• krista_jo on September 13, 2016

  The instructions are clear, the recipes are delicious, but boy do I see why these techniques are disappearing in Italy. I am an avid home cook and pasta maker and think nothing of spending a whole day in the kitchen. But even by my standards these tiny handmade pastas are LABOUR INTENSIVE and repetitive! Well worth making -- once in a while.

• Rinshin on May 08, 2015

  This book is enough to clear out the counter top and your day and pull out the flour. Incredible selection to make.

Notes about Recipes in this book

• Malloreddus

  • excurvatus on August 21, 2019

    My first from this book, quite simple but a labour of love. I wish I had seen this image (it's not in the book), mine didn't look like this. mine were a lot smaller, based on the measurements given in the recipe, and not quite as tubular. Putting the dough together is quite simple. I decided mine was done far earlier than 10 minutes on medium speed in the Kitchenaid. It was fascinating how the dough seemed like an enriched dough after sitting for an hour despite having no eggs in it. This took me a long time to shape, maybe because I interpreted the directions differently, but they took me 3 hours once I started shaping. I froze them on my half sheet pan and transferred them to a deli container (it filled a 1L deli container and one other small container), and they're still individual dumplings and not clumping together!

• Dunderi

  • maestra on January 05, 2016

    Great weeknight recipe! I've made about 5 recipes from this book so far, and this one was least labor-intensive. The texture and flavor are perfect. I decided to saute the cooked gnocchi in butter and olive oil with vegetables I had lingering in the fridge (spinach and mushrooms) and finish each plate with more parm and grated lemon zest. It was a relatively easy dish for the cook and a hit with all diners.

• Cecamariti

  • Kduncan on June 04, 2020

    I rolled these out too large, as with the yeast after they rise a bit they were huge. Overall they were nice. Served with the Pesto which went really well with them.

• Cazzellitti

  • Kduncan on June 06, 2019

    The pasta dough itself was very easy to make, and very good as dumplings. I feel the size she has you roll out the dumplings too is much thicker then the picture though, this caused it to take longer to cook.

• Royale Bolognese

  • ashallen on November 30, 2019

    I thought this was a super-interesting pasta dish - first time I've eaten it! A parmesan-flavored pasta dough is wrapped in cheesecloth and simmered in a homemade broth for a few hours. It emerges looking kind of like the pre-cooked polenta sold in tubes. You cut it into cubes and serve in the hot broth. The pasta cubes were dense, slighty chewy, and had a deeply savory-salty-cheesy flavor. The broth was clear, flavorful, and a very pretty golden color. Given how flavorful the cheese cubes were, I thought there were quite a few for the quantity of broth the recipe made. I ended up freezing the extra cubes and eating them with a simple vegetable soup made with parsley, carrots, celery and chicken stock - worked well!

• Pesto

  • Kduncan on June 04, 2020

    Easy pesto recipe that packs a punch. Put on multiple different pastas, worked with all.

• Tomato sauce

  • excurvatus on August 21, 2019

    Great tomato sauce, and results in a pretty generous yield (about 750 ml). It's nestled safely in my freezer. The recipe could be written slightly better - you might not realize that you need to puree and strain the tomatoes before you begin - just as a heads up. The sauce is smooth, with good flavour. I've never been a huge fan of the very famous Marcella Hazan butter enriched tomato sauce that everybody adores, but the butter really adds a level to this sauce. I would absolutely make this on a regular basis.

• Guanciale, tomato, and red onion sauce (Amatriciana)

  • Kduncan on June 06, 2019

    Totally did not see from the recipe before I started that canned whole tomatoes you are supposed to make tomato sauce for this recipe, so I just had the whole tomatoes break down. The way I made it was simpler but still was really great. I tripled the dried red pepper flakes.

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