Anything's Pastable: 81 Inventive Pasta Recipes for Saucy People

Someone gave me a box of cascatelli for my birthday and told me about Dan Pashman’s quest to invent, produce, and market a new pasta shape. I started listening to the Sporkful series that details all the twists, turns, and intrigue and was completely invested. When I found out he was developing a cookbook of pasta sauces, I was sold before seeing the first recipe. I pre-ordered the book and it arrived on release day. I have a decent collection of cookbooks and I enjoy them as a reference. I’ll leaf through the pages looking for inspiration, but in the case of Anything’s Pastable I’m taking my time pouring over and absorbing every word. The book eschews red marinara sauce en lieu of a mountain of innovative sauces that pull from a world of cuisines into combinations that are so well-reasoned and creative, I could never think of them myself. It’s truly brilliant. There are engaging blurbs before every recipe, but the book is full of essays that really flesh out the book creation process, the recipe developers, the twists and turns of recipe development and a few of Dan’s Pasta-related manifestos. There are so many “to try” meals awaiting me. This book is a masterpiece and you should purchase it immediately.

We have now made four recipes from this cookbook. We made the Mac and dal, The scallion oil bucatini with eggs, The cavatelli with artichokes and preserved lemons, and the spaghetti a la asassina. I did my best to follow recipes exactly as written. My only complaint was the Mac and dal was a little too liquidy, but I easily boiled some liquid off before adding the pasta.. The recipes are easy to follow. They do require some ingredients that might not be at your average grocery store. I have no issue with that but some might. My least favorite was the spaghetti a la asassina. I think I did it well but it was a little monotonal in flavor, not in texture. The rest of the dishes were fabulous. The Mac and dal was especially surprisingly delicious. Next stop is the kimchi carbonara. This book really expands my notion of how to use pasta. It forces me to think beyond traditional Italian flavors. This is one of the best cookbooks I have bought in years.

This author is very entertaining- I listened to his podcast episode about the making of this cookbook and decided to buy it based on that. Full of interesting recipes and How To info. So far I made one dish- it was soooo delicious! Looking forward to trying more Pastability dishes this summer!

Dan Pashman's thinking outside of the box (of pasta) with his new book, "Anything's Pastable", and I'm here for it. He's already proven himself with his novel "cascatelli" pasta and I've followed his exploits in podcasts and in food media before that and after. I knew this book would be similarly groundbreaking and I was not disappointed.More than just recipes, Mr Pashman's got a philosophy to pasta that is sorely needed in a time when most Americans think "Olive Garden" is somehow the vanguard for delicious spaghetti or lasagna (hint: its servings of mush are most definitely not). He doesn't just give ingredients and techniques; he motivates the decisions made in the book with background, tradeoffs, the pursuit of contrasts, and the desire for novelty. There is no red sauce in this book. Instead, you'll find a variety of pangrattatos, unique flavor combinations, and forward-looking fusion pastas that beckon with (perhaps forbidden) delights.There's a fun flowchart you can use on busy weeknights to take that jar of tomato sauce in original directions. There's an eye-popping take on pizza crust that's actually made out of pasta. Even pasta salads get a crisp, modernistic treatment with mayo-free recipes that are the perfect foils for your next potluck or barbecue—and all of this is backed by Pashman's metrics for understanding the qualities of pasta: "forkability, sauceability, toothsinkability." It's fun but also delicious reading.The only concern I have about the book is that Dan Pashman's successes might be feeding unnecessarily into his ego. There are more than twenty—yes, twenty plus!—photographs of Mr Pashman in the book. This, unfortunately, seems to be a trend in recent cookbooks. Personally, I'd rather have more photographs of the food instead of the author. We're proud of you, Dan, but you don't have to rub our faces in your success.Overall I still recommend this book despite that flaw and I'm looking forward to making keema bolognese, shakshuka and shells, chili crisp tahini pasta with fried shallots, and more. Turns out anything is pastable!

Worth the 5-star rating for the Assassin's pasta recipe alone. Follow the cooking instructions exactly as described in the book and it will turn out with the perfect balance of crisp, burnt, browned and chewy texture, and with such concentrated flavors... absolutely delicious! As for the leftovers,( if there are any!) we scrambled them up with some eggs the next morning (inspired by Hugo's Pasta Mama in LA) and that was also a home run. Look forward to trying the other recipes.

I thought it would be much better and it’s lay out

I think I may be the only person who had not heard of Dan Pashman before purchasing this book. What I really liked about this book is the explanation of processed pasta in the introduction. I learned a lot about processed pasta that I didn't know, and it's rare that I learn something from cookbooks anymore.Many of the recipes look intriguing, and I appreciate that the book includes pasta salads that are not mayo-based. The only thing I don't like about the recipes is that many use "hot" ingredients such as chili crisp, chipotle peppers, gochugaru, etc., which I can't eat, but will try some of these recipes without the hot ingredient. I did not dock the stars, as it isn't the author's fault, and I didn't do due diligence. I just wanted to point this out for others who also can't take hot ingredents.