continue to sauté for one minute.

2. Add water and salt, bring to boil, reduce heat to low, cover pan and cook for 7 minutes

or until all water is absorbed and the orzo is al dente in consistency.

Serves 4 as a side dish.

Cooking makes a difference

Cooking pasta is very easy. So why is it that so many cooks ruin it? The fault is usually

the cook's inattention or his or her poor knowledge of a few basic facts. Pasta needs plenty of

boiling salted water, about three times the volume of the dry pasta. A large amount of water

keeps boiling while you add the pasta, a crucial factor for ending up with a firm outcome. If the

cook starts with a small pot of water, according to basic laws of physics, the water temperature

drops drastically when you drop in the pasta compared to a large pot of water. To help keep

water remain in furious boil, add pasta little at a time, not all at once. Start your timer when the

last batch is in the water.

Use 1 tablespoon salt for every gallon of cooking water. Cooking without salt gives you a

flat-tasting pasta that no sauce can cover up. Too much salt gives a sharp over-salted taste to

whatever you mix it with.

Many cookbooks advise you to add oil to the boiling water to keep the pasta from

sticking together. This is an unfounded myth. The oil remains on the surface of the water, only

making it harder to wash the pot when cleaning up. Pasta won't stick together if you keep stirring

for a few seconds while adding it to the boiling water. After the water returns to a full boil, hang

around and give your pot a stir once or twice. Good pasta will remain in distinct pieces. Never,

never cover the pot while cooking pasta. Some of the starch dissolves in the water during

cooking, floats on the surface and the water boils over, making a terrible mess of your stove.

Instructions on the package give you a general guide about cooking time, but experience

with the same brand is your best bet. When uncertain about cooking time, taste test the pasta near

the end to avoid overcooking. Pasta should be cooked to a stage of, as the Italians say, al dente,

or firm to the teeth. Fully cooked yet just slightly chewy, like barley grains in a soup.

If you overcook pasta and it becomes mushy, throw it out and start with a brand new

batch. Feed the overcooked pasta to your dog. The cat is apt to have more gourmet sense and

won't touch it.

As soon as the pasta is cooked, drain it in a colander. Good pasta does not need rinsing.

Cheaper pasta with its higher starch may benefit as you remove any remaining surface starch that

helps to keep the individual pieces from sticking together. If you serve the pasta right away,

shake the colander to remove as much water as possible. Add a little oil, preferably olive oil, to

the still-warm cooking pot, just enough to barely cover the bottom. Return the drained pasta to

the pot, thoroughly stir the oil into it and warm it over low heat stirring constantly until most of

the moisture has evaporated. Now the oil coats the surface of the pasta and keeps the gelatinized

starch of neighboring noodles from sticking together. Within a minute your pasta should be hot

enough to serve.

When you are baking a pasta dish like lasagna, which has plenty of liquid in the sauce,

you don't need to pre-cook the pasta. Disregard all such recipe instruction. Just layer the dry

pasta with the rest of the ingredients and bake it for the usual time. By the time it is baked, the

pasta will be soft and fully cooked. Try this method first with the family, before you serve it to

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