You should always be making sauce when you make pasta. Even if you are using jarred sauce, throw some of the (previously salted, you did remember to salt the pasta water before you cooked the pasta right?) pasta water in a saucepan and saute it then add the sauce and simmer. When it thickens up enough, add the pasta to the sauce and enjoy.
You use the starch to thicken sauces!
Sure but what else? If I am not making sauces I will just throw it away.
You should always be making sauce when you make pasta. Even if you are using jarred sauce, throw some of the (previously salted, you did remember to salt the pasta water before you cooked the pasta right?) pasta water in a saucepan and saute it then add the sauce and simmer. When it thickens up enough, add the pasta to the sauce and enjoy.
I usually make the sauce before since it takes longer and I don’t add any water or thickeners.
You should try adding some pasta water at the end and simmering. Its a subtle but nice difference.
You can thicken soups too, anything you’d use flour to thicken.
I don’t thicken soups usually
You can also thicken stews and whatever Chicken Pot Pie is.
I’d have to save the pasta water then and that just makes no sense
I think its fine to leave the pot on the stove for 24 hours. After that, if it hasn’t been boiled, I’d dump it.
Yeah I’d then have to specifically plan to make something to use the pasta water every time I make pasta. A bit of a hassle for no discernible gain.
Throwing away a couple liters of water is not an issue where I live luckily.