Meanwhile, cook the pasta according to the package directions, and save about 1/2 cup
of the cooking water for the sauce.
When potato is cool, remove skin and mash in a bowl until smooth adding a few
drops of cooking water if you need to.
Toss over high heat 1 minute to coat the pasta, adding a
splash of the cooking water if necessary to keep the sauce from being too «tight».
Spoon on the ricotta and toss lightly again, add small
amounts of the cooking water to lighten the cheese to the consistency you like, and serve.
Drop them into the boiling water and give them 2 — 3 more minutes after they float to cook all the way through then drain them, reserving a few
tablespoons of the cooking water.
You might think I am crazy but I am planning to freeze some
portions of cooking water the next time I cook chickpeas just to be sure I have some when I want to make this hummus without cooking fresh chickpeas.
If you are cooking your chickpeas from the dried form, CI notes that adding 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda per cup of dried chickpeas in 2
quarts of cooking water tenderizes the chickpeas and their skins.
Don't forget to scrape the walls of your kitchen machine several times in between and continue processing the chickpeas, adding a bit
of cooking water from time to time, until you reach the perfect consistency.
If you are using it for pasta, I find when that you get more of a sauce if you take a
bit of the cooking water from the pasta and add it to the pesto.
Once your pasta has finished cooking, drain, reserving 1/3 cup or
so of the cooking water, then add back to the pot, with the cooking water.
Drain the spaghettini, keeping
some of the cooking water.
When the chickpeas are soft, drain not forgetting to keep
some of the cooking water (about 1 cup of it) and leave to cool.
Reserve one cup
of cooking water before straining out all the water.
Reserve 1/3 cup
of the cooking water.
Reserve a cup
of the cooking water.
When cooked, reserve 1/2 cup
of the cooking water, drain pasta and add it to the skillet.
Reserve 1/2 cup
of the cooking water and set aside.
All the aforementioned will be tossed with hot pasta, plus a little
of its cooking water and plenty of pecorino.
Reserve 1/4 cup
of cooking water, then drain pasta.
I also peel them warm and use
some of the cooking water, cumin and a bit of cayenne.
Add gnocchi and 1/4 cup
of cooking water to pot with sauce and bring to a hard boil, stirring gently.