How To Cook Pasta

1. Fill a pot with one quart of water per serving of pasta (1/4 pound, 100 g) you plan to make, and set it to boil.
2. When it comes to a boil, add 1 tablespoon of coarse salt (a little less if it's fine) per quart of water.
3. Check the pasta package for cooking time. No time? See below.
4. When the water comes back to a rolling boil, add the pasta and give it a good stir to separate the pieces.
5. Stir occasionally to keep the pasta pieces from sticking to each other or the pot.
6. A minute before the cooking time is up, fish out a piece of pasta and check for doneness.
7. Fresh pasta (fettuccine, tagliatelle, lasagna) cooks quickly, 3-5 minutes.
8. Thin dry pasta (spaghettini, shells, rotini) cooks in 6-9 minutes.
9. Thick walled pasta (penne, ziti, spaghetti, tortiglioni, etc.) cooks in 12-15 minutes.
10. You want an al dente, or chewy texture -- not flab. Taste, or break open a piece of pasta to test for doneness.
11. If you see a thin white line or white dot(s) in the middle of the broken piece, it's not done yet.
12. Test again, and as soon as the broken piece is a uniform translucent yellow, drain the pasta.
13. Sauce the pasta per the recipe and serve it.

Tips:

1. To better wed the pasta to the sauce, put the sauce in a broad skillet and heat it while the pasta cooks.
2. Drain the pasta when it's just shy of done and stir it into the skillet before the colander stops dripping completely.
3. Toss the pasta and sauce over high heat for a minute or two, until the pasta is done.

From : http://italianfood.about.com