Anything's Pastable: 81 Inventive Pasta Recipes for Saucy People
The innovative James Beard Award-winning podcaster who changed the way you think about pasta shapes with his invention of the viral sensation cascatelli now does the same for pasta sauces in this fun and charmingly obsessive cookbook, which includes a foreword from bestselling author J. Kenji López-Alt.
When Sporkful podcast host Dan Pashman launched cascatelli, a new pasta shape he invented that he designed to hold tons of sauce, stay on the fork, and be incredibly satisfying to bite into, it went viral and was named one of TIME Magazine's Best Inventions of the Year. VICE called him "a modern pasta legend."
But as Dan was flooded with pictures of what people were making with his pasta, he was disappointed to see how limited the dishes were: tomato sauce, meat sauce, mac and cheese, over and over. A few party animals made pesto.
So Dan set out to revolutionize people's conceptions of pasta sauces, just as he did with pasta shapes. He traveled across Italy and worked with an all-star team of recipe developers in the US to create a new kind of pasta sauce cookbook for people bored with the old standbys. That's why there's no 3-hour marinara recipe or fresh pasta made from scratch in this book. No photos of nonnas caked in flour or the hills of Tuscany. Instead it's time to show the world--Anything's Pastable.
Here you'll enjoy dishes inspired by a range of ingredients and cuisines:
- Kimchi CarbonaraCacio e Pepe e Chili CrispKeema BologneseMapo Tofu CascatelliShakshuka and ShellsSmoked Cheddar and Chicken Manicotti "Enchiladas"Linguine with Miso Clam SauceShrimp and Andouille Mac and Cheese
Lesser-known Italian pasta dishes with a twist:
- Spaghetti all'Assassina (spicy pasta pan fried until charred and crispy crunchy)Ciceri e Tria (chewy fresh pasta with crispy fried pasta in a light chickpea broth)Cavatelli with Roasted Artichokes and Preserved LemonCreste di Gallo with Fava Beans and Dandelion GreensPasta Frittata
Fun and delicious concoctions that may--or may not--be how they do it in Italy:
- Spinach Artichoke Dip Lasagna PinwheelsPasta Pizza (the "crust" is fettucine fused together)Roman Cafeteria Hot Dog Pasta Salad with Canned Veggies
With an incredible array of recipes, Dan showcases the limitless pastabilities when you really know how to use your noodle.
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Dan Pashman is the creator and host of the two-time James Beard and Webby Award-winning podcast The Sporkful, which he says is not for foodies, it's for eaters. He's also the creator and host of Cooking Channel's You're Eating It Wrong. In 2021 Dan launched the new pasta shape cascatelli, a viral sensation that TIME Magazine named one of the Best Inventions of the Year. The story of Dan's three-year quest to create cascatelli was told in The Sporkful podcast's "Mission: ImPASTAble" series, which the New York Times named one of the 10 Best Podcasts of 2021. Cascatelli is now in more than 3000 stores across America. In early 2023 Dan received international media attention when he launched two more pastas--obscure Italian shapes called vesuvio and quattrotini--that he produces with the artisanal pasta company Sfoglini, who also make the original version of cascatelli.
"If you've eaten your share of classic carbonara and lasagna Bolognese and want to level up your pasta game and unlock the full potential of your pantry, pick up this book and let Dan guide your mouth into whole new worlds of deliciousness." -- J. Kenji López-Alt, from the foreword
A Most Exciting New Spring Cookbook for 2024. "This collection of nontraditional pasta dishes will delight anyone who craves spaghetti (or fettuccine, or rigatoni)--and anyone who is looking for new twists on their dinner routine. . . . The collection of crispy breadcrumb toppings for your plate is worth the price of admission." -- Epicurious
"Food writer and podcaster Dan Pashman made the unusual step a few years ago of creating an entirely new shape of pasta. The obvious next step? Writing a cookbook to highlight it. . . . [he] got to work creating mind-bending pasta dishes, from Tortellini in Kimchi Parmesan Brodo to Gnocchi with Bacon and Sauerkraut. . . The book is a clever mix of possibilities." -- Associated Press
"An ingenious collection of recipes that celebrate and elevate pasta dishes. . . . Pashman writes with a zesty, addictive sense of wit. . . . If Willy Wonka and Alton Brown collaborated on a pasta cookbook, the end result might be something like this--revolutionary in all the right ways." -- Library Journal (starred review)
"The recipes . . . aim to encourage a spirit of adventure in pasta lovers. [They] are organized into loose categories: 'flavor bombs' include kimchi carbonara, while baked options include a noodle kugel with persimmon relish. Pashman doesn't shy away from store-bought shortcuts, encouraging readers to use packaged gnocchi and tortellini and even offering a flow chart for how to improve on jarred tomato sauce depending on taste and how much time one has. . . . Purists will balk, but adventurous home cooks will be glad they tuned in." -- Publishers Weekly
"[Pashman] may just be readers' long-lost foodie soulmate. . . . [the] recipes are detailed but easy to read and follow, most clocking in at under 45 minutes. . . . With just a handful of ingredients and some creativity, Pashman proves that anything truly is pastable." -- Booklist
"Pashman is one of the most entertaining culinary figures in the game today--a modern pasta legend." -- VICE, on Dan Pashman
