If you're pouring all of your pasta water down the drain, you're missing out. When pasta cooks, it releases starch into the water, which makes it an excellent thickener for sauces. The perfect demonstration of this is spaghetti carbonara, in which the pasta water helps gives the dish its signature creaminess. So, instead of using a colander to drain the pasta, grab a pair of long tongs to retrieve your pasta out of the water, or a pasta spoon for smaller noodles.

You can save the extra pasta water by freezing it for later. You can then add it to soups, sauces or anything you're looking to thicken up and add saltiness to. 

The next time you're boiling up some spaghetti, add some pasta water to the sauce and watch it turn from watery to velvety and cohesive.