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The Pasta Machine Cookbook
The Pasta Machine Cookbook is a major revision of the first cookbook to focus on the pasta itself, rather than the sauces to go with it. It's full of new, improved recipes for both hand-cranked and electric pasta machines. Home-made pasta is quick, easy, and a delicious improvement over store-bought pasta. Pasta has fewer calories and carbs―and more protein―than rice or potatoes. All the recipes here are written for hand-cranked and electric machines. The Pasta Machine Cookbook includes sections on different types of pasta; hints on the machines, cooking, and serving; and a section on sauces, toppings, and fillings.
160 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 1993
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
September 22, 2022
I’m a big fan of Donna Rathmell German’s bread machine series from Nitty Gritty Cookbooks, so when I saw this book at a Michigan Goodwill I picked it up. I have the same machine she mostly uses in this book, the Atlas, and I use it a lot. But I only have one pasta recipe that I use in it, from Luigi Carnacina’s Great Italian Cooking.
This book promises a lot of different flavors, from traditional flavors like spinach, to less traditional ones like zucchini; and lots of different grains and spices.
Both of the pasta recipes I tried sounded better than they were. First, I made a “Three Seed Pasta”. The three seeds are sunflower seeds (ground), sesame seeds, and poppy seeds. This was not as tasty as it should have been with those ingredients, and I have a suspicion that the sunflower seeds, at least, should have been toasted first. Possibly the sesame seeds should have been toasted first, too, to bring out their flavor. It doesn’t really come out with the limited boiling that pasta, especially homemade pasta, gets.
The book also has pasta “Sauces, Toppings and Fillings”. For the three-seed pasta I made Ginger-Cilantro Chicken. The text recommends tossing some steamed vegetables with the sauce and the pasta, so I added a red bell pepper I had in the fridge. This was a very quick mix of soy sauce, sesame oil, ginger, cilantro, onion, garlic, and chicken that is a very good pasta sauce.
Actually, the very first topping I had for that pasta was olive oil and garlic. It was so good that for my next test I made the Sautéed Walnuts, and put it over some Oat Soy Pasta, “a very nutritious, nutty pasta which may be served with any type of sauce”. The nutty flavor comes not from the soy or oat, but from the (optional) walnut oil. This was a perfectly fine pasta, but probably not worth the extra work; and unlike the Three Seed Pasta, it’s not likely to get better making it again.
The walnut topping, however, was amazing. It’s pretty much garlic and olive oil but with chopped walnuts added, then tossed with the pasta along with a little basil and Parmesan.
I’m likely to be keeping this book for the toppings, not for the complex pastas. Both of the toppings I tried were outstanding; both of the pastas disappointing.
All of the recipes call for semolina flour, although she gives instructions in the beginning for substituting bread flour or all-purpose flour. Using this book gave me a good idea of why I stopped using the pasta machine when I first bought it over a decade ago. While I remembered that I had found it more difficult to make pasta then than when I took up the machine again with Carnacina’s recipe, I had not remembered that, in following the directions that came with the machine I had used semolina flour. Semolina is much harder to work with than all-purpose, and that’s likely why I had trouble with the machine back then.
It’s very likely that, unless I get the hang of it before this bag of semolina flour runs out, I am going to go back to using all-purpose. It’s easier to make, it has a better texture, and it tastes better.
Whether I use semolina or all-purpose, however, I’m looking forward to trying some of the spiced pastas here, such as Anise Pasta, Fennel Pasta, or Yogurt Lemon Pepper Pasta. Among the sauces there’s a simple Alfredo Sauce and a strange-looking Pineapple Sauce that looks to be sort of like a sweet-and-sour sauce but for pasta.
This book promises a lot of different flavors, from traditional flavors like spinach, to less traditional ones like zucchini; and lots of different grains and spices.
Both of the pasta recipes I tried sounded better than they were. First, I made a “Three Seed Pasta”. The three seeds are sunflower seeds (ground), sesame seeds, and poppy seeds. This was not as tasty as it should have been with those ingredients, and I have a suspicion that the sunflower seeds, at least, should have been toasted first. Possibly the sesame seeds should have been toasted first, too, to bring out their flavor. It doesn’t really come out with the limited boiling that pasta, especially homemade pasta, gets.
The book also has pasta “Sauces, Toppings and Fillings”. For the three-seed pasta I made Ginger-Cilantro Chicken. The text recommends tossing some steamed vegetables with the sauce and the pasta, so I added a red bell pepper I had in the fridge. This was a very quick mix of soy sauce, sesame oil, ginger, cilantro, onion, garlic, and chicken that is a very good pasta sauce.
Actually, the very first topping I had for that pasta was olive oil and garlic. It was so good that for my next test I made the Sautéed Walnuts, and put it over some Oat Soy Pasta, “a very nutritious, nutty pasta which may be served with any type of sauce”. The nutty flavor comes not from the soy or oat, but from the (optional) walnut oil. This was a perfectly fine pasta, but probably not worth the extra work; and unlike the Three Seed Pasta, it’s not likely to get better making it again.
The walnut topping, however, was amazing. It’s pretty much garlic and olive oil but with chopped walnuts added, then tossed with the pasta along with a little basil and Parmesan.
I’m likely to be keeping this book for the toppings, not for the complex pastas. Both of the toppings I tried were outstanding; both of the pastas disappointing.
All of the recipes call for semolina flour, although she gives instructions in the beginning for substituting bread flour or all-purpose flour. Using this book gave me a good idea of why I stopped using the pasta machine when I first bought it over a decade ago. While I remembered that I had found it more difficult to make pasta then than when I took up the machine again with Carnacina’s recipe, I had not remembered that, in following the directions that came with the machine I had used semolina flour. Semolina is much harder to work with than all-purpose, and that’s likely why I had trouble with the machine back then.
It’s very likely that, unless I get the hang of it before this bag of semolina flour runs out, I am going to go back to using all-purpose. It’s easier to make, it has a better texture, and it tastes better.
Whether I use semolina or all-purpose, however, I’m looking forward to trying some of the spiced pastas here, such as Anise Pasta, Fennel Pasta, or Yogurt Lemon Pepper Pasta. Among the sauces there’s a simple Alfredo Sauce and a strange-looking Pineapple Sauce that looks to be sort of like a sweet-and-sour sauce but for pasta.
November 26, 2012
Lots of recipes for pasta and the accompanying sauces. Great supplement to my new pasta machine.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews