Presto Pasta Night Roundup #91

Just popped home for a quick nap before heading back to the hospital to play Grandma (for the second time) so my apologies for making this brief. Daphne of More Than Words did an awesome job hosting this week's stellar Presto Pasta Night Roundup.

Thanks all and next week it's back to me. I'm looking forward to getting all your fantastic entries. Just email them to me: ruth (at) 4everykitchen (dot) com.

Pasta Cooking 101

A while ago I reviewed Anita Stewart's Canada...a fantastic book, wherever you live. And as a bonus I received a free subscription to Rouxbe a very cool on-line video cooking school. You really should check it out.

Naturally, I decided to look at the basic pasta cooking lesson. It really is for first time pasta cooks, but I still learned a lot. Here are a few tips for the new and not so new Presto Pasta Night Chef:

1. Did you know that you should cook dried pasta differently than fresh pasta?
Dried pasta is harder and should be cooked in lots of salted (2 tbsp salt per 1 lb/450g pasta) water that is rapidly boiling so that the pasta doesn't stick together. Fresh pasta, much softer and more delicate than dried, should be cooked in lots of salted water that is only at a strong simmer (slow boiling). Same goes for filled pasta that would break apart at a strong boil.

2. Pasta is done when...dried is al dente (just a bit hard in the center) and fresh is ready when it's tender.

If you have any specific pasta making question...leave it in the comments and we'll all try to answer.

And don't forget that this week PPN #91 will be hosted by another great food blogger...Daphne of More Than Words. So get your great dishes into her by Thursday night so that she can post the roundup on Friday. Email entries entries to daphnesu16(at) yahoo(dot)com and a cc to me Ruth AT 4everykitchen DOT com

Plus...Don't forget to check all the Presto Pasta Night Roundups dating back to March, 2007, see who's hosting for the next four weeks and check out guidelines and tips for entering and hosting.

If you have any ideas for a topic for Presto Pasta Night, let me know. Facebook members, please visit the Presto Pasta Gang on Facebook

Fantastic Presto Pasta Night Roundup #90

What a fantastic Presto Pasta Night Roundup this week...26 mouth-watering entries. Nilmandra of Soy and Pepper did an awesome job putting it all together. Kudos!

Enjoy yourselves as you wander through the list and don't forget that next week PPN #91 will be hosted by another great food blogger...Daphne of More Than Words. So get your great dishes into her by Thursday night so that she can post the roundup on Friday. Email entries entries to daphnesu16(at) yahoo(dot)com and a cc to me Ruth AT 4everykitchen DOT com

Plus...Don't forget to check all the Presto Pasta Night Roundups dating back to March, 2007, see who's hosting for the next four weeks and check out guidelines and tips for entering and hosting.

If you have any ideas for a topic for Presto Pasta Night, let me know. Facebook members, please visit the Presto Pasta Gang on Facebook

Pasta Treasures on the Web

There are two sites that need to be shared...

I love Mark Bitten's style of cooking. In fact, my favorite morning of the week is Wednesday...not because it's "hump day", but because it's the day that the NY Times Dining & Wine always features the Minimalist, a column by Mark.

Naturally with U S Thanksgiving on most American minds his column is about turkey & the trimmings (the video is a fantastic sweet potato dish ready in less than 10 minutes from the time you peel it), but Monday he shared a great pasta dish....perfect for dinner after a crazy, hectic day.

Pasta with White Sausage Sauce

One of this week's Presto Pasta Night Gang, Patsyk of Family, Friends & Food shared a link that can't wait until Friday, at least not in my humble opinion. My Lasagna Recipe is an awesome site...and the first dish I saw...Lobster Lasagna with a dead simple recipe.

Another PPN Challenge...Nothing Serious

Poor Inge of Vanielje Kitchen. She's working on resolving her challenges as you read this.

Here's the temporary Presto Pasta Night #89 Roundup and keep your fingers crossed that Inge gets it fixed soon. She has the most awesome blog ever.

Next week's wonderful host is Nilmandra of Soy & Pepper, another lovely site. you can email your entries to her directly nilmandra (at) soyandpepper (dot)com .

And from now on, in case there are more PPN technical demons out there, please cc me as well ruth(at)4everykitchen(dot)com.

Don't forget to check all the Presto Pasta Night Roundups dating back to March, 2007, see who's hosting for the next four weeks and check out guidelines and tips for entering and hosting.

If you have any ideas for a topic for Presto Pasta Night, let me know. Facebook members, please visit the Presto Pasta Gang on Facebook

Presto Pasta Night Roundup #88

Presto Pasta Night #87 had some challenges, and I'm sure I'm missing some fantastic entries, so if you don't see yours listed, please email the link to me... ruth AT 4everykitchen DOT com and I'll add it. I don't want us to miss out on any delicious dishes.

Presto Pasta Night #88 is quite small this week, but each dish is worth the visit.

And next week, Vanielje Kitchen is hosting and even though she hasn't been posting for a while...I'm hoping we can get hooked again. Send your fantastic entries to her africanvanielje AT vanielje DOT com

Plus...Don't forget to check all the Presto Pasta Night Roundups dating back to March, 2007, see who's hosting for the next four weeks and check out guidelines and tips for entering and hosting.

If you have any ideas for a topic for Presto Pasta Night, let me know. Facebook members, please visit the Presto Pasta Gang on Facebook

Temporary PPN #87

Check here for the temporary Presto Pasta Roundup #87...just until The Cooking Diva overcomes her challenges.

If you wish to add your PPN 87 entry, email it to ruth (at) 4everykitchen.com.

And don't forget that I'm hosting PPN #88 this week too. Send your entries to ruth (at) 4everykitchen (dot) com as well.

PPN #87 Still M I A

Presto Pasta Night #87 is still missing in action. Last week, Chef Melissa, The Cooking Diva was hosting, but she's been having difficulty in connecting to the internet....so here's the back up plan....actually, two choices....

1. If you're one of those who have already sent your entries to Melissa, you can email the link to me ruth (AT) 4everykitchen (DOT) com and I'll post an interim roundup for #87. Just mention that it's for PPN #87.

2. You can just send it in again and I'll add it to this week's roundup...#88 which I'll be hosting myself. Again, just email me your entries.

You can check out this post to see what I made last week and what's in store for this week's roundup too.

PPN 87 status update...

I know it's a little later than usual, but Presto Pasta Night will be happening. The Cooking Diva is in Argentina, lucky her, so it might take a little longer than usual this week to check out all those delicious pastas....keep checking her site.