Fresh pasta clumps together when cooked

I love fresh pasta when I order at a restaurant. Lately I've purchased fresh cut pasta from local italian delis; however, as soon as I stick it in boiling water, the pasta clumps together and gets super gummy. Last night I put the pasta in hot boiling water for MAYBE 90 seconds and it still happened and I took it straight from the pot of water to the plate. Any ideas on how to prevent this from happening? Should I just stick the fresh pasta straight into the sauce? I noticed after the fact that taking the starchy water and mixing it with the pasta and the sauce helped unstick it a little but I only reserved about half a cup and it wasn't enough to unstick all of it and I was a little worried about diluting the sauce too much.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Alison
  • Posted by: Alison
  • May 3, 2015
  • 5835 views
  • 2 Comments

2 Comments

sexyLAMBCHOPx
sexyLAMBCHOPx May 3, 2015
I would also stir the pasta for about a minute after the water returns to a rolling boil.
 
Meaghan F.
Meaghan F. May 3, 2015
The most likely culprit is probably the ratio of pasta to cooking water - try increasing the amount of water in your next batch. More water does two things: dilutes the starch, and makes it easier for the water to reach boiling again after the pasta is added. You want that gap to be as small as possible.
 
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