Comments on: Pasta Week Recipes

By: Bryan

Bryan — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 16:55:02 +0000

My biggest problem was that the stuff was originally written for a different group of people who wanted to do different things with it. Now I’m cutting out huge chunks of code that the new guys don’t use, but I have to be careful that I don’t lose any of the functions that are used in other modules.

I know what things do, but it’s hard to remember where they are done, if you know what I mean.

By: Kryten42

Kryten42 — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 05:30:29 +0000

LOL I know! I’m trying to convert old, leaky, insecure Pearl (and other CGI) code I wrote a decade and over ago to PHP & Python! Good thing I commented the code as I lost all the documentation I wrote some time ago. I still look at code and think “Why the hell did I do that?” or “What the heck is this for?” LOL My memory sux. *sigh*

By: Bryan

Bryan — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 05:11:41 +0000

I don’t get spare time, I get “compile time” waiting after getting the changes to compile and run so I can check for errors from the data set. I hate conversions.

By: Kryten42

Kryten42 — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 04:37:33 +0000

LOL @ Bryan! Spare time! LMAO You are funny like a rubber crutch m8! :b 😉 Heh…

Spare time… I vaguely remember the concept lurking in the dim recesses of my mind… *sigh* One day! 😉

Cheers! Heh… 😀

By: Kryten42

Kryten42 — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 04:35:17 +0000

Hmmm… In honor of pasta week, I’ll add some tips on cooking real *al dente* pasta (any kind of pasta, usually made from duram wheat, but should work for other kinds also.)

Rule #1: DON’T go by the time on the pack! That’s a general guide and will differ in reality for many reasons.

Depending on the amount of pasta being cooked, use a sufficiently big saucepan. Example: for 500g of pasta, you need at least a 2liter saucepan. Basically, the pasta must be well covered in water, generally two – three times above the pasta in the saucepan.

Fill the saucepan about 2/3 with water, add a generous amount of salt (the typical cheap store bulk pack salt will do), add some olive oil so that as it floats on the water, it covers the surface (any oil will do in a pinch, but olive oil is best, it doesn’t need to be extra virgin or anything fancy). 🙂

Once the water is boiling well, add the past in small amounts and stir. Whilst cooking, stir often. After about 5 min’s, begin to check the pasta regularly. It should be going soft and becoming lighter in color. now and then taste a piece (after rinsing in hot water from the sink). When it tastes right (up to individual tastes here, but generally should be just a bit firm, as the pasta will continue cooking on it own for a bit even out of the water from the heat and the next step.)

Have a kettle or pan of boiling clean water (about 1liter will do) ready for when the pasta is ready to drain. I use a long handled stainless steel colander that I can easily suspend bridged across the kitchen sink. 🙂 Empty the pasta from the saucepan into the colander, and then rinse with the boiled fresh water. This removes the excess salt & oil, cleans the melted bits of wheat stuck to the pasta, and cooks a few sec’s more to bring the pasta to the ‘al dente’ point. 🙂

It may take a bit of practice, but the result is worth it. 🙂

Enjoy!

By: Bryan

Bryan — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 04:27:58 +0000

You need to start your food blog in all of your “abundant spare time”. 😉

By: Kryten42

Kryten42 — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 04:14:28 +0000

Drats! Now I’m drooling over my KB! LOL ANd I just had lunch too. 😉

Lady Min’s Mezze Penne with Pesto is yuuuuummmmy!! I know. 🙂 And no fair… she has a pic on her blog to go with the recipe!

Hmmm… I think I have some pic’s of mine above… Maybe I should post them 🙂

Anyway… Enjoy all!! 😀