Pasta is fasta

THE FOOD CLUB

If you've always fancied yourself as an armchair cook, but curled your lip at dal chawal and were scared to try anything more complicated, try pasta.

There are two types of pasta: commercially made, also called dried pasta, and pasta fresca or pasta made with eggs. The former is what you get out of a packet; the latter is made "" in Italy at any rate "" at home. We're not in Italy, and we're aiming for quick, easy meals, so we'll give pasta fresca the go-by and stick to the stuff you get in packets.

There are several dozen varieties, but the commonest in India are fusilli, farfalle and penne. The reason, according to executive chef Anupam Joglekar of InterContinental The Grand, New Delhi, is because they are of even thickness and get cooked through equally. The fancier shapes need far more careful handling .

According to chef Joglekar, short pasta is shaped such that the sauce gets picked up to the maximum extent. He has a word of advice for hobby cooks: as far as possible, stick to the original cuisine. In other words, don't lather your pasta in buckets of sauce, but be as sparing as the Italians.

You don't cook the pasta first: it's the sauce that has to be got ready. It can be kept warm, but pasta needs to be consumed as fast as possible once it is cooked. Cheese sauce is by far the simplest. It's also the one ingredient that can be safely stored in the refrigerator for the longest. Choose four types: the classic includes parmesan, mascarpone, scarmoza and gorgonzola, but you can be adventurous. Grate all the cheeses, keeping only the blue cheese whole.

For each person, you'd need one tablespoon of whichever mild cheese you're using, plus one teaspoon of every other cheese. Now multiply that by the number of people you have to feed, and you've got the quantities worked out. Heat a teaspoon of butter in a pan, and start adding the cheeses on the lowest possible heat.

Next, add a tablespoon of cream, salt, parsley chopped finely and a pinch of nutmeg. Last of all, smash the blue cheese with your fist and add it to the pan stirring like mad. Take it off the fire. Chef Joglekar says that blue cheese should be a little lumpy in the sauce for added punch.

Now, get your pasta ready. Into boiling salted water, put in one cup of pasta per person. Usually, eight minutes of cooking time is sufficient for al dente pasta, but you may like yours well-done.

As soon as it's done, upturn it into a colander, a large sieve, or even a parath "" anything, as long as all the water drains out pronto. Take care to reserve a tablespoon or two of the water "" you may need to thin down your sauce. Now serve your pasta in soup plates (ideally, not plates or soup bowls), pour the sauce over each serving, and wait for the compliments!