Pasta is a perennial foodservice favorite and offered by nearly every commercial and noncommercial kitchen. Consumers love pasta, whether cooked from dry, fresh or pre-cooked frozen. Culinary students will inevitably work with pasta during their careers. The standard salted boiling water cooking method is just that – standard. Get the right rolling boil, immerse the product for the correct time, drain and cool properly and you have the perfect al dente bite.

Standard practices change as operations become more efficient and food costs continue to rise. That may be the case with pasta as well. If an operator chooses pre-cooked frozen pasta to serve guests clamoring for a sauced dish, cooks might be throwing out the boiling water and opening microwave doors.

Barilla’s pre-cooked frozen pasta offers flexibility for all types of foodservice kitchens. Once thawed, the precooked pasta can be thoroughly heated within a sauce in the microwave or put through an impinger oven. Each method turns out a quality pasta that holds its texture for 30 minutes or more.

Cooking methods
Barilla frozen pasta can be quickly cooked in a steamer, impinger oven, microwave or stovetop.

• Steamer/iCombi – Combine 40 ounces of pasta in 80 ounces of sauce in a full hotel pan or 20 ounces of pasta and 40 ounces of sauce in half a hotel pan. Cover with plastic wrap and foil. Steam for 17 min on full steam.

• Impinger oven – Add four ounces of pasta with eight ounces of sauce in a seven-inch pan or six ounces of pasta and 12 ounces of sauce in a 12-inch pan. Cover with foil and cook in an impinger oven at 500 degrees for 9 min.

• Microwave – Combine seven ounces of pasta, ¼ of cup water, and seven ounces of sauce in a microwave-safe dish. Cover with plastic wrap and microwave for 2 minutes. Carefully uncover and stir. Recover and microwave for one additional minute.

• Sauce – Add one cup of water for every 32 ounces of sauce. Bring sauce and water to a boil. Add pasta to the sauce and cook for two and a half minutes.

• Blanching – Cook pasta in boiling salted water for 1:15 minutes for immediate service or 45 seconds if holding.

• Note, the above cooking methods are based on slacked pasta.