There are a few pots that are a necessity if you're to obtain a complete collection of cooking tools, especially if you lean more towards the Italian side of cooking. If you're someone who can tell when your pasta isn't cooked perfectly au dente, then you'll certainly want your own pasta cooker. Pasta cookers, or really pasta steamers, allow you to cook your noodles in a mixture of boiling water and steam, and then easily drain the noodles once they're at the firmness you prefer. You can steam veggies in a pasta cooker, as well.
Using a Pasta Cooker
The key things to remember when cooking pasta with an insert, is to add the water to the pot after the insert is in place. Then add the water until it fills up three quarters worth of the pot. You just want to make sure that the water reaches the top and doesn't overflow when both the pasta and the insert are in the pot. Add a couple dashes of salt to the water to keep the pasta from sticking and once the water has reached a boil, that's when you add your pasta. You'll want to lower the heat after adding the pasta so that the water is at a low boil as your noodles cook.
