This reader’s question comes from my Mother-in-law’s dear friend, Kim. Kim lives in Nassau, Bahamas, where life is always good and the sun is warm year round.
Kim writes, “You would think after eons of cooking I’d have most answers but I don’t. Twelve of us (the family) were coming over for pasta. One recipe of traditional Marinara and the other Putanesca. To make a long story short I went “flat line” on how to keep the pasta from sticking together as that was A LOT of pasta. Anyhow, the answer was a large spoonful of butter and it worked like a charm. With all the cookbooks I own, I’m still in the process of learning. I guess that’s a good thing.”
Kim is always ready with a laugh so I’m sure she handled her guests quite well.
One suggestion is to reserve some of the water you cook the pasta in. Rather than drain all the water off of the pasta, pour 1-2 cups in a glass colander. This makes a nice addition to pasta sauce or pesto that’s too thick. Keeping a little water on the pasta until you add your sauce help keep it from sticking. My other suggestion involves switching to whole wheat pasta. Whole wheat pasta doesn’t get as sticky as regular, white pasta. We made the switch several years ago here and the whole wheat pasta is much firmer and doesn’t get mushy. I just use our store’s bulk, generic pasta. The ingredients are simple: whole wheat flour.
Thanks for the question, Kim!
How do you handle pasta when it becomes a sticky situation?
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