To cook the pasta, calculate one litre of water and 10 grams of marine salt for each 100 grams of pasta, using a large enough saucepan to hold the water, and be sure not to fill it more than 2/3 full.
Bring the water to boiling point, add the salt and the pasta, stir gently and bring back to boiling point.
Cook the pasta for the given time, which varies depending on the shape, checking and stirring occasionally to prevent the pasta sticking. When the pasta is cooked to perfection, strain it well.
GARNISH
Garnish the pasta with the sauce, making sure there is a sufficient amount for each person. There are no fixed rules regarding the right amount of sauce; generally, for meat and game sauces, we can calculate around 40 grams per person, while with vegetable and fish sauces up to 60 grams per person, depending on the pasta shape used.
If the pasta is too dry, to avoid adding any extra fats, add a few drops of the water used to cook the pasta, which you put aside when the pasta was strained.
TOSS
To mix the sauce well with the pasta and get the right consistency, you can toss the pasta and sauce together, after straining the pasta, in a large pan, over a low flame, tossing the pasta with the typical movement of your hand and wrist.
This must be done very quickly to prevent the pasta overcooking and ruining the flavour.
AU GRATIN
There are various ways of preparing pasta au gratin, depending on the final result you desire and the recipe involved.
Some general hints are always valid however, for instance, the pasta must be well cooked to avoid it absorbing too much sauce during the gratin process in the oven. You can dilute very dense sauces to avoid the pasta being too dry, by adding a drop of the water used for cooking the pasta.
Carefully grease the casserole and sprinkle grated Parmesan and melted butter over the surface of the pasta and, if the recipe requires, a beaten egg. Clean the casserole from any drops on the sides as they tend to burn easily.
