No. 247: Anything’s Pastable: The Sporkful’s Dan Pashman Has a Hit Cookbook, and We’ve Got A Recipe Excerpt
Plus: a new brothy spring soup with Beetlebung veggies, crunchy peanut noodles, chicken-ricotta meatballs, chocolate chip cookies, and restaurant openings.
🍲 Think Outside the Pasta Box (Or Jar of Sauce)
James Beard-award winning podcaster, pasta-shape inventor, and honorary Vineyarder Dan Pashman has hit it out of the park with his first cookbook, Anything’s Pastable: 81 Inventive Pasta Recipes for Saucy People – published on March 19 and already on the Indie Bestseller list this week. With his trademark curiosity and enthusiasm for flavor and texture (if you listen to The Sporkful, you know), Dan set out to think outside the pasta box – or more accurately outside the pasta sauce – on this one.
I, for one, am totally charmed.
It's not just because of the many recipes I’ve already got sticky notes on: Cacio E Pepe E Chili Crisp and Shells with Miso Butter and Scallions; Assasin’s Pasta (it’s fried!) and Pasta Pizza; Cajun Crawfish Carbonara, and yes, Mom’s Mushroom Ragù with Cascatelli. That one’s from our very own Linda Pashman – Vineyard Haven-er, Cook the Vineyard subscriber, and oh yeah, mom to Dan.
What I really appreciate are the quirky tip boxes, the ingredient spotlights, the sidebars, even the headnotes – all the places that Dan shares the back stories. I’ve already learned that I’m using black pepper all wrong, that slow-dried pasta is better than fast-dried, that the best gluten-free pasta is made from chickpea flour (try Banza brand), and that I should be making more pangrattatos (crispy seasoned breadcrumbs). And who wouldn’t love a Jarred Tomato Sauce Decision Tree?
I also like the fact that Dan collaborated with different cooking experts to create the recipes, and that, unlike many cookbook authors, he acknowledges them and even promotes them. When I asked him which recipe he thought we should excerpt in Cook the Vineyard, he quickly suggested one that Vineyarder Katie Leaird (of the lovely handmade pasta) developed with him: the Cavatelli With Roasted Artichokes and Preserved Lemon pictured at the top of this post (and now on cookthevineyard.com). Not only is this one of Dan’s favorite recipes, but his kids loved it, too. We will all be stocking our pantries with preserved lemons from now on – or we can make our own using Jan Buhrman’s recipe.
👩🌾 Endive, Indeed. Or is it En-deeve?
Beetlebung Farm opened their stand for a three-day “pop-up” this past weekend, featuring gorgeous carrots, Party Mix, spinach, and endive. (Check their Instagram for more pop-ups.) Growing endive is a labor of love – the roots must be developed in the field first, then stored and “forced” in darkness over the winter. So the farm was understandably excited about this crop. I’ve never had farm-grown endive right from the source. Way to go Beetlebung! It was lovely – as were farmer Theo Gallagher’s farm-grown tulips, also for sale at the stand.
I know Farm Director Kate Woods is going to laugh when she finds out I cooked the endive. Don’t worry, I still have some to use raw in salads like Endive & Radicchio Salad with Blood Oranges, Avocado, and Roasted Chickpeas; Bluebird Salad; and Winter Holiday Salad. And I did make one of my favorite quickie appetizers (see the tip below) with some. But the French have been braising endive forever, and I see no reason not to toss it into a stir fry or a soup. It does take on an intriguing, mellow flavor when it browns. I also bought spinach at Beetlebung, so I decided to make a variation on a light spring vegetable miso soup that I sometimes make with tofu. I used soba noodles in this version.
This Flexible Spring Stir-Fry with Soba Noodles, Miso Broth, and Mint features radishes (yes, I love to stir-fry those, too!), scallions, endive, spinach, peas, garlic, and ginger, but you could use asparagus, snap peas or snow peas, or Japanese turnips in this – as I did in my recipe for Spring Miso Broth with Stir-Fried Asparagus, Romaine and Tofu. The miso broth in both these soups gets an extra layer of flavor from tamari and mirin.
Before we leave the subject of spring vegetables and noodles behind, I should remind you of that recipe for Cool Peanut Noodles with Crunchy Vegetables. I think it’s time to make that – or just put that peanut sauce on anything!
🔪TIP: Make easy endive appetizers in 10 minutes
One of my favorite quickie appetizers is endive leaves (lightly) filled with a bit of blue cheese (usually Grey Barn’s Bluebird), topped with a few toasted walnuts or pecans, and drizzled with local honey. Sometimes I add a sliver of apple. When we get invited out at the last minute and asked to bring an appetizer, this is what I put together.
🥬 Real Islanders Eat Kale for Dinner
See, the thing is, kale grows really well on the Vineyard (mine has made it through the winter), plus we have cookbook author Cathy Walthers, who wrote an entire book on kale (Kale, Glorious Kale). So we take pride in our kale prowess, and to those who keep insisting they don’t like kale, I say, try these recipes (or any of our other kale recipes) and you will change your mind.
Start with Cathy’s Broth with Mini-Meatballs, Kale and Cabbage.
Then make Judy Klumick’s Chicken, Kale, Parmigiano and Ricotta Meatballs.
And be sure to try my Kale Salad with Sweet Potato Fries and Blackberry-Lime Dressing.
🧊 Climate-Friendly Cooking Tips
While preparing to teach a class on climate-friendly cooking a couple years ago, I learned that nearly 40 percent of the food grown in America is never eaten. I also learned that the average household of four loses more than $120 each month to wasted food. (And that was before inflation!) All that wasted food in turn creates greenhouse gas emissions. In doing my research, I came up with Ten Tips For Climate-Friendly Cooking. I know I need a refresher and thought you might, too.
🍪 Just One More…Cookie.
I’m making a batch of Abby’s Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies this week. You?
Hey thank you, as always, for being part of our food community. Free subscribers, if you decide you want the full Cook the Vineyard experience (and the email every week), be sure to upgrade to a paid subscription.
Happy cooking,
Susie
What’s Happening Around the Island
Midnight Taco, which previously operated next to the Sand Bar in downtown Oak Bluffs, will reopen as a 49-seat restaurant with a patio this year across the street in the former Juice By the Sea location.
Always wanted to have chickens? Take advantage of The Martha’s Vineyard Agricultural Society’s workshop, Backyard Chickens 101, happening Monday, April 8, 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.
Oak Bluffs will be buzzing tomorrow (Thursday, April 4), when both TigerHawk Sandwich Co. and The Red Cat Kitchen reopen for the season.
Photos: All photos from Anything’s Pastable by Dan Liberti; Midnight Taco by Ray Ewing; Spring Miso Broth, Randi Baird; all others Susie Middleton.
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