Draining Pasta

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Draining Pasta


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I didn't know they made a tennis racket that fits over the sink! :ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO:

Actually I don't either but I was thinking of the movie The Apartment when I posted about tennis racket, because Jack Lemmon in the movie used a tennis racket to drain his spaghetti. :)
 
It depends on how much pasta! AND if it is hand-made by my husband! I often eat angel hair with veggies for a lunch for just me. When I do it is a hand-held seive. When I make a huge dinner for many, it is a rectangular one that fits over the sink. When hubby makes pasta, it is a rather ceremonious thing we do, where everyone oooos and ahhhs.
 
I never heard the word 'colander' until I was well into my 30s and was working in my first professional kitchen. The chef asked me to get her a colander. I had to ask what that was. I don't know how to spell what we (italians) called it but its pronounced 'skoolabasta'. Funny thing, Lou's family called it the same thing.
 
I never heard the word 'colander' until I was well into my 30s and was working in my first professional kitchen. The chef asked me to get her a colander. I had to ask what that was. I don't know how to spell what we (italians) called it but its pronounced 'skoolabasta'. Funny thing, Lou's family called it the same thing.

Funny, I grew up in Italian family and never heard of skoolabasta, only colander. :huh:
 
Oh, I have a good story. My mother-in-law lived in a very multi-ethnic neighborhood in Joliet when she was a young housewife. A woman came over, frustrated and fraught. She needed a ... well, a ... a.... Macaroni Stop, Water Go Ahead! She wanted to borrow a Macaroni Stop, Water Go Ahead! It took her awhile to realize that the woman wanted to borrow a collander! To this day both women are long in their graves, but hubby and I sometimes call it that!
 
I ever only use the lid of the saucepan at an angle to the pot and just pour the water out. No extra washing up that way and if there is a little bit of water left in, that's fine as it just makes up part of the sauce.
 
I use Nigella's colander if I'm draining the whole pot. If I'm making a sauce adjacent to the pasta pot, I'll use a spider to add the pasta directly to the sauce. Then I can use the pasta water to control the consistency of the sauce.

Here's Nigella's colander. The shape is perfect for tossing the pasta around to completely drain them.

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If I'm making a sauce adjacent to the pasta pot, I'll use a spider to add the pasta directly to the sauce. Then I can use the pasta water to control the consistency of the sauce.
I use a tip I got from America's Test Kitchen. I use a colander, but I put a coffee mug in it. I pour the water so that the coffee mug fills up. I put the mug aside and then pour the pasta into the colander. I can then use the pasta water in the mug to use for my sauce if needed.

If I had a spider I would do it your way though.
 
Now that I have my 8-quart pot with pasta insert, I use that. Just lift the insert straight up and your pasta drains right back into the pot! :rolleyes:
 
Pasta spoon?

Cooking for one, I usually pull the pasta out with one of these. Even if I never cooked spaghetti I wouldn't be without this gadget as a back scratcher.

Almost never bother with the big pot and pasta insert.
 
We all all shapes and sizes of colanders that we use for different things. I use the insert basket from my stock pot for draining pasta; a round metal one for meats; a plastic one with slots in the sides, holes in the bottom and a handle, which I hang from the handle in the sink by the sprayer, and use for washing vegetables; and a small one that's just perfect for draining a 14 oz can of fruit or vegies.
I have so much "stuff, my "stuff" has me. :LOL:
 
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