Homemade Pasta Made Simple: A Pasta Cookbook with Easy Recipes & Lessons to Make Fresh Pasta Any Night by Manuela Zangara is an all-in-one pasta cookbook for stress-free pasta making at home.

Manuela was born and raised in Italy and shares authentic Italian food on her blog Manu's Menu. I have marked several of her blog recipes to try: Danubio, Dolci pellegrino and her Pine nut cake.

I recommend Homemade Pasta Made Simple, for a number of reasons. Most importantly, are the detailed step-by-step instructions that Manuela has carefully crafted to guide us in the various shaping of pastas including a list of everything needed in terms of equipment and ingredients before beginning the recipe. Serving suggestions for the various pasta types are provided which is helpful for novice cooks. And last but not least, I love that there are shapes and pasta that I haven't heard of before such as quadrucci and trenette.

This book also shares:

  • Know-by-heart dough recipes that will yield: durum wheat dough, egg dough, and gluten-free dough
  • Step-by-step instructions for making noodles, stuffed pasta, shapes, dumplings, and more
  • An essential guide to basic skills and techniques, as well as fundamental equipment, to get you up and running
  • Over 30 effortless yet delectable sauce recipes to mix and match with your freshly made pasta
  • 15 hand-shaped pasta tutorials - from cavatelli and orecchiette to fusilli avellinesi and garganelli
  • 15 ribbon-cut pasta tutorials - from tagliatelle and fettuccine to mafalde and spaghetti alla chitarra
  • 15 stuffed pasta tutorials, stuffing included - from ravioli and tortellini to culurgiones
  • 11 gnocchi and gnudi tutorials - from potato gnocchi and pumpkin gnocchi to gnocchi alla romana and canederli

Manuela has laid out everything we need to start making homemade pasta at home. I have many Italian cookbooks, and books that deal specifically with making pasta and I am happy to add this book into my collection.

Special thanks to the publisher, Rockridge Press, for sharing the recipe below for Orecchiette and for providing three copies of this book for our contest below.



Orecchiette

Add this recipe to your Bookshelf (click the blue +Bookshelf button).

Orecchiette are a pasta shape traditionally made in the Southern Italian regions of Apulia and Basilicata. The term orecchiette literally means "little ears"-their shape is similar to the ears of a baby. Making orecchiette is easier than it seems, and you do not require any special equipment: All you need is a wooden surface, a knife, and a little bit of practice!

SERVES 4

PREP TIME: 1 HOUR AND 15 MINUTES | COOK TIME: 5 MINUTES

EQUIPMENT

  • Big wooden board or big wooden cutting board
  • Table knife, round edged
  • 3 (10-by-15-inch) baking sheets
  • Large pot, to cook the pasta
  • Wooden spoon, to stir the pasta
  • Colander, to drain the pasta

INGREDIENTS

Durum wheat flour, for dusting
1 batch Know-by-Heart Durum Wheat Pasta Dough (page 16) (below)
Sea salt, for cooking the pasta

TO MAKE THE PASTA

1. Dust the baking sheets with durum wheat flour.

2. Work on a wooden surface to give orecchiette their traditional "wrinkled" texture.

3. Break the dough into about 3-inch balls and roll them into ⅔-inch-thick ropes using your fingertips.

4. Cut these ropes into ¾-inch-long pieces.

5. Holding a table knife at a 45-degree angle to the work surface, press and roll the dough toward you.

6. Unfurl each piece of dough over your thumb in the opposite direction to form a concave shape (Figures 4.2 to 4.5). Now you have shaped your orecchietta.

7. Put the shaped pasta on the prepared baking sheets.

8. Repeat the above steps until you have no dough left.

TO COOK THE PASTA

1. Set a large pot of salted water on the stove to boil (see page 40). Cook the pasta for about 5 minutes, or until al dente. To test this, remove a piece of pasta from the pot and take a bite. It should be cooked but still slightly firm in the center.

2. When the pasta is ready, drain it through a colander and shake out the excess water.

3. Serve immediately with the sauce of your choice.

TIP: When serving orecchiette with Broccoli Rabe Sauce (page 199), reserve the water in which you have boiled the broccoli rabe and use it to cook the orecchiette. Doing this will enhance the flavor of the final dish.

Serving Suggestion: Orecchiette are traditionally served with Broccoli Rabe Sauce (page 199), Spicy Pork Ragù (page 212), Crudaiola Sauce (page 176), Sun-dried Tomato Sauce (page 181), or Arugula and Tomato Sauce (page 196). All these sauces are very common in Apulia and Basilicata, where orecchiette were born. However, I particularly like them with Kale, Gorgonzola, and Green Pesto (page 210).


Know-by-heart durum wheat pasta dough

Add this recipe to your Bookshelf (click the blue +Bookshelf button).

  • 14 ounces durum wheat flour
  • 3/4 cup lukewarm water (about 7 ounces), plus up to 3 tablespoons if needed

To make the durum wheat pasta dough:

Weigh the flour and mound it on a board or in a bowl. Make a well in the center and add 3/4 cup of lukewarm water to it.

Using the tips of your fingers, mix the water with the flour, incorporating it a little at a time, until everything is combined. Add the remaining 3 tablespoons of water, a little at a time, if required.

Knead the dough for 5 to 10 minutes, or until the dough is smooth. Make into a ball, wrap it in plastic wrap to prevent it from drying out, and let it rest for 30 minutes before turning it into pasta.

 

The publisher is offering three copies of this book to EYB Members in the US. Eat Your Books is offering one copy to members outside the US. One of the entry options is to answer the following question in the comments section of this blog post.

Which recipe in the index (besides the recipe shared today) would you try first?

Please note that you must be logged into the Rafflecopter contest before posting or your entry won't be counted. For more information on this process, please see our step-by-step help post. Be sure to check your spam filters to receive our email notifications. Prizes can take up to 6 weeks to arrive from the publishers. If you are not already a Member, you can join at no cost. The contest ends at midnight on February 12th, 2018.