. It is softer and not as sharp tasting as the iodized salt that comes in round cardboard containers.

Pepper: Nothing can match the bright taste of freshly ground pepper. If you don’t have a grinder, supermarkets sell peppercorns in jars that have one built in.

Cheese Grater (not an ingredient, but we had enough going on yesterday): Just as with pepper, freshly grated is best. Graters come in many shapes and forms. This is a simple hand grater that sometimes makes it to the table so that everyone can grate their own cheese.

Cheese: If you have not read the entry “Parmigiano- Reggiano and the Moon”, now’s the time. There is no substitute for this marvel. If you can’t get Parmigiano –Reggiano, buy the best that you can find. A little goes a long way. Remember to tightly wrap your cheese in fresh plastic wrap when finished.


I think that that’s for this episode. Next installment? Episode Three: Unbirthday Pasta