Cooking spaghetti - my way.

Since my guests always seem to like my spaghetti, I thought I'd post my recipe. Today my friend theshanghaieye from flickr came over and took pics while my wife and I were cooking, so you can see the progress with images.

Jakob's spaghetti for three people (and a bit leftover for the night).

Allright, let's begin! First, let's prepare the water. Find a huge pot, and add water. Fill it up to about 80%.



Add some spoons with salt to the water. This will make the spaghetti taste more... italian.



Find some sauce. As you see, my sauce of choice is the traditional spaghetti sauce from Del Monte. You can find it in Carre Four if you live in Shanghai, or in the city supermarket at Jing'An temple.



Well, open it.



Murphy's law stroke our photo-shoot, and the tin opener just broke, so I had to use a knife to get it open.



Cut the garlic!



Cut three garlic pieces in thin layers.



Okay, well done.



Then heat the plate, add olive oil and wait until it's hot.



Use the time it needs to heat to wash some tomatoes, for example.



Okay, now throw in the garlic.



Wait for ten seconds or so, then add the sauce.



Start cutting the tomatoes you cleaned earlier. A bit of fresh tomatoes never hurts these tin box sauces, capisce?



Blend them.



Add some salt.



Smile for the camera.



Cut some more. Tomatoes are healthy, you know?



Beautiful vegetable.



Add them, too.



Start cutting onions. Non piangere!



Cut them in small pieces.



Open up another garlic, don't cut it.



Then throw it into the water! Not into the sauce!



Add some oil to the water, start heating it now.



Get the spaghetti ready. If you cook anything else then De Cecco, you're a consumer whore.



Smile some more, and don't forget to stir the sauce every once in a while.



Now that the water is heating and the sauce cooking, get the cheese ready. If you don't have a real Grana from Parma, there are flights for under 6.000 kuai to Italy and back.



It must be a Parmigiano! Don't you dare use some toast cheese or something like that.



Rub the cheese onto a plate.



Rub until you have a small hill.



Looks good, smells good, tastes good.



As for Origano, you should have a italian nonna that provides it to you. If you don't have an italian grandmother, which is probably the case if you don't know how to cook spaghetti and the only reason why you're reading this, find some decent italian store and buy it there for an insane price.



Drop it into the sauce, stupid!



Stir it.



The onions still have to wait. But theshanghaieye was bored and wanted to give them special attention by shooting an exquisite picture.



To the climax: Cook the spaghetti!



Make sure your water is boiling, and throw 'em in!



Stir around so they don't stick to the ground.



Let them boil for about 10 minutes.



Smile some more.



Seems like theshanghaieye can't wait to try them.



My wife prepared a salad.



Smile...



Try the spaghetti after 10 minutes. They should be al dente, that means, they shouldn't be too soft and not too hard. If they are too soft, you overcooked them. Shame on you! Better luck next time. If they are still very hard, wait a minute, try again.



Now that the spaghetti are perfect, take them out.



Shake 'em so the water is all gone.



Put them back into the pot and blend them with the sauce.



Now fry the onions in olive oil. If you're a onion-taste lover, you can cook them together with the sauce from the beginning, but I prefer it this way.



The salad is almost finished, too.



Yummy!



Onions ready? Blend them in the pot with the spaghetti.



Stir it well!



Put the spaghetti on a plate!



Hungry?



Add the Grana cheese. Finished!



Hope you like this recipe, let me know if it worked for you. I might add some more in that case.