I have to admit: even I was a little skeptical about this
one. I mean, cook pasta without even boiling it? If this
really worked, I’d never cook pasta the same way again. At
the very least, I’d save a couple cents on my gas bill each
month. I’d no longer have to be such a, ahem . . . penne
pincher.
When the timer finally went off, I opened the lid and
poked around a little. So far, so good. The pasta sure looked
cooked, and tasting it revealed al dente perfection. Success!
My wife won this round (but just let her try and change the
way I cook burgers).
If you’re really keen on saving time and energy, you can
do what I do: put half the water and the noodles in the pot
and heat the rest of the water in an electric kettle as the first
half heats up. Add the second half to the first, and you’ve
got boiled water. All you’ve got left to do is stir, cover, and
wait. Now that’s using your noodle!
A few caveats:
- Don’t try this with fresh pasta. Fresh egg pasta is simply
too absorptive and lacks any structure until the egg
proteins start to set. - For very long shapes, you’ll need a tall pot. There has to
be enough water to completely submerge the pasta as it
cooks, so for long shapes like spaghetti or fettuccine,
you’ll still need a big pot (or be willing to break the pasta
in half). - Season the water. Some people claim that adding salt
helps raise the water’s boiling point, thus cooking the
pasta faster. Don’t believe them. The difference you get is