— Blanca Martinez

This is a great question. Uh, you can go either way. Uh, again, one of the beauties of cooking is that, um, uh, you can learn to do things multiple ways, um, just depending, uh, on your situation. It could be time constraints, it could be, uh, space constraints. Um, it could be, uh, uh, you know, adherence to a, um, a, a regionally specific cooking method. Uh, that could be, you know, various, you know, reasons that influence your choice here. But let me say, uh, a couple of specific things. That is, um, if you cook pasta separately, okay, for whatever you're doing, whether it's a soup right, or a pasta dish, or a casserole or whatever, if you cook the pasta separately, you're gonna have the most control over the texture over the degree of doneness of the pasta. Okay? And then, um, you know, if you can, uh, look ahead and think about, uh, you know, how long the pasta is gonna sit with the other components of this dish, and how wet it might get, and how much it might soak in the, you know, the, the watery component, the, the juices, the, the sauces. Then you can adjust the degree of doneness of the pasta in that initial step. Okay? We talk about cooking pasta aldente, uh, but you can make it even, uh, harder, right? Or less done if you know it's gonna sit together with something, um, during the meal or just prior to going to the table. Okay? So this is what I mean by you have more control over the, over the, uh, textural quality of the pasta. Now, on the other hand, in the name of convenience, perhaps, um, you can certainly incorporate pasta into a dish to make it a one pot meal, such as a casserole, you just need to adjust the water, right, or the, the liquid content appropriately so that everything is gonna be cooked to the degree that is appropriate. Okay? So you don't have underdone pasta one of the worst things in the world, I'm sure. Okay? Um, and that's gonna take some practice on your part. Always take notes while you're cooking. Um, that's my recommendation for everybody. I live by those rules. I've got a notebook pen, uh, within about two or three steps in the kitchen, and I'm always taking notes for the, uh, these sorts of things. Okay? Um, but you can do it either way. Uh, just depends. Thank you.