Pasta boiled al dente and finished in its sauce

Variation: for a cold pasta salad, rinse the pasta to remove the starch.

Fill the largest pot you have three-quarters or more with water and bring to a boil.

Add one tablespoon of rock salt or sea salt, then the pasta; cook for the time on the packet.

Stir during the first minute so the pasta does not stick to the bottom; stir once or twice more after that if wanted.

Taste at minute eight of a ten-minute packet time and again a minute before; it is al dente when it can be bitten but does not stick in the teeth.

Do not add olive oil to the water and do not rinse; drain and put the pasta straight into the waiting sauce and toss.