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John W. wrote:
Never checked her out, but I am now... uh, what I mean to say is, I will now... check out her... her recipes.

Shut the fuck up, John.

Yeah, she looks like a great cook.... a great cook...

her eyebrows are creepy......

Giada is pretty, but Nigella is smokin'. Eggplants. For ratatouille.


Oh, yeah. Pasta. Make you're own some blustery day.

Barilla

Quote:
I make my own fresh pasta with semolina flour, eggs and a little olive oil and salt.


Now that sounds good. I've got to try this some day, I'll bet it's delicious. I would guess it's worth the extra work, no?

Yes! Many times yes to the value of "make your own". Much easier and quicker job than many people imagine. A wonderful task to undertake with children as well...

Sort of on the subject - If you ever buy the jarred sauce, i highly recommend Pastorelli. They are a Chicago company that makes all organic pasta sauce. I believe they were originally a sausage company, but have moved onto sauces. The pizza sauce is great to, just to spread on crackers, even!

I have seen it in the organic sections of Jewel and Dominicks.

It's PASTA...unless it's fresh, what's the difference? I buy the generic stuff at Cub Foods.

I am blessed to live in a neighborhood that boasts a pasta-making operation of Italian descent, a place called Cassinelli.

They have a bunch of old-school pasta die-cutters, and it is a family operation.

Mr. Cassinelli is a swell guy, and knows that I like radiatore the best. He often sets aside a few pounds for me when he makes them (I go there every two weeks) and has often given me extra stuff "just because"

I grew up spoiled on fresh pasta because I lived near Little Italy in the Bronx, where I would have ravioli from Borgatti's.

Once you have fresh pasta, all dried pasta, no matter how good, seems sort of anticlimactic.

Making your own pasta is fun and time-consuming, but once you get the hang of it you'll want to do it all the time.

Fresh pasta cooks much more quickly than dried, so if you have the dough ready in advance you just have to roll it out, cut it and cook for a few minutes.

You also get to put stuff you like into the dough, like vegetables or herbs. I like to make black pepper fettucini.

Lasagna with fresh pasta is amazing.

Also, the pasta can become the focus of the meal instead of what you put on it.

-Amos

DeCecco mostly, though I admit to buying Whole Foods' house brand whole wheat pasta for health and economic reasons.

Dried and fresh pasta each have their place, and I love them both. The greatest bowl of pasta I've ever had was DeCecco dried spaghetti w/ ramps.

There is a big difference in taste and texture between well-made dried pasta and the cheap store-brand stuff.

mb