Authentic Homemade Pasta: Recipes for Mastering Cut, Shaped, Stuffed, Extruded, and Flavored Pastas

by Carmella Alvaro

Master the art of pasta-making with 100 authentic recipes and step-by-step guidance

With high-quality ingredients and just the right amount of care, you can create delicious homemade pasta in your own kitchen. Authentic Homemade Pasta is a comprehensive homemade pasta cookbook filled with 100 tried-and-true recipes for noodles, pasta dishes, sauces, and fillings so you can make classic Italian meals you’re proud to serve.

Inside this unique homemade pasta cookbook, you’ll find master dough recipes for egg pasta, whole-wheat flour pasta, and more. Explore “Learn and Make” recipes that teach you dough-shaping techniques with step-by-step photos and instructions for cut, hand-shaped, stuffed, and extruded pastas, as well as gnocchi and gnudi. Then move on to recipes for sauces, fillings, toppings, and complete pasta dishes.

This homemade pasta cookbook

Pasta tutorials—Get step-by-step instructions for mixing pasta dough by hand and with a machine, rolling out and shaping dough, and storing or cooking the finished results. The science of pasta—Learn the alchemy of flour, water, and eggs, the role of oil and salt, and the importance of kneading and resting from this educational homemade pasta cookbook. Essential equipment—Find a helpful list of key tools for making and shaping pasta, plus a few equipment upgrades that will help you take your creations to the next level with this homemade pasta cookbook.

Wow your friends and family with the authentic Italian dishes featured in this beautiful homemade pasta cookbook. Buon appetito!

Genres: Cooking, Cookbooks

356 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 20, 2020

Reviews

[Debbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book teaches how to make your own handmade pasta. The author started by explaining the different supplies needed and then provided several different pasta dough recipes (including one for gluten-free pasta and for pasta that has herbs or spinach, etc. in it). She then had sections for cut pasta, shaped pasta, stuffed pasta, and a small section on machine-extruded pasta. For each section, there were one or two pastas that had a step-by-step, how-to demonstration with six pictures. The rest of the section was a variety of Italian recipes, but many of these recipes had pasta variations that were slight modifications of those taught in the demonstration. Most of these were simple enough to understand, but most did not have a picture. I wasn't sure I understood the instructions on some of the more complex pastas that had no pictures. The sauce part of the recipes used a lot of vegetable, herb, meat, and dairy. There were also some basic sauce recipes at the end of the book. While the recipes are based on regional Italian recipes, the ingredients looked like they can be found in America. Personally, I'm more interested in learning how to make pasta than in having a bunch of recipes, so I was disappointed that there weren't more pasta-making demonstration pages with illustrative pictures. Still, I'd recommend this book to those interested in learning to make handmade pasta.

I received a review copy from the publisher through Amazon Vine.

[Connie A. Saltarelli · Rating 1 out of 5]

Thank you Ms Obvious

This is the most basic and redundant cookbook I have ever read. Too simple. Tomato sauce ...tomatoes and garlic...really? The title has nothing to do with the text.

[Jill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Carmella Alvaro comes by her love of pasta honestly. She was the youngest child of Italian immigrants and grew up with genuine Italian cooking straight from the family garden. She grew up and got a corporate job, but when she wanted to reconnect with that fresh food from her childhood, she did it right. She went to Italy and learned pasta making from the country that perfected it. And then she came back and chose to share everything she learned with all of us.

Authentic Homemade Pasta is the guide to making a wide variety of pasts with the simplest of ingredients—flour and water (and sometimes eggs). She gets us ready with all the information we need to get started, from what kind of flour to use to what equipment we’ll need for making, cooking, storing, or freezing the pasta to troubleshooting the pasta dough.

And then it’s time for the master dough recipes. There is an Egg Pasta Dough, All-Purpose Flour Dough, Whole Wheat Flour Pasta Dough, Gluten-Free Pasta Dough, and a Flavored Pasta Dough (with several flavor options), among others. Each master recipe comes with ideas for how to use it, so you can take your homemade pasta and turn it into a meal.

And then it’s on to learn to make pasta. First off is cut pasta, specifically Tagliatelle. There are instructions for rolling and cutting the pasta dough, complete with photos of each step. And then there is dinner: Tagliatelle Ragu Bolognese or Tagliatelle with Pistachio-Artichoke Pesto. Or if you want something a little different, you can go with the Herbed Pappardelle with Mushroom Ragu, Whole-Wheat Alpine Linguine, or Sausage Lasagna.

Next is hand-shaped pasta, where you learn Orecchiette and Pici. Then you can make the Orecchiette with Garlic-Broccoli Sauce or Pici all’Aglione. Or you can try your hand at other shapes and go with the Basil Farfalle with Ricotta and Cherry Tomatoes, Fusilli at Ferretto with ‘Nduja Sauce, Capunti alla Pastora, or Cavatelli with Short Rib Ragu.

Then it’s time to stuff it and learn stuffed pasta, like Ravioli and Agnolotti del Plin. Then you can make the Lemon-Ricotta Ravioli with Butter-Parmesan Sauce, Burrata Agnolotti with Roasted Cherry Tomatoes, Gluten-Free Cannelloni Lucchese, Tortellini with Burro e Oro, or Corn and Mascarpone Mezzaluna with Basil Oil.

Next is the Extruded Pasta. You learn to make a variety of extruded pastas, like bucatini. rigatoni, and fusilli. They’re usually made in factories, but they can be done at home with a pasta maker or an attachment for your stand mixer. And then you can create your own Spaghetti Carbonara, Macaroni with Tuna and Olives, Bucatini alla Puttanesca, or Macaroni with Sausage and Peppers.

And last, but certainly not least, is the Gnocchi and Gnudi. Once you learn to make the Potato Gnocchi, you can make Ricotta Gnocchi with Pan Sauce, Spinach Gnocchi Skillet with Vegetables, Sheet Pan Gnocchi with Roasted Vegetables, or Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Pecan Butter Sauce.

And then there is an entire chapter with recipes for Sauces, Fillings, and More, so you can make your favorite pasta and then add the Master Tomato Sauce, Quick Spicy Sausage Rago, Caponata, Tomato-Parmesan Cream Sauce, or Romesco. Or you can make a filled pasta with the Fog-Gorgonzola Filling, Pea and Pancetta Filling, Sausage Filling, or Asparagus-Ricotta Filling.

I loved Authentic Homemade Pasta, with its loyalty to true Italian pasta dishes (and over 100 recipes!) and the detailed instructions with photos to help guide you. However, I do wish there were more photos of the finished dishes. I think they would be more tempting than just the lists of ingredients and instructions, and more inspiring. But the details and the authenticity of these recipes make me feel like I’m learning from a true Italian, because I am. Short of traveling to Europe, this is the way to go!

Egalleys for Authentic Homemade Pasta were provided by Rockridge Press through the Callisto Media Publisher’s Club, with many thanks.