NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� 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.
Pashman's 鈥淎nything's Pastable鈥� features dishes using 34 different pasta shapes, but especially features his cascatelli, a graceful, ruffled-edged curved shape that resembles a quotation mark. Time magazine declared cascatelli one of 2021鈥檚 best inventions.
Pashman came up with the idea of writing a pasta cookbook after he noticed that many of cascatelli's fans were sending him images of them eating it in very traditional ways. Maybe even boring ways.
鈥淎 huge percentage of the photos I was getting were just tomato sauce, meat sauce, mac 鈥榥鈥� cheese. Maybe a few party animals made pesto,鈥� he says. 鈥淚t just made me a little bit sad. Those are all delicious, but there鈥檚 just so much more.鈥�
So Pashman 鈥� a winner and Webby Award-winning podcaster behind 鈥� got to work creating mind-bending pasta dishes, from Tortellini in Kimchi Parmesan Brodo to Gnocchi with Bacon and Sauerkraut.
CLASSIC SAUCES GET NEW TWISTS
This is not a traditional pasta sauce book by any means and Pashman even avoids making any classic marinara. Instead, there are flavors from places like India, Thailand, the Middle East, North African, Mexico, Japan and Peru.
He even makes a pizza out of fettuccine 鈥� a pasta pizza.
鈥淲hen I go to make a cookbook or make pasta, it鈥檚 not my instinct to limit myself to only the classic Italian dishes that I grew up eating. It鈥檚 also all the other things that I love to eat,鈥� he says.
Pashman dreamed up many of the dishes 鈥� the pasta pizza came to him while he was driving 鈥� and leaned on a half dozen recipe developers to offer their takes, suggestions and refinement.
The book is a clever mix of possibilities, like Mac 鈥楴鈥� Dal, which combines lentils and pigeon peas with cumin, coriander, turmeric, yogurt and lumache pasta. Or Linguini with Miso Clam Sauce, a saucy take on a classic. Or Tangy Labne Noodle Kugel with Persimmon Relish 鈥� your grandmother may have to look away.
鈥淥n the surface, I understand that this cookbook will look to a lot of people like somewhat radical," he says. 鈥淏ut it鈥檚 a natural extension of the coming together of different cuisines in America.鈥�
Italian food doesn't stay the same either, he notes.
Despite the 鈥渟tereotype of Italians as being sort of closed to any kind of change in tradition, the fact is that Italian pasta culture has been changing and evolving all the while,鈥� he says. 鈥淎s long as there are humans cooking in kitchens, then there will be new ideas and things will change and evolve.鈥�
AN ANALYTICAL APPROACH
Pashman 鈥� a deliberate and even obsessive home chef who has long analyzed everything from various salts to different cheese-grating methods 鈥� attacked the book in the same way.
鈥淚 approach food very analytically. I come from a long line of lawyers, and it鈥檚 always kind of my instinct to break a dish of food down to its component parts,鈥� he says. 鈥淲hen you start to do that, you see there are a lot of similarities across cuisines.鈥�
For one dish, he started with bolognese, Italy's great meat sauce. Then he thought about other ground meat dishes. He remembered larb, a Laos meat salad. He reached out to recipe developer and the two kept refining until they came up with a ground meat sauce for his cascatelli with mint, lemon juice, chili and fish sauce.
Park, the author of the cookbook 鈥淐hili Crisp,鈥� contributed to five recipes in Pashman's book, and said the process 鈥渁llowed me to push the boundaries of what pasta can be.鈥�
鈥淔ood is a really safe and exciting playground where you can be free and combine so many different inspirations into one amazing dish. Dan really allowed me to go full force with my wild, exciting ideas,鈥� he says.
CHOOSE WHAT FEELS GOOD
Pashman organized 鈥淎nything鈥檚 Pastable鈥� in an intriguing way 鈥� by mood. 鈥淎dventures in Texture,鈥� 鈥淔lavor Bombs Not Belly Bombs鈥� and 鈥淭hick and Hearty, Warm and Toasty鈥� are some of the sections. He made one for pasta salads and another for baked dishes.
鈥淚f you open up this book, I want you to be thinking, I鈥檓 in the mood for this type of pasta dish, and you should be able to find the chapter that鈥檚 going to give you that,鈥� Pashman says.
Many of the dishes are designed to showcase cascatelli, which he designed with three goals: To have a shape with forkability, toothsinkability and sauceability 鈥� all terms he invented.
His signature paste endures as a favorite in the Pashman home. He says the family initially ate so much cascatelli that they burned out on it, but a few weeks ago returned after Dan made it with arugula pesto.
鈥淏oth my kids were like, 鈥榃ow, we missed cascatelli.鈥�" he says.
"So that made me feel good.鈥�
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Mark Kennedy is at
Mark Kennedy, The Associated Press
