<http://schema.org/articleBody>
" Pasta, it&amp;#039;s the one thing that&amp;#039;s\u00A0near impossible to botch.\u00A0Boil some water, wait\u00A0eight(ish)\u00A0minutes, and voil\u00E0! You&amp;#039;re done.\u00A0 Or so you thought. Here are the surprising things I learned from Italian chefs, locals, and a few grandmas on my recent\u00A0trip to Italy [Find pics of my trip and more on\u00A0my Instagram.]           Italy hack: when you can&amp;#039;t make up your mind, get one of everything. &#127837;&#127837;&#127837;&#127837;&#127837;&#127837;&#127837;&#127837;&#127837;&#127837;&#127837;&#127837;&#127837;&#127837; #damnthatsdelish #foodbeast #howiholiday #hangrydiary #italy #bonapetit #devourpower #f52grams #feedfeed #ahmholiday #f52contest #foodandwine A photo posted by Charlotte Palermino (@charlotteparler) on Dec 30, 2015 at 4:34am PST     1. Ingredients make all the\u00A0difference.\u00A0 Let&amp;#039;s be honest, even slightly overcooked pasta with butter is good because, well, carbs. What separates a mind blowing pasta from an everyday pasta is the ingredients. Even if it&amp;#039;s just investing in a good tomato base (like San Marzano tomatoes), or\u00A0above-average\u00A0cheese, or making your own pasta with a great flour like\u00A0semolina and fresh eggs, you&amp;#039;ll take your pasta from good to extraordinary. Italians also operate around seasons so when possible, keep it seasonal and local.\u00A0 Try these pumpkin-inspired pasta recipes. 2. You don&amp;#039;t need butter or cream to make something creamy.           Lessons in Italian &#127837;\u2014you don&amp;#039;t need butter (blasphemous, I know). A clam spaghetti that was simply prepared with white wine, olive oil, clams and some parsley. @carlycardellino and I were fighting for the last bite. Antica Osteria Ruga Rialto was a great spot we were recommended\u2014cheap wine and eats just the way I like it &#128526;. #damnthatsdelish #howiholiday #travel #venice #italy #foodbeast #instafood #devourpower #dailypasta #feastagram A photo posted by Charlotte Palermino (@charlotteparler) on Dec 29, 2015 at 8:31am PST     On our first night in Italy, my friend and I were stuffing our faces in Venice when she proclaimed &amp;quot;this is only good because there is so much butter.&amp;quot; When we asked our waiter how much butter they added,\u00A0he looked horrified. What we were eating was a\u00A0Vongole, and that\u00A0never has butter, only the starch water from the pasta, olive oil, and a little white wine. In general\u00A0butter isn&amp;#039;t a huge\u00A0staple in Italian cuisine. The velvety sauces can be achieved by working olive oil into the pasta at the right time. Try this spicy tonnarelli with clams recipe.\u00A0 3. It doesn&amp;#039;t have to be the main attraction. There came a point on our trip when we realized that\u00A0every time we asked a local where a good place to grab a snack was, they suggested pasta.\u00A0Pasta in Italy is\u00A0typically served as a primi or appetizer\u00A0course. So, when in Rome (or anywhere in the world), you should probably start your dinner with spaghetti.\u00A0You won&amp;#039;t regret it. 3. Lemon. In everything. When pairing lemon and pasta, one typically thinks of\u00A0\u00A0fresh herbs, pesto, and spring-based dishes.\u00A0On our trip we saw lemons everywhere, folded into ricotta that then made it into our ravioli, to a quick squeeze in tomato-based sauces.\u00A0Lemon, according to one chef, adds the perfect amount of acidity and makes your dish brighter and fresher, particularly when you&amp;#039;re low on ingredients.\u00A0 Try this \u00A0spaghetti with\u00A0lemon, arugula, and prosciutto. 4. No chicken.\u00A0 I would start most conversations with &amp;quot;tell me something uncommon about\u00A0pasta.&amp;quot; Unanimously, every Italian started with &amp;quot;no chicken.&amp;quot; Their beloved carb is not meant to be paired with heavy proteins, which are meant for the following course. Meatballs? Those too are not traditionally served with pasta. Most definitely eaten, just in a completely separate course from the\u00A0primi.           They say a boy will come along in your life and change everything but lol no, a bowl will and you&amp;#039;ll never be the same. Bowls before bro&amp;#039;s my friends\u2014incredible tagliatelle con pesto e pomodorini. Will I ever look at anything the same? &#127837;&#127837;&#127837;&#127837;&#127837;&#127837;&#127837;&#127837;&#127837;&#127837; #damnthatsdelish #dailypasta #dailyfoodfeed #florence #tamero #foodbeast #feastagram #travel #howiholiday #LITaly #charandcargotoitaly #foodandwine &#128293;&#127470;&#127481;&#128293;&#127470;&#127481; #dreamfood A photo posted by Charlotte Palermino (@charlotteparler) on Jan 2, 2016 at 8:09am PST     5. Cook\u00A0pasta in its\u00A0sauce before you serve.\u00A0 The one thing you&amp;#039;re always supposed to do with pasta? Cook it\u00A0in the sauce. That means all those years of boiling pasta and tossing some gravy on top\u00A0wasn&amp;#039;t exactly what you&amp;#039;re supposed to do.\u00A0\u00A0The head\u00A0chef at Sabatini\u00A0told us this is because you want the pasta to absorb the taste of the sauce and\u00A0not stick together. He even compared pasta to tofu saying you cook tofu in the things you want it to taste like. Mind blown.\u00A0 Try this spaghetti with sun-dried-tomato-almond pesto. 6. If you tried to eat every type of pasta in the world (one each day), it would take you over a year.\u00A0 While one woman told me there are thousands of different kinds of pasta, after a bit of research there are closer to 400 kinds\u00A0with many types having multiple names.\u00A0           Lunch goals/life goals. Da Augusto has been around for 50 years in Trasteverre (Williamsburg-y vibes of Rome) and they probably have the same menu from when they opened. Got braised veal and the pasta of the day\u2014gnocchi. So about me moving here... #damnthatsdelish #eeeeeats #dailypasta #devourpower #foodbeast #hangrydiary #foodandwine #travel #italy #feastagram #f52grams #bonapetit #howiholiday #huffposttaste #buzzfeast #ahmholiday #hangrydiary #feedfeed #dreamfood A photo posted by Charlotte Palermino (@charlotteparler) on Jan 3, 2016 at 9:12am PST     7. The water you use matters. While we couldn&amp;#039;t find any proof, we also couldn&amp;#039;t\u00A0refute the\u00A0claim many chefs made that\u00A0the kind of water you use will impact what your pasta tastes like. One chef explained that the minerals\u00A0found in different waters lend to varying textures and starch levels in your dough.\u00A0 8. Even a bad cook can make good pasta.\u00A0 Arriving in Florence, the hotelier of Grand Amore Hotel and Spa\u00A0told me that even terrible cooks like himself can make Italy&amp;#039;s most famous dish. All you need to know is the basics, like mixing your pasta with the sauce, saving the starch water (see below), and, when possible, using fresh ingredients.\u00A0He even went so far as to say that if you have good ingredients, but\u00A0can&amp;#039;t make a simple pasta like\u00A0Cacio e Pepe, you&amp;#039;re not Italian.\u00A0 Try this Cacio e Pepe spaghetti.\u00A0 9. Save the (salted) starch water. When straining your pasta you should always save a little starch water (that you salted, of course). The theory behind this is that the starchy water helps bind the sauce to the pasta while thickening it. Some pasta dishes completely rely on the starch water as the liquid agent while others use it to help thicken and enhance the sauce.          The most delicious dishes are often the most simple. Fall&amp;#039;s here, so, need to increase my carb intake by 1000000000%. Simple tomato sauce I cooked for a few hours with onion, garlic, fresh basil, olive oil salt and pepper. Right when you&amp;#039;re done cooking, add some leftover starch water, put the pasta back in the sauce and cook until perfectly al dente. Oh and add all the cheese. \u2714\uFE0F\u2714\uFE0F\u2714\uFE0F\u2714\uFE0F\u2714\uFE0F\u2714\uFE0F\u2714\uFE0F\u2714\uFE0F this may be my snack until dinner. #damnthatsdelish #f52grams #feedfeed #nyc #brooklyn #goop #newforkcity #goop #buzzfeast #buzzfeedhealth A photo posted by Charlotte Palermino (@charlotteparler) on Oct 4, 2015 at 2:22pm PDT      11. Add an egg or\u00A0cheese to make any sauce creamier.\u00A0 In addition to saving the starch water, you can also add an egg,\u00A0egg yolk, or cheese to make a sauce more creamy. While most people have seen this in Carbonara where you take eggs, cheese, pancetta, and starch water (not cream), chefs were adding eggs to tomato-based sauces as well. The trick, they told me, is to take your pasta off its\u00A0heat source and add the egg so it doesn&amp;#039;t scramble but turns into a melt-in-your-mouth\u00A0pasta.\u00A0 12. This one everyone knows: make it with love. The last thing I learned about pasta? Make it with love and from the heart.\u00A0Another lesson learned?\u00A0It&amp;#039;s near impossible\u00A0to get sick of pasta. I would know, I&amp;#039;ve\u00A0been trying to\u00A0ever\u00A0since I got back. Follow Delish on Instagram. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.delish.com/kitchen-tools/kitchen-secrets/tips/a45495/best-ways-tips-to-cooking-pasta/>