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

[blue_dolphin]

Today is National Bean Day in the US so here’s Pasta Fagiole Number Three: The New Classic from Six Seasons of Pasta by Joshua McFadden and Martha Holmberg

This is a very easy but flavorful version of pasta fagiole. As usual with this book,  I made a half recipe for 2 very generous servings. I followed the suggestion in the header notes to add leafy greens and went with baby kale. I also added extra bean broth to lighten the sauce. 
 

 

Edited January 6 by blue_dolphin
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[MaryIsobel]

18 minutes ago, blue_dolphin said:

Today is National Bean Day in the US so here’s Pasta Fagiole Number Three: The New Classic from Six Seasons of Pasta by Joshua McFadden and Martha Holmberg

This is a very easy but flavorful version of pasta fagiole. As usual with this book,  I made a half recipe for 2 very generous servings. I followed the suggestion in the header notes to add leafy greens and went with baby kale. I also added extra bean broth to lighten the sauce. 
 

 

That is the best looking version of pasta fagiole that I've seen - definitely on my list, as I have vowed, much to ny husband's chagrin to have 3 vegetarian meals per week this year.

 

[blue_dolphin]

36 minutes ago, MaryIsobel said:

That is the best looking version of pasta fagiole that I've seen - definitely on my list, as I have vowed, much to ny husband's chagrin to have 3 vegetarian meals per week this year.

 

Thanks!  Beans and pasta can be stodgy but I think the greens help out here!

[blue_dolphin]

Today’s lunch was the Cauliflower with Olives and Tomato from Six Seasons of Pasta.

I had a mix of white, green, yellow and purple cauliflower which this recipe doesn’t particularly show off to its best but it was still a fine lunch. I added a few handfuls of baby kale that aren’t part of the recipe 

[blue_dolphin]

Hot chiles with shrimp, mussels, squid, basil, and mint on squid ink pasta from Six Seasons of Pasta. 

I love the garlicky, lemony, winey sauce, kicked up with the fresh hot chile but ultimately, fishing mussels and larger shrimp out of a dish of pasta is awkward. I made this with squid ink pasta, manzano chiles and shrimp that were big enough to need cutting up. My fault on the shrimp size but unlike the mussels and squid, they didn’t add a lot to the dish. I’d make this again with the mussels & squid but take the mussels out of the shells before serving.

[Smithy]

8 hours ago, blue_dolphin said:

Hot chiles with shrimp, mussels, squid, basil, and mint on squid ink pasta from Six Seasons of Pasta. 

I love the garlicky, lemony, winey sauce, kicked up with the fresh hot chile but ultimately, fishing mussels and larger shrimp out of a dish of pasta is awkward. I made this with squid ink pasta, manzano chiles and shrimp that were big enough to need cutting up. My fault on the shrimp size but unlike the mussels and squid, they didn’t add a lot to the dish. I’d make this again with the mussels & squid but take the mussels out of the shells before serving.

 

Do you think the squid ink pasta brings more than color to the dish?

[blue_dolphin]

2 hours ago, Smithy said:

 

Do you think the squid ink pasta brings more than color to the dish?

Probably not. I’m afraid that when I was tasting the pasta for doneness, I wasn’t paying any attention to the flavor but it didn’t jump out at me either. 

[blue_dolphin]

14 hours ago, Smithy said:

 

Do you think the squid ink pasta brings more than color to the dish?

I missed the edit window but should have added that the choice of squid ink pasta here was mine as I thought the photo in the book was a little bland with white squid on white pasta and I had the squid ink spaghetti on hand. The authors don’t use any flavored pastas and specifically say their flavors are either undetectable or “not very nice.” 

[blue_dolphin]

Spaghetti with cabbage, pancetta and Calabrian chile from Six Seasons of Pasta

I made this with Brussels sprouts instead of cabbage and bomba sauce instead of oil-packed Calabrian chiles.  Very homey flavors of cabbage and a little pork, perked up by the Calabrian chiles and a squeeze of lemon. I’ll make this again with cabbage but I think the sprouts were a fair substitute. 
 

 

Edited Saturday at 07:39 PM by blue_dolphin
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[blue_dolphin]

Pasta with Peas, Squid, Tomato, and Parsley from Six Seasons of Pasta. 

I kind of mucked up this recipe, due to not reading it carefully, but still enjoyed my meal.  I recently made another squid recipe from the book so I assumed I knew the drill but this one is a long cooked squid recipe. I really prefer the snappy texture of quick-cooking, particularly as my squid were small. Think finger puppet size with some barely pinky-size. Not really the best choice for a long cook. The tentacles all disintegrated. But, in doing so, they nicely flavored the sauce. I chose snap peas instead of regular peas because I had them on hand but knew they were unsuited to the 40-50 min cooking time. I went with 20 min for half the snap peas and 10 for the rest, both of which I thought was too long. Honestly, the longer cooked ones were a better fit here so I can see where he was going with almost mushy peas even if they’re not my jam. 
Unlikely to make again but I appreciate the learning experience.