How to sauce pasta

Don't make the beginner's mistake of draining your pasta through a colander. Create restaurant-style pasta – and win rave reviews from dinner guests.
You Will Need
* A saucepan
* Sauce
* Pasta
* A skimmer
* A ladle
* Butter
* Olive oil
* Grated parmesan cheese
* Fresh basil or parsley

Step 1: Heat sauce
Heat the sauce in a saucepan over medium-low heat while the pasta is cooking.

Step 2: Remove pasta from water
Remove the pasta from the hot water with a skimmer – a flat, slotted utensil – once it has finished cooking. Reserve the water for later.

Step 3: Add pasta to sauce
Add the pasta to the sauce and mix. Heat the pasta and sauce together for one minute.

Don’t “oversauce” your pasta – use just enough to coat the noodles evenly.

Step 4: Add starchy water
Add half a ladle of the starchy water to the saucepan and mix. Starch water gives your sauce a good consistency and keeps your pasta moist.

Step 5: Add fat
Turn off the heat and add a small scoop of butter and a dash of olive oil and mix.

Step 6: Add cheese
Grate a handful of parmesan cheese and mix it through the pasta.

Step 7: Add herbs
Mix in basil or parsley just before serving. Ring the dinner bell quickly so everyone can enjoy your creation while it’s hot.

Fact: The Chinese cooked with pasta as early as 5,000 B.C.