The latter. From rolling boil cook for two minutes then drain, shock in ice water, drain, stir in just enough olive oil to coat, put in fridge until needed. Supposedly can be held for up to six hours, but I've never gone that long. It can cook more quickly than expected after that, so start checking after a minute or two. Another method which I've never tried is a cold soak. Soak the pasta in cold water anywhere from 1.5 to 4 hours, pull it out and cook as needed. Supposedly this pasta only takes a minute to cook. Are you anticipating cooking individual servings as the guests arrive? That's the only reason I'd see for using either of these methods. Either way you have to boil the pasta, so unless you want to feed them the moment they walk in the door what does it matter if the pasta takes one minute to cook or twelve? If it's a sit-down dinner I'd just have a big pot of water waiting at barely a simmer so that you can bring it to a boil quickly when needed.

Teaforwendy, Maybe I am a bit of a nerd but I love the matchy match of all new app.liances that go together. And especially the GE cafe. The cute red button logo. I love it. Yes, I was that nerdy girl with the matching soc,ks, plaid skirt, plaid purse and hair bow. Matchy match goes overboard. : ) But with the GE it is not that at all. It is lovely. I almost went with GE appliances. The French Door refrig, the large wonderful range with heavy industrial grates, the simmer burner, the 5th burner the details....the large knobs, the smooth SS look, the restaurant look, the beauty!!!!! But, My DH loves German products and fell in love with Bosch and for some reason got a better deal while negotiating a fair price on the Bosch not the GE. GE is rated well and looks lovely. Your husband did well. No worries. And you will love the look. I too got rid of a cook top and double ovens to go with a single slide in range with warming drawer. I have no regrets. The elbow room I have now is a plus in my small kitchen. I second guessed for weeks prior to the arrival of my suite. Worrying, did I make a bad choice... Ahhh the 2nd guessing is what does me in every time. Your DH did well. And the sink is going to be great. And the link shows you are not alone in your worries. Last Oct someone posted a similar concern. ~boxer Here is a link that might be useful: GE Cafe Appliances - Request for Pics

My spouse bugged me to buy one of these "EZ Defrosting Trays" quite a few years ago. I was reluctant, but found it really did work - and it worked even better when I warmed it under hot water first. Then one day I had a brainstorm! I make a lot of stock, often at night. Then I'm stuck having to strain it, wait for the big stockpot to cool, then refrigerate it. "Hey...if the defrost tray warms things up, maybe it will cool hot things down too," since the principle of thermal mass should hold true. I placed the pot on the defrost tray. Just in case, I had a sturdy cooling rack underneath. Worked like a charm! You can super-speed it up by pouring the hot broth/soup/stew into another container (metal or glass for best heat transfer), then putting it on the defrost tray. Now I use it all the time to cool things down, like a super-hot pan that I want to pop right away into the DW. An empty pan cools off twice as fast on the defrost tray, even the heavy pro cookware I use. Here is a link that might be useful: EZ Defrost tray example at amazon.com

I've done it on purpose, rather than a rescue, but skirt steak can be tender when just barely cooked enough, med-rare at the most I think, then the connective tissues get more resilient as it's cooked more. If you then treat it like other tough cuts (low, slow, acid, sugar) the tough connective tissue will dissolve. It's tricky, though, because the reason for using it in the first place is the wonderful flavor and if you're not careful you can mask it with marinade or just cook it out. It's possible to do while retaining the flavor, and it won't be bad if you need to do it for a rescue and some of the specific flavor is lost, but a better way to get to a more cooked but tender level is to cut it against the grain into slender strips and do fast and hot, like fajitas. I'm not expert on the topic, but there is a point past tough where meats will soften again with cooking. I think fish just becomes mush (I don't do fish). Some seafood will go from rubber to fluffy, but while I eat it, I don't cook it. That fluffy thing is kind of wonderful and delicious, but it's probably really hard to do on purpose. It's likely one step from trash. If you have chicken that's overcooked to tough but not sticky (when you chomp with your molars it doesn't kind of stick them together), you can rescue it by slicing and simmering for a short time in a sauce (short time so it doesn't get to the nasty, teeth sticky phase), or if it's just barely overcooked, heating it whole with a sauce. Some of that depends on how you like your chicken in the first place, however. Some people would eat it pink if they could. No sauce is going to pull it back to barely cooked. I cook it to a higher temperature than most people. I think it's more tender with a little more cook, but the texture is a bit different.