Making Room by Gather

Handcrafted Pasta: Tips, Techniques, and Heartfelt Connections with Danny Loves Pasta

• Kayty Helgerson • Episode 124

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Can you create delectable pasta without breaking the bank on fancy equipment? Join us as we unravel the secrets of handcrafted pasta with our special guest, Danny Loves Pasta, a viral sensation on TikTok and Instagram. Danny's journey from a lawyer to a pasta artisan is nothing short of inspiring, and he shares his tips for making gluten-free dough, crafting pasta art inspired by pop culture, and turning simple ingredients into colorful, flavorful masterpieces. You'll learn how to elevate your pasta game, whether you're a newbie or a seasoned cook, and discover the joy of making pasta an accessible and fun activity for everyone.

In this heartfelt episode, cooking becomes more than just a culinary task—it transforms into a medium for connection and memory-making. Danny shares how pasta-making became a therapeutic practice during the pandemic, helping him honor his Italian American roots and create new traditions. This conversation highlights how food brings us closer to our heritage and loved ones. Reflect on personal stories that emphasize the emotional richness of cooking with family and the lasting legacies built through shared meals.

Looking to host an unforgettable pasta-making party? We’ve got you covered! Tune in for practical tips on organizing a fun and interactive event, complete with step-by-step guidance on setting up workstations and selecting simple yet delicious recipes. We also explore creative pasta-making techniques, like using vegetable-infused doughs and unique fillings, to keep things exciting and fresh. Whether you're crafting a Beyoncé-inspired ravioli or sharing homemade ricotta with friends, this episode offers all the insights you need to make your next culinary adventure truly memorable.

Follow Danny @dannylovespasta
Buy your own Tonies that Danny mentioned as his latest favorite thing
Get a copy of Danny's cookbook

This Episode is Sponsored By:
Feast & Fettle get $50 off your first week of hand crafted, flavor packed meals delivered straight to your door so you can soak up summer with code GATHER at checkout 

This Episode is Sponsored By:
Feast & Fettle get $25 off your first week of hand crafted, flavor packed meals delivered straight to your door so you can soak up the season with code GATHER at checkout

Watch our Youtube episodes here!

Speaker 1:

You guys have heard a ton of stories of me talking about my Italian grandpa, who made a lot of things from scratch, especially his pasta sauce. The one thing he didn't make from scratch, though, was the pasta. I actually didn't know about this whole world of handcrafted pasta until my adulthood years, and, goodness, let me just tell you when you have it, there is no going back. Tell you when you have it, there is no going back. Now, the world of pasta, especially when you see it on social media, seems a little bit out of reach, maybe a little bit complex or expensive, with people and pages making you feel like you need all the latest equipment to even start, but that is not the story of pasta or the reality of it, especially if you're following these old time, old world roots. Now, today, I invited on my friend, dani Loves Pasta, who is a viral pasta content creator on TikTok and Instagram, and we are talking all about pasta the do's, the don'ts, the must haves, the not must haves and everything in between. And for all of my gluten free and dairy free friends, we are going to be touching on those categories too, because Danny actually said in his own words he spent the most amount of time developing the gluten free dough recipe because he wanted it to be so darn good. So if you do not follow Danny, be sure to head on over there. He most recently created the cover of Beyonce's latest album into a ravioli and it is phenomenal and it got a lot of attention. He is a personality that you might have seen on morning talk shows and the Sherry show and, like I said, his viral videos on social media as well, and he just came out with his latest cookbook, danny Loves Pasta, which is a absolute must have. You can get your copy in the show notes and he is so much fun to talk to and you will hear more from him today.

Speaker 1:

Now, with summer here goodness, I am just soaking up the sunshine. I'm soaking up the heat. I want to be outside all day long. I don't know if you know this, but we live on the coast we call it the shoreline in Connecticut and I just come alive this time of year, especially something about having Wesley. I just want memories with him this season, and I love to cook. I love food. You know that about me, or you should by now if you've been listening for a while. But there's a tension right. I love to cook. I love food. You know that about me, or you should by now if you've been listening for a while. But there's a tension, right. I want to spend more time with him, but I want to do it while still eating.

Speaker 1:

Well, where does cooking fall in? I know that this is a tension point with a lot of families and professionals and creatives, and I have found that the answer is Feast and Fettle. Feast and Fettle is a meal delivery company, but it is unlike any of the other ones that I've tried, and I have tried, I could almost confidently say all of them, and here's what makes them different it feels like the person in your life who cooks the best food, made food for you that morning and delivered it to you, and you just get to enjoy all of the benefits of that. And what I mean is there are no weird textures. It's all the best flavors. It's crave worthy. You don't feel like you are compromising or eating food that's like junky. It's the best quality ingredients, the best flavors.

Speaker 1:

The menu changes every week. It allows you to try new things, have some of your favorite comfort foods and I think one of the best parts is you, of course, can get dinner where you pick your entree and your side dishes, but you also can get like your kids' lunches on there. You can get desserts and breakfast like chia seed pudding and overnight oats. And all of this amazingness and guys. I cannot recommend it to you enough. So if you are looking for a resolve and a little bit of peace when it comes to food prep this summer and this next season, head on over to Feast and Fettle F-E-A-S-T-A-N-D, f-e-t-t-l-ecom and use code gather and use code gather g-a-t-h-e-r for $50 $50 off your first week. Now, if you are in new york, connecticut, rhode island, massachusetts, new hampshire or maine, feast and fettle is ready to serve you and relieve you all of your attention for this season. If not, be sure to keep an eye on their pages, because they are rapidly expanding and will be in an area near you soon.

Speaker 1:

But it wasn't always this way. My husband and I moved to Thailand and through it I experienced some loneliness and with it I was given a choice to sit back and accept it or to do something about it. And for me that meant two things that I needed the healing to learn how to accept an invitation and the confidence to know how to extend one. Through this process, I developed some of the richest and deepest relationships of my life. Through Making Room by Gather, you will hear conversations from myself and experts in the areas of food, design and relationships.

Speaker 1:

You see there are countless things trying to keep us from the table, but can I tell you something? Take a seat because you are ready, you are capable, you are a good host. Your career it's so fun. I love unique career paths because there's always such a rich story behind them. So you started your career as a lawyer. I wanted to make sure I got that right and here you are content creator, pasta maker extraordinaire. So tell us everything you want us to know about your journey. I mean, you could start childhood if you want, you could start lawyer.

Speaker 2:

But to hear, yeah, well, I grew up in a big Italian American family with a lot of great food and great cooks and my mother, my father, my grandmother, aunts and uncles, you know, it's just very holiday oriented, family food oriented. So that was always sort of where I came from. But as an adult, I spent yet 10 years as a lawyer. I started at a big corporate law firm. It was not all right for me. I only lasted a few years and then I worked for a nonprofit legal aid organization and I was a housing a nonprofit legal aid organization and I was a housing attorney in New York City. So I was helping people who were being evicted from their apartments or were having issues with their landlords and I would go to court every day. Be you know, working a lot of cases, and I loved it. To be honest, I thought I would do that Indefinitely. You know I wasn't someone who was like, oh, I hated being a lawyer. You know, I had to find something else. So that was something I was really enjoying.

Speaker 2:

When COVID hits, the court shut down. We went remote, like, like a lot of people, and my husband and I now have two kids, but my older daughter was born just a couple months after COVID hit, I took a parental leave. I loved it so much. I loved being home with her. I loved that time. You know, it was just so special. We weren't seeing a lot of people because of COVID, so it was just us and it was just very magical. And then the last week of my parental leave, my grandmother very unexpectedly passed away and I had been very close with her, you know, my whole life childhood, adulthood. She meant just so much to me and I had to go back to work and I was a new dad and not sleeping. So it was a rough, rough time. And this was right after Christmas.

Speaker 2:

And for Christmas I had made her fresh pasta recipe just for us me and my husband, and so after she passed away, I just found myself making more of her recipes, making more pasta. I don't really know exactly why, but it's just it's very meditative. You're kneading the dough. You know, it was a little bit of time to myself, after my daughter had gone to bed and work was done, and so I just started really getting into it, really feeling very connected to her in that, and so I started posting pictures of it online on my Instagram, and I thought, you know, my friends are gonna get so sick of seeing me post all these pasta pictures like they don't really care about that. So I had this idea. I'm like you know, I'm going to start just videoing what I'm doing and I'll post these videos on TikTok. Maybe someone cares.

Speaker 2:

At the time I didn't tell anyone, I didn't tell any of my friends, I didn't tell any of my family. I figured, you know, if I give up after a week, I'm going to delete this account. It's like it never happened, but just slowly it snowballed. I really fell in love with pasta making. People kept encouraging me to, you know, try different ingredients. I started incorporating different vegetables and spices and herbs into the dough to make it very colorful. And then, when my daughter got a little bit bigger, I started experimenting with different shapes and making pasta that looked like her favorite cartoon characters. So I've taken it in some very non-traditional directions, I'll admit. But I really started with just learning my grandmother's recipe and going from there.

Speaker 1:

I love it and there's so many parts of your story that I love and relate to, but I think that there's this like culture and connection and like emotional connection in the kitchen that is like available to us as we kind of like speed up food and spend less time in the kitchen fast food we're losing that, and so I love your story because it's kind of inviting us back there, like I'm sure all of us have lost someone right, and I'm sure there's food memories connected to that loss and that person, and it's kind of an invitation back there to spend almost like not spend time with them, but you know what I mean Like kind of like spark those memories, yeah, in that space.

Speaker 2:

And yeah, definitely. You know, when I first started making videos on social media, I would have videos that would go viral and you know, people would see all this funny pasta video keep scrolling, possibly pasta video. It wasn't until maybe a few months in that I made a video where I talked about my grandmother. I talked about why I loved cooking, why I got into it, my family. That is what went viral and brought me I don't know a couple hundred thousand followers and really kickstarted my account and I had so many people saying what you said of like I'm trying to learn the food from my childhood or my family member who passed away, I want to learn their recipes, or just I like eating the things that I ate as a kid, even if I can't make them or I miss those foods. There's just such a connection with food and family and childhood and all of that, and I think people are trying to return to us. We get a little older.

Speaker 1:

They totally are, and it's actually just hit me. But we are those people for someone else too, right? So, like you had memories with your grandma in the kitchen, you and I both have kids, right? I'm sure all of us have kids in our life. So by us kind of like returning to the kitchen, creating pastas, spending more time, we are helping them create those memories, and so it's, it's sweet.

Speaker 2:

I am convinced that I could not have done this journey at any other time in my life, but it really was when my grandmother passed away and I was a new dad and I was thinking so much about my childhood and my traditions and my memories with my grandmother. But then, like, what am I going to pass on to my children? You know, some may be the same. I want to continue my grandmother's legacy, but I want to make new traditions and things that they love. So it really was that moment that I was thinking exactly what you're talking about.

Speaker 1:

It's powerful, I love it. Well, there may be a few people listening that are like Katie, why are we talking about pasta today? And here I want to say this if you have not not had fresh pasta, this is why we are having this conversation, because there is such a difference in the taste and the culinary experience, but then, of course, the whole like culture and connection to the kitchen that we're talking about as well. So so I want you to kind of sorry, I have something, have something in my throat.

Speaker 1:

I can't shake it. Um, but there is a whole culture and world behind pasta that I want us to really dive into and I actually love that. You said you approach pasta kind of like unconventionally or untraditionally, because that's kind of how I roll too and I think that there is room for that actually. Um, because the way that hospitality culture is headed it's something totally new and I'm here for it. So I want you to give us kind of like the Danny loves pasta approach to to pasta making. And here's what I want to. I want to do I'm going to talk through some major categories in pasta making so dough, shape, sauces and I'm going to give you full freedom to tell us, kind of like the important pieces of each of those categories and maybe, specifically talking to the person that has never explored pasta making- Is that good?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, sounds great.

Speaker 1:

So, like, so, like. This is so broad, but you kind of like give us the introduction or like the, the speed dating approach in each category. So let's start with. Let's start with dough. What do people need to know about? Need to know about dough when it comes to pasta making.

Speaker 2:

People get intimidated by making fresh pasta. There's a lot of people who have made it once and never again because they're like it was too hard, the dough was too wet, it didn't work. I'm just going to get a box of pasta, which I totally understand. I eat a lot of box pasta too. But making fresh pasta once you learn how to do it, it's, first of all, much easier than people think. The ingredients are very simple. It's just flour and water or flour and eggs. Once you learn it, you can make it in a KitchenAid, you can make it in a food processor, so it doesn't have to be intimidating. But I really encourage people to start making it the old-fashioned way, where you have a pile of flour, you add your eggs, you mix it with a fork, you knead it. You get a feel for what the dough is like. It's a fun activity to do with your family, your friends, your kids. I've taught some pasta making classes for groups and just people really get into it. It's a fun thing to do. You don't need any special equipment. You can roll it out with a rolling pin, cut it with a knife into spaghetti or whatever shape you want. So first of all, I'd say, if you're nervous about it, give it a try. I think you're right. There's something about eating a bite of fresh pasta that is so alluring, like you have a bite and you just want to keep going back for more. So it's definitely something I'd encourage people to try.

Speaker 2:

And then my approach is a little bit not untraditional. You know, in my cookbook I have gluten-free recipes and I add a lot of different like I said earlier a lot of different natural ingredients to the dough to get different colors. So you can make beautiful roasted red pepper dough. That's one of my favorites. You know you can make spinach dough, which is pretty common, but you can make dough with beets, you can make dough with cabbage, you can make dough with turmeric paprika, all these different things. So you can really have a lot of fun with it. And you know it's a way to feel like you're connected to the old world and you're making it the same way it's been done for hundreds of years. But also you can make it your own, which I love about it.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, that's incredible. How would you describe if you could put words to it the difference in taste between a fresh pasta and a box pasta? So if we still have some skeptics listening and they're like, but why? I think the main difference is just a freshness that you can't explain right.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, exactly, it is hard to put into words. So there is sort of a freshness, a bite to it. It can be more flavorful if you're using eggs. You know most of the box pasta you buy is flour and water, which is good. You know, like I said, I love all pasta, but fresh pasta if you make it with eggs it has sort of a richer flavor and it has sort of a different bite to it. That's just very satisfying.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, texture, right, yeah the texture is a little different, it's just very. It tastes fresher, it tastes, it tastes homemade. Yeah, yeah, and in a super good.

Speaker 1:

It's hard to explain. I'm just, I'm just trying to convince everyone to make fresh. I feel like when people go to a really good restaurant and they eat a pasta dish and they're like, oh, I loved that, like I loved that, and they go home and try to recreate it and they're like, eh, not so great. I think sometimes just the pasta quality is the difference, definitely, definitely.

Speaker 2:

A lot of great restaurants are making their own pasta or they have machines that are making fresh pasta, and it makes a difference.

Speaker 1:

It does for sure. Could we talk just for a second about a gluten-free pasta dough? I'm gluten-free. I know a lot of our listeners are.

Speaker 2:

Any important notes for us? Yeah, so when I was coming up with the gluten-free recipe, that is the recipe that I worked on the most out of any recipe in the book, because I really wanted to get it right. I was looking up a lot of recipes and they all say you'll never know the difference or you can't tell. But I tried them all and a lot of them either didn't have the right texture you know you can't tell, but I tried them all and a lot of them either didn't have the right texture they didn't have that like chewiness, that bite that you get with regular pasta or they were very bland. You know, if you just use one gluten free flour and eggs you don't quite get the full flavor. So my recipe for gluten free pasta has a couple different flours. So it's. You know it's a little more complicated, but I think it's worth it it has.

Speaker 2:

You know, you just start with like a gluten-free one, for one that's usually a rice flour blend, then it has chickpea flour and it has tapioca flour and then it has a thickener, which usually it's. People use xanthan gum, a little bit of xanthan gum, um and so I felt like it was worth it to have a few different flours in the mix to really bring out the flavor. So I think the chickpea flour brings out some flavor. You get a good bite with the xanthan gum. So, um, you know you need. You need more than just my opinion. You need more than just a basic gluten-free flour and water or eggs.

Speaker 1:

No, I appreciate that that's exciting. Well, I'm going to talk more about this later, but I want to have this whole like pasta making night.

Speaker 2:

We'll talk about that. I'm getting ahead of myself.

Speaker 1:

But I'm excited to make it and my husband's such a trooper He'll eat whatever I cook for him, but he's not gluten-free and so I'm sure he would appreciate that extra flavor addition too. Yeah, for sure, for sure, okay, so, oh, man, I keep wanting to get ahead of myself, but let's stay on track here. Let's talk about the shape. So shape is so fun. I hear people say this a lot. I'm sure you do too Like macaroni and cheese.

Speaker 1:

So nostalgic for us nineties kids especially, and how they they. We are convinced that the flavor of the character pasta is different like character pasta just tastes better right right what is it about shape? Tell us what we need to know yeah.

Speaker 2:

So, um, you know, there's a million shapes out there at the grocery store and there's a million more you can make by hand. So a lot of the shapes that I make that are traditional are ones where I'm cutting it with a knife by hand. So think of, like a bow tie pasta you just start with a little rectangle, you pinch it in the middle, tortellini, you start with a square, add your filling and you fold it up. So a lot of them don't require any fancy equipment. You just need to get a pasta maker or rolling pin to roll it flat.

Speaker 2:

Um, and I am convinced also that different shapes taste differently. Um, part of it is because, uh, you know, different shapes work better with different sauces. So, something like a thick ragu. It's going to need kind of a thicker noodle, or like a rigatoni or something. Uh, you wouldn't use like angel hair and a ragu, because the angel hair is not going to hold up as well, but maybe like a like a clam sauce or something that's kind of light, like a white wine sauce. You could use a thinner pasta.

Speaker 2:

Um, a lot of the shapes when I'm making them, I think about how the sauce is kind of like pool into it. So a lot of the shapes have a lot of the shapes. When I'm making them I think about how the sauce is kind of like pool into it. So a lot of the shapes have a lot of curves and things that will gather the sauce, because I like that sort of thing. And then a lot of the shapes I make are just they're more fun, they're visual. You know, especially for young kids like I have, you know you want something kind of fun. So I make shapes that look like sunflowers or that look like little plants or look like cartoon characters. Those are a little more complicated but you know, they just kind of bring a different element to the dish.

Speaker 1:

There's this brand that's all over my ads right now. They're not sponsoring the show or anything. I'm Italian, so they have me. They got me hooked. Have you seen it? I think it's called. It's a kid's book brand.

Speaker 2:

I think it's called the Chunky.

Speaker 1:

Deli? Oh no, I have not. No, and I think they're board books and so they're very thick books and it's all like pasta pronunciation and like Italian cheese pronunciation for kids.

Speaker 2:

Okay, yeah, yeah, I'm like.

Speaker 1:

I think adults need that. Um, are there any pasta names that you hear like commonly mispronounced?

Speaker 2:

um, if you, if you focus on pronunciation. I don't know yeah, so I'm not a stickler, because I get called out sometimes for having a bad pronunciation. Um, but probably gnocchi is the biggest one. Yeah, they'll call it gnocchi, um how do you?

Speaker 1:

say oh gosh, I don't even know how to properly spell it. Okay, it's the tubular pasta that's usually filled with cheese and it's like, almost like. It's like a burrito. I'm trying not to like. Tell you the word yeah.

Speaker 2:

So my, you know my family's italian-american, so we always called it managot. We did too, yeah, but you know italians would say that's not, that's not right. But you know, if you're, if you're here in the us and you have some italian-american and maybe it's a managot or regal or ricotta, yeah, yeah so funny man.

Speaker 1:

My husband is swedish and he's like I'm convinced no one else says it like that except you guys, anyways, and we're from the same region too, which is funny, you and I um okay anyways. So shape is uh, shape is really fun. I'm glad that we talked about that a little bit, and we'll dive into that more when we talk about maybe like equipment or making it at home and what people might need to really have fun with it. But let's talk about sauces. So I grew up with an Italian grandpa. Every Sunday was sauce day, made a huge pot for the week and only ate Italian food, not like literally nothing else, and so, yeah, it was sauce day, homemade sauce. I veered away from that a little bit. I found a brand or two that I like buying, but what should we know about sauces?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I was also a Sunday sauce family and ate a lot of tomato sauce. It's still my favorite. You know, I'm simple, I love a good tomato sauce. I'm simple, I love a good tomato sauce. So what I would say is there are a couple ways to make sauce like that that I think people should know. There is the way where you have it on the stove all day. You might have some meat cooking in the sauce to add flavor. You know, just stews for three or four hours, depending how big it is, maybe even longer. Um, it's just kind of slowly bubbling away and you get such a rich flavor. Um, because pasta sauces are pretty simple. It's like tomatoes, olive oil, garlic, basil, salt. You know people. You know people have variations, but there's not a lot in it but it just cooks all day. It is great. But I don't always make that sauce because I don't always have time and, um, you know, my family does eat a lot of pasta surprisingly, and so I usually often make like a quick sauce on a weeknight, um, for my, for myself and my kids. Um, so you can take, you can make a tomato sauce in a smaller batch like one can of tomatoes. I usually make it in a skillet, so it's kind of wide, so it's getting a lot of cooking done.

Speaker 2:

One of my favorite ways to make a quick sauce is a recipe that is very famous but very controversial. It's by a woman named Marcella Hazan H-A-Z-A-N. Woman named Marcella Hazan H-A-Z-A-N. She's no longer alive, but she wrote a really influential book called the Essentials of Italian Cooking, which was like introducing Americans to Italian cooking, and she has this recipe that she put in there. It's tomato sauce with butter and onions with butter and onions, so butter and sauce. That's very controversial, yeah, you know people, but it's a way to make a very quick sauce with a lot of flavor. So it only takes like 20 minutes. You cook the tomatoes with butter in it and you put the onions in it whole. You don't even dice the onions, they just sort of the flavor seeps out of them.

Speaker 2:

Um, it's one of those recipes that everyone is like oh my god, that's so weird. But then they try it and they love it. It's very popular. So I make that a lot. Um, and then I also do a lot of like just quick, I don't know, like fancy butter noodles, you know, like for kids, like um noodles, cook the pasta and then just in the same pot once I drain it, I add some butter, add a lot of Parmesan cheese or pecorino and black pepper. You know, sometimes I throw in a vegetable, even a frozen vegetable, in there. That's a popular one.

Speaker 2:

You know, a lot of the sauces I make I kind of throw together while the pasta is cooking, like a quick one. One of my favorite ways to make tomato sauce that's not the other way talked about is with cherry tomatoes. I do a lot of cherry tomatoes, just like as the pasta is cooking in a skillet, add some olive oil, throw in some garlic, cherry tomatoes, they'll kind of burst, um, while you know, in like a few minutes and then once you mix it up it gets kind of saucy, add some cheese. So a lot of the sauces that I make are pretty, pretty quick, um, just cause that's my life right now Um, but you can get a lot of flavor in a quick sauce.

Speaker 1:

That's great. I love all those like suggestions and just talk about the whole range. So I have a question. It's a little controversial wooden spoon or no wooden spoon when you're cooking your?

Speaker 2:

red sauce.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, um, um, I do use a wooden spoon you do, like every time, like it's your like emotional attachment to it um, yeah, I usually use.

Speaker 2:

I guess I have a couple, but I usually use the same one or two um because my grandpa had his like sauce spoon.

Speaker 1:

It was the one and if it was yeah, if it was dirty he would wait until it was clean to make a sauce. And I can't do it. I can't. It grosses me out. I can't.

Speaker 2:

Now that you're talking about it like, I guess I haven't really thought about it consciously, but I do always use one or two of the same wooden spoons that just they feel right for the sauce.

Speaker 1:

It definitely is that, that like old world Italian thing. But one day I stopped and really thought about it and I'm like oh my goodness, like this is absorbing so much.

Speaker 2:

And now that you're talking about, I'm like why do I do that? I've never, I've never made the conscious decision Like I have to use this wooden spoon for the sauce, but it's what I've always done. But now I'm actually thinking about maybe I, maybe I'll switch, I don't know no, I mean, you've lasted this long with it.

Speaker 1:

You're attached um. And then I don't know if you're comfortable talking brands, um, I think we're fine, um, if you were to get a store-bought, if you ever buy store-bought, store-bought who do you gravitate towards? What brands?

Speaker 2:

I mean, I gravitate towards rayos me too. Um, I think it's good quality. Yeah, it tastes very fresh and there's pretty simple ingredients in it. Um, so that's the one I gravitate towards the most, um victoria that's the I was just about to say. That's another one that I like I love it um, I've tried the carbone sauces too.

Speaker 2:

They're pretty good. Um, but, like nowadays, you can get the rayo sauce everywhere, so that's usually the one that I would usually have a few of those like emergency sauces, just in case they're usually a super good price at Costco too. I don't know if you're a Costco, yeah you can kind of get them and have them when you need it. They're a good go-to.

Speaker 1:

So funny all this stuff, my goodness. Okay. And then we could talk filling and coloring, kind of whatever you want us to know about those. I think that's the fun part.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah, it's something I didn't really know about before I really started getting into pasta making. I mean, some like spinach pasta is common, you know. Like the pasta salad with the tri-colored rotini is like, you know the green and the red, but you can really make every color of the rainbow.

Speaker 2:

And I often do in pasta using natural ingredients. You're either using a vegetable like beets, spinach, red peppers, um, cabbage, and you're uh, you are cooking it and then pureeing it and adding it to your dough, or you're using a powder like paprika, turmeric, um. Sometimes I even use like blue spirulina to get a nice blue color, if I have to use that. You can even get like beetroot powder if you don't want to use fresh beets and you just mix a little bit like even just a spoonful or two in with the flour as you're making it. It can be either it can be a good way to stick some vegetables in if you're using like pureed vegetables, or it can be a fun way to add some color. You know, if you've got a kid, maybe they're not a great eater or you just want to make dinner fun.

Speaker 2:

So you know, my daughter now, like I don't think she quite gets that pasta is not always rainbow. She talks about my pasta. I don't think she quite gets that. That's not like everywhere, but she likes to make. You know, she likes all the colors and she will often be. My older daughter is almost four, so she will often be in the kitchen with me like it's like play-doh. She wants a little bit of the colors and she'll be kind of rolling it on the side. Um, while I'm sort of making whatever I'm making, that's so fun.

Speaker 1:

I'm picturing her going to an italian restaurant like and it's just like white pasta.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, disappointment.

Speaker 1:

That's a good standard to set, though I like that.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1:

And fillings, my gosh, I mean we've all had a ravioli, we've all had a cheese tortellini, but I guess what are some of your, either your favorites or fan favorites that are kind of different than just your traditional cheese?

Speaker 2:

Well, one thing I'll say on the cheese is that If you have some time, it's pretty easy to make a homemade ricotta out of just cheese, a jug of milk, and you cook the milk and then you add either lemon juice or vinegar to cause it to curdle and then you separate it. But it's pretty easy to do that and it tastes so much better than it is very different actually than store-bought, because the way they make store-bought is a little different. So fresh ricotta that's homemade is really good, but separate from a cheese filling. I think filling is a great way to get creative. So in the book I have like a pepperoni pizza filling which is not traditional but it's really fun you can use, you can think of the sauces you like and you can probably turn that into a filling where you can make a pesto filling.

Speaker 2:

You can make a meat filling like a ragu filling. Even something like a sweet potato filling is one I do a lot. Um, you know, I mix sweet potato with um, some sage and it kind of makes a rich, smooth filling. Um, you know, it's another way you can get some extra vegetables in. If your kid's not too picky and it's gonna we'll eat the filling. Um, so, uh. You know I tend to put a lot of cheese in. I do like a cheese filling, but I feel like it's another way you can get get creative, like you don't have to stick to what you think of as either traditional it doesn't have to be a cheese or a meat filling. Think of the sauces you like, think of the, the vegetables you like. You just chop it up and cook it a little bit. You could add a little bit of ricotta to kind of keep it together when you make the pasta. But you can really really do anything.

Speaker 1:

What I love about this is like I'm thinking of the fall specifically everyone loves butternut squash, like ravioli and like all that stuff. It's like you could do it at home, right, you don't have to wait until the fall at a restaurant to eat it.

Speaker 2:

Oh yeah, definitely Butternut squash ravioli is. It's not that hard to make. You can roast your butternut squash or you can even get frozen squash and just scoop it out. I usually add that with a um a little bit of ricotta to thicken it and put it right in right in the ravioli. It's easy.

Speaker 1:

A butter sage sauce, oh my goodness, so good. Um, have you ever worked with Kite Hills? Um ricotta, it's the dairy-free cheese brand.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah, they do sell that at the grocery store I go to Um. I have used it cheese brand.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah they do sell that at the grocery store I go to um I have. If you're not dairy free, it probably doesn't do it, right, yeah, no one in my family is dairy free, so it's something I have. I have bought it before to try it, but it's not like we don't have a need for it, so if you ever have like anyone asking for suggestions, I've done like lasagna with it and it is so good like if you just take a spoonful and eat it it doesn't quite hit the spot.

Speaker 1:

Um but mixed in with all the seasonings and flavors, it's a great. It's a great alternative. Yeah, I should be dairy free a hundred percent of the time.

Speaker 2:

Man, it's hard.

Speaker 1:

Right, I know, but when I'm being good, that's what I get. Yeah, um, okay. So I guess, to kind of like pull this all together, people are wanting to start creating pasta. They're thinking about what they have or don't have in their kitchen. What would you say are the essentials? And then, if you're comfortable with it, maybe things that are not as important to buy.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so to start with, you can just use all purpose flour. You don't need to buy any special flour. But if you want to, you can buy what's called double zero flour. I see it now at a lot of grocery stores. Sometimes it's just called pizza flour or pasta flour, but double zero means it's more finely ground. So, especially if you're rolling it out with a rolling pin, that will make it easier to roll, because it's very smooth, it's very it's just very fine, um. So you can get double zero flour. But if you don't have it, all purpose flour is great too. Um, and then you can use a big rolling pin to roll it out. It's a bit of a workout, cause you want to get it really thin, um, but if you don't have a pasta maker, just start with that. And then, if you want to buy a pasta maker, you can either get kind of the old fashioned hand crank variety which you know work really well. I have a, I have a new one and then I also have my great grandmother's. That's very old and they're pretty much the same. Wow, so they work well.

Speaker 2:

Or you can get what I often use is I get the attachment to the KitchenAid mixer. If you have a stand mixer. You can get the ones that stick on on the front. You can get the KitchenAid brand, but there are also other brands that are less expensive that are compatible and get them online and they will. You put the dough in, it rolls it flat and then usually they also come with an attachment that cuts it into spaghetti or fettuccine. So that's that's the fastest way.

Speaker 2:

If you want to make the dough, then you know you can just roll it through and pretty much have it done, um. Or you can just use it to roll it flat and then you can cut your own shapes, um, but you don't, you don't need that. You can roll it by hands. Um. I use a lot of piping bags when I'm making ravioli so the filling doesn't like kind of get everywhere and get really messy. Make your filling, put it in a piping bag and then when you have your square pieces you just pipe it right in the middle. One thing I use that I would say if you're going to get really into pasta making, you can buy is one of those.

Speaker 2:

I have one of those brass knives with the little wheels and one wheel is a sharp knife, flat knife, and one wheel is kind of I don't know crooked to make the little ravioli sides. Um, those are really nice because they just they glide very easily if you're cutting a big piece of pasta. But I would say, you know you don't need to buy that right away, you can just use a regular knife. Um, and then one thing that I would say that's not a traditional ingredient or equipment is cookie cutters.

Speaker 2:

I use a lot of cookie cutters when I make pasta, especially ravioli, because you can make any shape you want. You can make a fun shape for your kids or yourself. And if you think of a ravioli stamp, if you've ever seen a traditional one, it's pretty much just a cookie cutter but with jagged edges. So you can take a cookie cutter and kind of press down around the edges to make sure it's sealed. If you're worried, you can also go around with a fork and kind of make indents all the way around. But you know that opens up a lot of possibilities definitely.

Speaker 1:

That's so fun. I never want, to like brand bash, specifically talk about this kind of generally, but there are all those like kind of like I don't know 500 pasta making like machines and they kind of. It looks like they just like spit out macaroni. You know, have you ever worked with one like? Would you say that that is like a dream must have, or no?

Speaker 2:

I do have one. I avoided getting it for a long time because I didn't really feel like it was necessary and then maybe curiosity got the best of me and I wanted to try it. So those machines I mean, the good thing about them is usually in the back. You just add your raw ingredients, you add your flour and your eggs or your water or whatever you're using, and it needs it for you, it combines it for you and then it shoots out the pasta. The problem I have found is that the less expensive ones are not very good. Oftentimes what happens is when the pasta gets extruded it kind of clumps together. It doesn't really slice really easily. They end up being like more frustrating than they are helpful. So if you know, if you want to get serious and buy a really expensive one, they're great. But you know kind of the home ones some of them are a little finicky, I would say that's fair.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, that's's good. It's kind of on my dream list of like a one day investing in it, but it also takes out kind of like the old world connection of rolling it.

Speaker 2:

They're different, right, they're different you can make different shapes with a machine extruder um, you know you can make like a bucatini or um you know like then spaghetti or something that might be harder to make. You know they're pretty quick, so you know there are benefits, but I don't think it's something you need to jump in right away as you're learning pasta that's good.

Speaker 1:

That's an important distinction for everyone listening. There was a question I was going to ask you. I totally forgot. That happens sometimes right, definitely this is oh right. This is um, oh okay. This is what I was going to ask. So I just saw your.

Speaker 2:

Beyonce cover ravioli. And can you remind me what talk show you were on?

Speaker 1:

It was the Sherry show how fun, how fun. Um so, if people don't know what I'm talking about, head to Danny's Instagram or TikTok to look at the cover of the Beyonce album that you turned into a ravioli Right.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I think maybe what's a little unusual that sort of come out is like there's a lot of pasta that I make that's cookie. There's a lot that's more like pasta art, which is kind of a weird category. But yeah. I did. I've done some pasta inspired by different musicians and I did a Beyonce inspired ravioli.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, so my question was going to be with that as you've created some of these like characters or like artist albums, has any of them, have any of them, contacted you in appreciation?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, one of my favorite artists who I've made, who I've been in touch with, is SZA. She is apparently a big pasta lover because she started following me when my account was very small and I I didn't even see it at first, um, but she started commenting on different things and then I made actually a lasagna that looked like her album SOS and she shared it. So she's been a great um supporter and I just love her. And then I did the Beyonce ravioli. I did have someone from her entertainment company reach out to me to ask you know, could they repost it or something. So we'll see, maybe they will, maybe they will. So exciting.

Speaker 1:

Social media is such like obviously there's like pros and cons, but that side of things for creators' work to get recognized is so cool. When else could that have happened?

Speaker 2:

Right, exactly that's exciting.

Speaker 1:

Well, to wrap up, my listeners know that there is this concept that I love, kind of like when you're trying to cultivate friendships in adulthood called blind friend dating.

Speaker 1:

And it's a way that I gather people in my life that I'm looking to maybe become friends with or get to know more for, kind of like an activity that's lighthearted, fun, kind of like an icebreaker and I've said in the past that there's this one vineyard that I love inviting people to because it's open and it's beautiful. It feels like a very safe place for people to make new friends. But I've always wanted to kind of use that concept like so to grow friendships through pasta making. I've been thinking about it for years and I feel like a few things that have stopped me are like I don't have all the equipment or what kind of things. What would that look like logistically? So what I would actually love to do is kind of spitball, a loose plan with you on what that could look like logistically.

Speaker 1:

So what I would actually love to do is kind of spitball, a loose plan with you on what that could look like, so that people can listen to this and maybe like copy and paste it. I don't know if you like this idea, but one of my thoughts was you invite people to come and everyone's assigned a different ingredient. Do you think that could work?

Speaker 2:

Like a different ingredient to bring.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, that would be their contribution.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I think so, so it's cheap for people.

Speaker 1:

Cheap easy. So I don't know, Do you like it? You want to talk through it?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, let's do it. I think it's a great idea. I love doing pasta classes, so it's, you know, similar, similar thing.

Speaker 1:

It's a great idea. They could use your book pretty easily as the guide.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, definitely.

Speaker 1:

Okay, so we're starting with Danny's book.

Speaker 2:

The book called Danny Loves Pasta has basics how to make a basic pasta dough. If you've never done it before, so definitely.

Speaker 1:

Okay, so we start with the book and maybe give us two recipes that you think would be a good starting place. So this is a group of beginner pasta making friends.

Speaker 2:

Okay, start with a basic starting place. So this is a group of beginner pasta making friends. Okay, start with a basic pasta dough. If you want to have any of the spices to add color that's kind of a fun twist Because that's very simple Just add a spoonful of the turmeric or whatever, but start with the basic pasta dough.

Speaker 2:

Um, I would say each person, or maybe each pair, should have their own little workstation in front of them, at your kitchen table or your counter or something, um, and each person will have a pile of flour and either eggs or water, depending what they want, uh, and a fork, and that's all you need to make the dough. So they're going to mix it right in front of them, knead it together and then we'll have their dough. Then you either need to have a couple rolling pins or even just you could get by with just one pasta machine and they could take turns rolling it out. So what I've done in the past is people kind of you know I don't have a machine for everyone, but each group or everyone takes turns rolling the dough. Coming back to their station with a cutting board in front of them or some work surface they can cut on, they put their sheet of pasta dough down and just start cutting into shapes. So I would say probably a good one to start with is bow tie pasta, because it's cute, people like it and it's relatively easy to make. You just cut it into rectangles and then give it a good pinch. Otherwise you could even have, if you have the pasta machine, you could just have go right to cutting into fettuccine. Pasta machine, you could just have go right to cutting into fettuccine, something like that. That's simple through the machine.

Speaker 2:

Um, and then you just need some space, because you know whether, depending on how many people you have, but if you have a big table or counter, people will need space to cut and make their shapes and then they need space to put the pasta shapes once they're done. But that's the fun part. And then I would say either, depending on time and everything, you could either have a sauce that you've made ahead of time or some people could be on sauce duty. I would say, make something relatively simple. Right now in summer I'm making a lot of pesto, basil pesto, kale pesto, arugula pesto, everything so that sauce comes together pretty quickly and it's very fresh and summery. Or you have your favorite sauce that you've either bought or made ahead of time. But usually in the pasta classes people have a lot of fun with the shapes and rolling it out and cutting everything. That sauce is usually a little truncated at the end, sure.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I was actually thinking if the focus of the gathering is just making the pasta, how would people best transport it home?

Speaker 2:

Yeah. So I've done classes where we don't even cook it and eat it there, People bring it home. We don't even cook it and eat it there, People bring it home. And I just get like takeout containers or you know, like ground paper bags, Like if you are making it, you let it sit out, then you're having fun for a little bit, having wine or whatever you know. After an hour or two you could probably easily put it back in the bag and bring it home. It's not going to like mush together at that point.

Speaker 1:

Okay, that's good. I I just love it. I don't know. And then how long would you say, say, 10 people come together? What would you say, Uh like a good guesstimate would be time-wise to like set aside for that.

Speaker 2:

I would say 90 minutes is how long it usually takes to like go through the entire process with a group. If your friends are very chatty and you want to socialize, you can give it two hours, but like the actual pasta making thing is like probably an hour of that.

Speaker 1:

I love it. Well, guys, this is your gentle kick to plan a positive making party. It's a lot of fun, and I just feel like I'm always trying to encourage adults to get together with like new friends, and I think we're all so hungry for it, literally, and this is such a friendly way to gather people. Right, it doesn't have to be, I don't know. It's just a pretty, pretty safe way to make new connections.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, it's um, when I have had either class or even I got like a group of my mom's friends together and we did it, um, it's fun because it's unique. It's not something that people do constantly. Um, but it's low pressure, Like you know. If you make a shape and it doesn't work out, it's, it's fine, it's just pasta you can move on.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I love it I love it. Well, there are three questions that we end each um episode with, and I'd love to hear your answers as well. Um the first one, it's funny.

Speaker 2:

We've talked about pasta this whole time, but something you've eaten recently and loved, um, there's a new uh place in my town that makes poke bowls and I feel like poke bowls. You know they had a moment a couple of years ago, but, um, I'm like coming back to them now because they're really, really, really good. Um, and then some of um my friends in town own a matcha shop and they make matcha boba, which is like I love, so I've been having that a lot.

Speaker 1:

Oh my gosh, those are good answers. My husband is kind of like an all-American, like hot dog apple pie eater, and just recently he had a poke bowl and he was like, can we do that for lunch? And I was like, who are you?

Speaker 2:

So, yeah, actually for his lunch. Yeah, it's like actually has turned into a good thing to bring my four year old because you can like pick the ingredients that she wants, yeah, and she feels like kind of special going up and getting whatever she wants, so it's been good I love it, I love it.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, we're hooked on them too. They're really good. Um, okay, this one is a question. I love a gathering you attended that made you feel a strong sense of belonging and, if you could pinpoint it, what it was that made you feel that way?

Speaker 2:

um.

Speaker 2:

So I went to a my husband is Jewish and we went to a Passover dinner.

Speaker 2:

Um, back in Passover at a friend's house and it was, um, a lot of our friend's family but also some of their friends they had invited, and it made me feel like I belong because, you know, it was like an intimate family thing that they were opening up a little bit to some friends and so they had their traditions that they had done for years and years that were very special to them and I felt, you know, honored in a way that I was able to be there and share that with them, you know, honored in a way that I was able to be there and share that with them. You know, it made me think of my family gatherings where we have our thing but, you know, every once in a while a family friend would come or something like that, and you feel like kind of made it a little bit like you get invited and you get to be part of it and see your friends in a different way because they're with their family, and that felt very special.

Speaker 1:

I love that answer. I think that's a good I keep saying this but a good invitation to all of us to not be shy, to invite people into that part of our lives, like traditions. I'm not Jewish but I was invited to. I grew up with Jewish friends and they invited us to their Passover dinner and those are like poor childhood memories for me. Like you said, like to share those traditions and it's. It's a yeah, it's an extension. I don't know. Yeah, it's a different side of your friend that you wouldn't have experienced otherwise.

Speaker 2:

Exactly when you see your friends, traditions like you, learn about them and you feel special to be included.

Speaker 1:

Absolutely. Yeah Well, last but not least, something you've discovered recently that you think everyone should know about an Amazon purchase a Netflix show, anything.

Speaker 2:

So people may already know about this if you have kids, but I really love the Tony's boxes. Um, it's basically a very it's a box that's kind of soft-sided and there's a speaker in it and there's no screen or anything. So it's great if you're like not doing a ton of screen time or you just want your kids to to have something else, and there's different characters like little figurines a couple inches high, every character you know Disney and Paw Patrol and Peppa Pig and Hungry Caterpillar and all your childhood favorite stories and when you put the figure on the box it plays a story or music from that character.

Speaker 1:

Wow.

Speaker 2:

And there's also ones you can add your own content to. So my daughter listens to it almost every night. She picks a different character and puts it on, or I add songs that she likes. She listens to it during the day, so it's a great way that she can like, have her thing, have a little bit of time to herself and listen to this, but she's not just watching TV or something like that.

Speaker 1:

So that's great.

Speaker 2:

Great.

Speaker 1:

It's one of those things that I've seen like the big influencer accounts share about, but I haven't.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, actually that is true. It is kind of like you see on social media.

Speaker 1:

But I haven't heard. Like a real, like a real review.

Speaker 2:

That is something my daughter uses now almost more than any other toy and has now for a while. Because you can get new characters, you can add your own contents and they have a pretty wide selection, so you can find what you're looking for. That's great.

Speaker 1:

That's really good. I love those Taking notes. Of all the things that you referenced, I'm going to include as many as I can in the show notes, but where do you want to send people, where do you want them to find you and follow along?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, you can find me on Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, all under the name Danny Loves Pasta, all one word. It's also the name of the cookbook, which you can find on Amazon and at your local bookstore and wherever you buy your books.

Speaker 1:

So excited for you, so much to celebrate and so glad this worked out. Yeah, this was great. I know two parents 10 o'clock in the morning Celebrating big things Well, thank you so much, guysclock in the morning celebrating big things. Well, thank you so much, guys. I hope that you enjoyed this episode. Be sure to follow Danny, leave a review and stay tuned for our episode next week. Thank you so much for having me, of course. See you guys. Thank you.