Cooking with "Six Seasons of Pasta," by Joshua McFadden

[SLB]

As always, you and these photos are making the book basically irresistible.

 

In the meantime, if I heard Dave Arnold correctly, McFadden is the guest on next week's episode of the "Cooking Issues" podcast.  

[blue_dolphin]

15 minutes ago, SLB said:

As always, you and these photos are making the book basically irresistible.

 

In the meantime, if I heard Dave Arnold correctly, McFadden is the guest on next week's episode of the "Cooking Issues" podcast.  

Thanks - I’ll check it out!

[patti]

Your photos are stunning and the composition of the food is exquisite … WOW!

[blue_dolphin]

16 hours ago, patti said:

Your photos are stunning and the composition of the food is exquisite … WOW!

Aww, that’s sweet of you to say ❤️

[blue_dolphin]

When I roasted the butternut squash cubes for the last recipe, I roasted the rest of the squash and made the butternut squash purée that’s used in the pasta with butternut squash with sausage, sage, and spicy chiles on p 375.

The squash/sausage/sage combo is pretty classic but the Calabrian chilies are what make it sing!

After finding the roasted squash/nut ragu pasta too sweet for my taste, I was a bit wary about trying this one but the purée was made so I soldiered on and was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked this.  I used hot Italian sausage and used Calabrian bomba sauce instead of the sliced chilies called for and suspect a variety of chiles or chile pastes would work. I also threw in a handful of arugula to increase the veg quotient. 
 

I have more squash purée left and plan to try some variations on this theme. 

[Paul Bacino]

Ambitious I say!! @blue_dolphin

[blue_dolphin]

From Six Seasons of Pasta, I made the Sun-dried tomato and almond pesto p 33 a while back and stashed it in the freezer. Today, I pulled that out and used it in the pasta with Brussels sprouts with sun-dried tomato and almond pesto p 329. 

Excellent flavor combination, if a bit rich. I wish I’d noticed a previous recommendation on Eat Your Books to roast the Brussels sprouts instead of browning them in the skillet with the pancetta and garlic which gave them good flavor but I needed to add oil to the pan for this step even though I knew the pesto to be added later had plenty of oil in it. Still, it was delicious. I’ll add more sprouts next time - I have pasta left but all the sprouts got eaten!

 

The sun-dried tomato and almond pesto is delicious.  It calls for oil packed sun-dried tomatoes and I used some from an older jar which were quite dark. The flavor is fine but I might use some regular sun-dried tomatoes that I’ve steamed to soften for a brighter color and flavor. 
 

Edited Sunday at 11:20 PM by blue_dolphin
To fix photo (log)

[weinoo]

23 hours ago, blue_dolphin said:

Sun-dried tomato and almond pesto

 

Interesting play on the traditional Sicilian pesto known as Pesto Alla Trapanese, which is made with fresh tomatoes, almonds, garlic, cheese, olive oil, basil, and mint.

 

Traditionally, the pasta used is busiate, a special pasta from, yes, Trapani.

 

Good stuff, though I prefer my Brussels sprouts on the side. Why ruin a perfectly fine pasta dish?! 😉

[blue_dolphin]

20 hours ago, weinoo said:

Good stuff, though I prefer my Brussels sprouts on the side. Why ruin a perfectly fine pasta dish?! 😉

Aside from a few classics - carbonara, cacio e pepe, ragu bolognese, etc - or when served as a primi piatti,  I consider pasta a vector for vegetables and love adding them at every opportunity. It wasn’t at all ruined for me. Different strokes! 
 

Edited 1 hour ago by blue_dolphin
Clarification (log)

[blue_dolphin]

Next up, the pasta with kale, spicy sausage, cream, and lemon from Six Seasons of Pasta

I thought this was delicious. I used baby kale from the farmers market so it cooked in a flash and I especially liked the crunch from the breadcrumbs. 
I’m up for trying a version of this with white beans, in addition to or instead of the pasta.

[blue_dolphin]

On 11/18/2025 at 12:03 PM, SLB said:

In the meantime, if I heard Dave Arnold correctly, McFadden is the guest on next week's episode of the "Cooking Issues" podcast.  

I listened to the episode last week and enjoyed it. Thanks for the heads up!