My five tips to lift your pasta game at home are:

1. When using dried pasta, buy the best quality you can afford. This generally means it is made from strong (semolina) flour, is bronze extruded and is dried slowly at relatively low temperature. A bronze extruder gives more texture to the surface of the pasta, meaning better adhesion of your sauce, and the low-temperature drying preserves the texture of the cooked noodle by not par-cooking it during the drying stage. My go-to brand is Rustichella, made in Abruzzo.

2. Use the best ingredients you can afford to make your sauce – this will make a huge difference to the flavour and texture of the finished dish. Many classic pasta dishes are made from only three or four ingredients, so in these cases quality is everything. Never compromise on cheese: it must be Reggiano or Grana Padano from the North, or pecorino Romano from the South. You actually need to use less of a high-quality cheese, so to purchase lower quality cheese is false economy.

3. Season your pasta water. Unseasoned pasta with a seasoned sauce will still taste hollow, no matter how you try to season it at the end of cooking. About 10 grams of cooking salt per litre of water will season the pasta. A great pasta dish is all about the pasta itself; the sauce is there as a dressing. Once you understand and believe this, you will cook better pasta and enjoy eating it more than ever.

4. Do not undercook your pasta. Great pasta has firm texture due to the strength of the flour it is made from and the care taken to make the dough and form the pasta, whatever shape you are using. It is made from raw flour and needs to be cooked through, but not overcooked. Undercooked low-quality pasta is just not right.

5. Finish your pasta in its sauce for the final minute or so of its cooking. This will flavour the pasta itself as well as release some starch into the sauce, helping to bind and enrich it. You can also adjust the final texture, or ‘wetness’ of your dish by adding some of your pasta water during those final moments of cooking.

6. (Because I couldn’t stop at five!) Look to the classics. There are so many great pasta dishes, all with a long history. These are famous dishes because all of their ingredients work together. These dishes are a result of geography, climate and economic necessity. Research these dishes for a greater understanding; dishes like Amatriciana, ragu Bolognese or ragu Napoletano.

Feeling inspired? Here are 55 of our cheesiest pasta recipes for the ultimate winter indulgence.