Anything's Pastable

Dan Pashman, host of the Sporkful podcast, is the creator of cascatelli, a pasta shape he designed to hold plenty of sauce, stay on the fork and feel satisfying to bite. It went viral and was named one of TIME Magazine's Best Inventions of the Year. Pashman is also a James Beard Award winner. In Anything's Pastable, with a foreword by bestselling author J. Kenji López-Alt, he turns from shapes to sauces.

The idea came after people flooded him with photos of what they were cooking with cascatelli. He was disappointed by how narrow the dishes were: tomato sauce, meat sauce and mac and cheese, again and again, with the occasional pesto. He set out to widen what people think of as a pasta sauce. He traveled across Italy and worked with a group of recipe developers in the US to build a cookbook for people tired of the usual standbys.

The book is deliberately not traditional. There is no three-hour marinara, no fresh pasta made from scratch, and no photos of floury-handed grandmothers or Tuscan hillsides. The recipes draw on many ingredients and cuisines, among them Kimchi Carbonara, Cacio e Pepe e Chili Crisp, Keema Bolognese, Mapo Tofu Cascatelli, Shakshuka and Shells, Smoked Cheddar and Chicken Manicotti "Enchiladas," Linguine with Miso Clam Sauce, and Shrimp and Andouille Mac and Cheese.

A second group of recipes offers lesser-known Italian pasta dishes with a twist: Spaghetti all'Assassina, a spicy pasta pan fried until charred and crunchy; Ciceri e Tria, chewy fresh pasta with crisp fried pasta in a light chickpea broth; Cavatelli with Roasted Artichokes and Preserved Lemon; Creste di Gallo with Fava Beans and Dandelion Greens; and Pasta Frittata. A third group is playful and may or may not resemble anything cooked in Italy: Spinach Artichoke Dip Lasagna Pinwheels, Pasta Pizza with a crust of fused fettuccine, and a Roman Cafeteria Hot Dog Pasta Salad with Canned Veggies.