As I continue to get this cookbook back and try to find something that I just can’t live without. I keep buying ingredient and trying new and different pasta dishes!
Out latest was
Recipe 4: Thai Curry Quattrotini Mac ‘N’ Cheese
Verdict: sooo many pans. sooo much whisking. sooo not an exciting flavor
The end product was just ok. we used all of the Pangrattato on a 1/4 of the recipe, so i whipped up another batch to use on the left overs!
I used almond milk, and a combo of different cheese (notes say that is ok!) as I had already hit the store multiple times for the ingredients – corn nuts, forgot the lime, had to go back.. There are not a ton of ingredients and it comes together in under an hour. I would use red curry if i ever made it again, to give it a bit of… something. And make extra Pangrattato.
Recipe 5 – Mac N Dal
This was recipe that I had been excited about! 2 kinds of lentils, special tomato achaar that i ordered from NY, curry leaves and kashmiri chili powder that i have had on hand just waiting…
This reminded me of koshari – a very comfort food type of dish well known in Egypt.
Again – too many pots. As we started eating I was dubbed a definitely would eat again… aka could someone else do all the hard work.
As luck would have it, i was talking about koshari with an egyptian and she mentioned someone had figured out how to make that in 1 pot.. So i’m not on a mission to figure out how to create this lovely dish in a single pot.
The flavors were grand, very delightful. This time cut in half and it’s just right!
I used tiny shells vs the requested large shells and i think i really like the little shell!
Recipe #6 – Cacio e pepe e chili crisp
I finally moved into the more spicy part of the book. This recipe was intriguing because of the chili crisp, just had to try it!
I didn’t have the fancy mafalde pastas – where does this fella find all these types?? But i did find a fun shapes that had edges, so i went with it!
I fully ground the black and szechuan peppercorns as we have another recipe and don’t like the texture of crushed pepper corns.
I found the melted butter and ground pepper interesting but perhaps it might have been more done than would have been amazing. I never got my cheese to melt, so that make me sad. I also would use a smaller bowl for the cheese mixture and pour it into the pasta in the pan. I feel a smaller bowl would help the mixture do it’s thing. The extra pepper also added a nice touch!
Verdict: not bad, pepper is the key! Definitely a smaller bowl for the melting of the cheese to make it smoother when putting it back into the pasta.
