Tips and Advice

Cooking pasta

Cooking pasta is easy but needs precision.

Always prepare the sauce before or while cooking the pasta so that it can be served as soon as it is cooked.

First boil the salt water in a saucepan, in the following proportions:

• 1 litre of water for 100g of dry pasta.
• 8 to 10g of salt per litre of water.

Cook the pasta in boiling water without covering.

The cooking time depends on how you like your pasta, whether "al dente", firm or soft. The cooking time given on packets of VALFLEURI pasta is for "just cooked" pasta.
The best solution for cooking the pasta to the point you like best is to taste it during the last few minutes of cookin!.

Once cooking is finished, drain the pasta, drizzle olive oil over it or add a walnut-sized pat of butter and serve immediately.

Advice:
How to prevent the pasta from sticking?
If your water is hard, add a tablespoon of vinegar to prevent the pasta from sticking.
You can also put a tablespoon of oil into the cooking water.

Cooking Spätzle (Alsacian noodles)

After draining the Spätzle, sauté gently in a pan with butter until it is golden and slightly crunchy.

Spätzle is a perfect accompaniment for traditional meat dishes in sauce as well as for game.

For successful pasta salad

The secret of successful pasta salad is to season it while it is hot. It then absorbs the flavours of the seasoning and does not stick.
The ideal is to add the other salad ingredients at the last moment and mix just before serving.

Do not put your salad in the 'fridge, or the fat in the seasoning will solidify and make the pasta rubbery. However, if you prepare it the day before, take it out of the 'fridge 1 hour before serving it.

For a successful melting gratin

To prevent your gratin from being too dry, cook the pasta in a mixture of half water, half milk.

Prepare the gratin and bake it in a gentle oven at th. 4-5 (130°C), then 10 minutes before the end of cooking, increase the temperature to brown the surface or put it under the grill.

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