Easiest noodles and cheese

Guy loves pasta. He asked me for lunch today if we could have "some noonles?"  But what kid doesn't love pasta, right? Especially if you couple it with cheese.

One way that I've found I can get a little green vegetable into my son's diet is to use spinach pasta (but any pasta will do) such as this. The consistency is just like regular pasta.

Here is how I cook pasta:

1. Bring water to a rolling boil. Add Kosher salt. I like Diamond Crystal, which comes in a red box. I add enough salt to make the water taste like the sea.

(I know that sounds like a lot, but you won't need to add any more salt when you drain the water off).

2. Boil noodles until tender, drain off most of the cooking liquid, leaving a couple of tablespoons behind. This is how the Italians cook their pasta.

3. Put the pot back on the burner, add some olive oil or butter, and add some grated cheese. Any cheese will do. This particular cheese is just plain old cheddar (even easier than mac n cheese!).

4. Stir rapidly, coating all the noodles evenly. Simple tongs work best for this. The noodles will be ready when the cheese, butter and cooking water have turned into a saucy consistency.

5. Make sure to get some water on your pot and tongs right away for ease of cleanup. Better yet, toss  the dishes into the dishwasher and run through the rinse cycle if you're not ready to clean up quite yet.


This is a silly and dizzying video of Guy eating noodles, posted mostly for the grandparents.