I heard about this book on an episode of 99% by Roman Mars. He was interviewing Dan Pashman – host of the Sporkful podcast.
He talked about pasta, creating a new kind of pasta that holds the sauce just right and his adventuring in creating the new cookbook – Anything’s Pastable.
I hopped online and reserved it at the library (ages ago a dear friend shared her brilliant way of checking out cookbooks from the library first to make sure they are worth buying!)
I have been trying different recipes, buying pasta (we don’t normally have real pasta in the house, generally it’s chick pea or any other type of high protein flour, but honestly rarely do we have pasta) For some reason this book just speaks to me to try all the strange and interesting combos of cultures into a single dish.
I’ll share the recipes that i have tried – so far none are – OMG i need to save this recipe and cook it over and over again. I have spent a lot of time and money finding weird ingredients! The recipes are also large – i have been cutting them in half as there are only 2 of use and we still have a ton of left overs!
I have not put the recipes in here as I respect the time and effort that went into this book and hope you will either jump to the library or amazon and give him a nickel…
First up – Shells with Miso butter and Scallions
Pretty straightforward recipe but – I had a an accident with the reserved pasta water and that led to a very painful evening, and time on the internet learning what the different levels of burns were. I’m not interested in learning anything more than not even level 1. My skin is still pink even over a month later.
Verdict: Not sure what i expected from the dish, maybe more depth with the miso, not that exciting, more comfort food, we tossed in some grilled hot links to make it taste better. I also got to use some fresh onion scapes hubby had grown.
Next up – Green Fettuccine with Chorizo Verde
Lots of missteps – got paresley instead of cilantro, and some other missing ingredients. Led to 2 different trips to different grocery stores.
Verdict: way too much work for what you get. The chorizo verdo was just so so. Charring veggies in the oven, using the blender etc etc.
Good stuffs: i learned about mexican crema, in a bottle!
Next up: Cacio e uova (Pasta with pecorino and eggs)
This is the first recipe in the book and i was intrigued by using eggs and having the pasta “cook” them.
Verdict: again, not as amazing as it indicates… the hot sauce adds a little but not enough.
As I mentioned I really want these recipes to be amazing, and i have bought a number of ingredients for a number of other recipes, so i’m going to keep trying, and hopefully one is the one – and hopefully more than one!
mac n dal is next as i bought some curry leaves and fresh cilantro yesterday, and also ordered the tomato achaar from a deli in new york… i’ll keep you posted!
Verdict on the cookbook: still pending…
