Whole Wheat Pasta

I find it infuriating to cook with whole wheat pasta; the gritty texture seems to override any other and the flavors of the sauce or additions seem to be lost. Whats that, third world problems?
Anyway, tonight BJ cooked dinner from a recipe that called for farfalle pasta. After everything was chopped and ready, he reached for it to find it had been infested with creepies. So he used the year(s?) old whole wheat angel hair we had in the cupbord. By some means of magic, it came out DELICIOUS! He claimed the magic was overcooking the pasta, as one does with brown rice. It was truly impressive, especially since BJ is somewhat new to cooking. I am starting to think he is actually a great cook with a multitude of recipes up his sleeve but has been playing it off all this time. Recipe linked here. (BJ also added a chopped bell pepper, improvisation!)

Do you have any great secrets to making whole wheat pasta not suck???