Eat your way through a world of new and different pasta sauces with this fun and charmingly obsessive cookbook

When Sporkful podcast host Dan Pashman launched cascatelli, a new pasta shape he invented to hold tons of sauce, stay on your fork, and be incredibly satisfying to bite into, it went viral and was named one of Time magazine’s Best Inventions of the Year. But as people shared photos of what they were making with Dan’s new pasta shape, he was disappointed to see the same dishes over and over: tomato sauce, meat sauce, mac and cheese. A few party animals made pesto.

So Dan set out to revolutionize people’s conceptions of pasta sauces, just as he did with pasta shapes. He traveled across Italy and worked with an all-star team of recipe developers in the United States to create a cookbook full of adventurous twists on the old standbys, fit for a wide range of shapes. It’s time to show the world— Anything’s Pastable. That’s why you won’t find pictures of the hills of Tuscany or nonnas in aprons in this book. There’s no recipe for marinara sauce here. Instead you’ll find a Jarred Tomato Sauce Decision Tree that shows you how to improve store-bought sauce.

• And you’ll enjoy dishes inspired by a range of ingredients and cuisines:


• Kimchi Carbonara
• Cacio e Pepe e Chili Crisp
• Shakshuka and Shells
• Smoked Cheddar and Chicken Manicotti “Enchiladas”


• Lesser-known Italian pasta dishes with a twist:


• Spaghetti all’Assassina (spicy pasta, pan-fried until charred and crispy crunchy)
• Cavatelli with Roasted Artichokes and Preserved Lemon
• Creste di Gallo with Fava Beans and Dandelion Greens
• Pasta Frittata


• And playful pasta concoctions that may—or may not—be how they do it in Italy:


• Pasta Pizza (with a “crust” made of crispy fettuccine fused together)
• Spinach Artichoke Dip Lasagna Pinwheels
• Italian Cafeteria Hot Dog Pasta Salad with Canned Veggies

With an incredible array of creative recipes, Dan will show you that a simple box of pasta has limitless pastabilities.