If you’re interested in making perfect and easy homemade pasta then the Ultimate Pasta Machine Cookbook is a must for you. It’s a great book that not only has wonderful recipes but it clearly lays out everything you need to know about pasta makers from hand cranked to electric. And it also talks a lot about some of the best pasta machine attachments and tools that make pasta-making easy and enjoyable. I have a lot of cookbooks but this has become one of my bibles!
I learned all about Lucy in my fascinating podcast interview with her: her Uzbekistan heritage, her culinary and photographic training, and her cookbooks culminating in the fabulous just-published Ultimate Pasta Machine Cookbook.
Author Lucy Vasefirer counts this as her fifth cookbook over the past decade and it really is her best achievement so far. Lucy talks a lot about the ins and outs of pasta making and all the concepts that go behind it so you really have a great feel for what you’re doing as you delve into homemade pasta making. Her photographs are all her own and she uses them to illustrate techniques, show delicious recipes and capture some of her amazing pasta tools and attachments in her photographs.
Lucy loves her classic hand-cranked Marcato pasta machine that she’s had since her college days but she also loves the KitchenAid electric pasta sheeter attachment.
If you’d like a machine with a cavatelli attachment then choose a hand cranked Imperia pasta machine.
Lucy feels that electric pasta extruders overheat the dough so she suggests hand cranked pasta tools that don’t overheat the dough. She’s in love with her bigolaro.
If you’re a home cook or have a small culinary business and would like semi-professional pasta equipment then reach out to either Pastabiz or Arcobaleno, both wonderful prosumer companies Lucy recommends.
Another thing we chatted about that Lucy addresses beautifully in her book is the topic of metric versus US standard measurements. She makes a very clear case that explains exactly why metric is the way to go when you’re cooking, and as it turns out she also sold her editor on metric.
Lucy and her family are originally from Uzbekistan with a strong Jewish heritage, both of which form part of her culinary background and tradition. Lucy came to the United States when she was just three years old and grew up in Texas, but in the home family culinary traditions came through. One of the most delectable foods from her culinary heritage are hand-pulled noodles and these Manti that she features in the Ultimate Pasta Machine Cookbook.
Lucy attended culinary school and studied following a French tradition, but as soon as she set foot in Italy and tasted her first plate of pasta in Venice she was in love with Italian food. Lucy traveled to Bologna on her first Italian trip and was able to dabble in exquisite Emilia-Romagna food and she discovered the Antica Aguzzeria del Cavallo shop on that very first trip. She wasn’t able to fit in all the culinary plans (like a visit to a Balsamic Vinegar producer) she had envisioned for that first trip so she had to come back again! She bought some of her favorite culinary tools on that second trip, like her troccolo from the Antica Aguzzeria del Cavallo. It’s originally a tool from Puglia used to cut 3mm rustic noodles.
f you’re fascinated by Bologna then why not join Flavor of Italy for our one day Culinary Walking Tour of the city? Here’s more info about amazing Bologna.
Lucy features all kinds of pasta shapes in the Ultimate Pasta Machine Cookbook.
Lucy also adds color and flavor to her homemade pasta.
The dark brown dough ball has cocoa powder in it and Lucy features a pasta with strawberries recipe in her book….delicious! Cocoa powder is also added to dough for savory dishes like Pappardelle with Wild Boar.
And green pasta is made by adding spinach, stinging nettles or other cooked greens. You might want to try this Stinging Nettle Pasta.
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