100g of pasta requires about 1L of water so it doesn’t get stuck to the pot or other pieces of pasta.

1L of water needs about 8-10g of salt (i.e. between 1.5 and 2 tsp). If you don’t measure, taste. The water should taste like a spoonful of soup that’s just a hair over seasoned. 

Simple pastas like tagliatelle should be cooked at a hard boil.

Delicate filled pasta (ex. those filled with soft cheeses like ricotta) should be cooked at a gentle boil.

Fresh pasta is not really cooked al dente like dried pasta.

If you try, you’ll end up with something that tastes raw and unpleasant. Fresh pasta is finished cooking as soon as it loses its raw bite/taste, is tender, but not yet lifeless and soft. 

Timing will typically be somewhere between 2-5mins, depending on the type of pasta, how dry it is, and how thick the dough is for that specific shape.

The best option is to taste and touch the pasta through the cooking process. When it loses it’s raw taste and feels tender, it’s done.

For filled pasta shapes like tortelloni, ensure that the thickest part is tender. Then immediately remove from water.

Warm-up the sauce in a separate sauté pan over medium heat.

When the sauce is warm, remove from heat and set aside.

Ideally, remove the pasta with a spider or tongs so that a little water follows the pasta into the saucepan.

OR, if you strain it, reserve about 250-500ml of cooking water. Add it to your sauce as needed to emulsify, loosen or season the sauce.

For most pasta, combine the pasta and the sauce in a saute pan over medium heat. Cook & stir for 1-2mins to marry the two. If the sauce thickens too much, simply add a small amount of pasta water to loosen it.ription