It may sound provocative, but I am up for anything. Cooking for events that is. If I have the time, I will have a dish for you. So when my girlfriends and I decided to hold a Girl’s Night in for Breast Cancer Awareness evening this month, I knew I could contribute a pink dish. The only hitch? They wanted something savoury for the dinner. Sweets were sorted and were baggsed eagerly by the rest of the girls. They saved me the main as they knew that I liked a challenge (either that or they didn’t want to deal with a pink main). I have been frantically busy with the Sydney International Food Festival so I hadn’t really thought about what to do until a review copy of The Silver Spoon Pasta landed on my doorstep. I flicked through it poring over pasta dishes for my husband (who is a pasta fiend) before seeing a dish that was so perfect for my girlfriends and I that I placed the ribbon bookmark (pink of course, see it was a sign!) in that page.
That evening, I contemplated my liquor cabinets. I needed 200mls of white wine and when I looked up, I saw a bottle of the perfect thing, Moet Brut Rose in exactly the right size in a blushing pink shade! As I was walking home I realised that I hadn’t bought flowers and when I was about to turn back I spied a big overgrown tree full of pink flowers spilling out of the neighbours fence onto the street. I snipped some and took this as another sign that the universe was in support of the pink dinner.
It was relatively quick to make and everyone adored it and yes I know, I know, it’s not strictly pink is it. I perhaps should not have used the porcini fettucine as that has a decidedly brown shade to it and a regular pasta (or indeed a beetroot pasta) would have been more fitting but I had not the inclination to make some nor did I see any to purchase. I did explore some recipes for beetroot pasta but many had said that the colours drains from the vivid pink to a pale pink which just would have been rather disappointing. I do prefer my smoked salmon uncooked but it wasn’t too bad at all and it was eaten happily by all with some taking seconds.
As for The Silver Spoon Pasta, this was a cookbook that many of these girlfriends wanted. The Silver Spoon is seen by many as the definitive cookbook for Italian just as Je Sais Cuisiner or I Know How To Cook is to French. Originally published in 1950 by the Architecturel magazine Domus, the recipes are easily achievable as the ingredients are easily sourced (with perhaps the exception of a white Bianco D’Alba truffle). The photographs are lovely but simple in styling, often styled in a bowl or pot on a textured surface.
Maltagliati with Peppers
The book of 350 recipes is split into two sections: dried pasta versus fresh pasta with the dried pasta further split into long pasta such as linguine, spaghetti and less common ones like Buccatini and Bavette among others and short dried pasta like Fusilli, Rigatoni and less common ones like Ruote and Sedani. The fresh pastas range from Cut pastas like Bigoli, fettucine and my favourite papardelle (for which I now have 9 new recipes!) as well as pastas like Maltagliati which means “badly cut” in Italian. The other fresh pastas are filled pastas including Agnolotti, Pansotti, the wonton-like Casonsei and Tortellini. You get the picture though, we’re talking every shape of pasta you could dream up. The fresh pasta section comes with 3 recipes for fresh pasta dough (plain, green and red, how Italian flag!).
Most of the recipes for the sauces are made up of 6-7 ingredients or less including things like olive oil, butter and salt and pepper so they’re very achievable. Preparation times and cooking times are listed for each recipe so it is easy to figure out which ones are good for fast cooking after work particularly if you buy the fresh pasta (although there are instructions for making your own pasta too, should the urge strike). They explain the differences in wheat flour used for dried versus fresh pasta (fresh or homemade pasta uses soft wheat flour) and they explain why the addition of egg improves the consistency and how each should be cooked – fresh pasta absorbs more water and requires less time to cook and can be stored for up to 15 days. Also importantly they teach you which sauces match with which pastas.
I’m seeing this Trofie pasta for Halloween..
Summary
Achievability: 4 out of 5
Usability: 4 out of 5 Recipes are sectioned off by pasta type
Degree of difficulty: Easy, particularly if you buy the pasta but homemade isn’t as hard as it may seem
Food porn score: 3 out of 5
Post it note tabbed recipes: 15
Gift book: Pasta lovers will adore this but it is also good for people who want quick meals as well as some slow cooking.
So tell me Dear Reader, which pasta shape is your favourite? I heart papardelle and spaghetti, what are yours?
And if you need any more Pink inspiration, check out these other past NQN recipes!
Strawberry St Honore, Poodle Cookies, Strawberry & Pink Peppercorn Macarons, Coconut Ice Ice Cream, Taramasalata Dip, Ispahan Cupcake and Sour Cream & Rose Mini Cakes.
The Silver Spoon Pasta is published by Phaidon Books and retails for $59.95.
Pink Pasta for BCA Month
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 25 minutes
Serves 4
- 25g/1oz butter
- 2 tablespoons oil
- 1 onion chopped
- 1 garlic clove, chopped
- 100g/3.5 ozs chopped, tinned tomatoes
- 100g/3.5 ozs smoked salmon, cut into strips
- 200ml/7 fl oz white wine or rose champagne
- 2-3 tablespoons double cream
- 1 teaspoon chopped thyme (I omitted this)
- 275g/10 ozs fresh taglierini or other pasta
- 1 tablespoon snipped fresh chives
- salt and pepper
1. Melt the butter with the oil in a saucepan. Add the onion and garlic and cook over a low heat, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes and salmon and cook, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes. Drizzle with the wine or champagne and cook until the alcohol has evaporated.
2. Stir in the cream and thyme, season with salt and pepper and heat through gently. Cook the pasta in plenty of salted, boiling water for 2-3 minutes until al dente. Drain, tip into the pan with the sauce and toss for a few minutes. Sprinkle with the chives and serve immediately.
Adapted from The Silver Spoon Pasta coobook.
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43 Comments | Add your own
Yum! I love this pink pasta!
Very cool idea! I would have been stumped had I been faced with the dilemma of a pink main.
Pasta wise, I like papardelle and linguini. I think I like the fact that it’s thicker and gives me more pasta per bite – if that makes any sense! Lol.
When I was a child we used to go to an Italian restaurant and I always but always ordered tortellini. My favourite now is linguine but I limit my intake of pasta because it seems to render me completely unable to stop when I’ve had enough
What a great book and a wonderful dish!
Cheers,
Rosa
What a lovely idea! Your pasta looks really hearty and fresh! I’ve never heard of beetroot pasta, sounds interesting… but I’m thinking that it would’ve been a disappointment if the colour drained!
I’m with you on favouriting the papardelle. Your chorizo and ricotta papardell has become a staple in our household
I also like the huge shell pasta as a novelty – they’re so big you only have about 5 in a dish.
My favourite pasta is angel hair pasta. It seems to make a lot more than a regular one. Otherwise I like the weird shaped pasta
This recipe and the book look great!
I love a good rose sauce!!!
My fav pasta is fettucini (especially the curly one) and penne and risoni.
Silver Spoon for just pasta?! I have the original Silver Spoon which covers everything, though I have to admit, I’ve not yet used it. It’s just so gigantic, and a little daunting to go through. A task to complete over the Christmas holiday I think. My husband likes making his own pasta, but I actually prefer dried to fresh most of the time.
What a great event. My mind immediately went to desserts to showcase pink so you’ve done a great job in selecting this dish. Looks and sounds delicious.
What an indulgent dish! Popping a bottle of expensive bubbly for this! I don’t drink so this is probably the best way for me to actually enjoy some Moet!
I am liking the look of this book! I like long pasta like you, spaghetti or bavette are my favs!
wow that looks super yum Lorraine! (: Thanks for the recipe!
My favourite is bucatini with a thick meaty sauce. Yum
How creative, NQN! I appreciate what you did since I am a BC survivor of 2 years ( yayyy me!) and pasta of any kind is hard to beat. I am pursuing the seemingly IMPOSSIBLE art of hand-pulling noodles and so far I am failing. I think there is a secret that I have yet to find- it must be the flour- do you have any ideas?? I took an unsuccessful batch of dough and put it through the pasta roller and cutter and made non-egg noodles. Tasty but not hand-pulled, alas. Tonight we are having the leftover noodles in a stir-fry. Pasta, pasta, pasta- gotta love it!
You rock, girl!
June
Aww I was thinking of baking something pink for this but a pink pasta dish is an even better idea!
Should not be looking here before dinner. Now I’m starving.
Gotta love serendipity!
I love how this dish is just so pink!
As for my favorite pasta, it’s a toss-up between farfalle and rotelli.
oooo.Silver spoon pasta! The next time you want “pink” pasta,try pomegranate. The juice takes the place of egg liquid. 1 cup flour,1 egg and then pom juice. But, feel free to then make it savory. I think I’ll make it for you to see if I know what I’m saying.
Being Italian, I love pasta in any shape or form. I make my own fresh home-made , preferring it to the dried form , nothing beats the flavour,texture and taste. My fav. form is lasagna and spinach & ricotta ravioli.Which reminds me that I need to make up another batch very soon, I usually make 30 eggs of pasta at a time and make lasagna, ravioli, fettuccini and freeze it , it’s so handy to have there for a quick lunch or dinner starter. If using dried pasta always choose the dearer brands, there really is a big difference! If you buy the rigate variety( meaning lines or grooves) it captures the sauce for more flavour. Your pasta dish looks lovely Lorraine and very enticing, I would have added a teaspoon of Huon Salmon Roe on top as my husband loves the stuff.
Firstly, yay you for contributing to breast cancer awareness! Secondly, that dish is TOTALLY pink. Thirdly, this book may well be a contender for my sister’s Christmas present…hmmmm.
Oh and I’m not a huge pasta eater but I like orecchiette cannelloni and spaghetti
I think you made a nice pink pasta dish — even though I’m not a fan of smoked salmon, it sounds really nice!
As for my favourite pasta…oh gee…well, I’m Italian, so any pasta is good for me, I guess!! LOL
I think I’m going to have to invest in the Silver Spoon pasta cookbook…I can cook pasta – that’s about all I can cook! LOL
Great to see you getting behind the Breast Cancer Awareness!
What a challenge. Pink pasta. I wouldnt have thought of that. Looks delicious.
Your pasta looks good. I am not a huge pasta fan, so this book is not for me.
if you’ve ever heard of it, there’s Tarako or Mentaiko Pasta from Japan – literally pink ^^
I accidentally made pink noodles once by throwing a bag of Woolworths Rainbow salad mix, which contained grated beetroot, into my stirfry
My favourite pasta shapes are spaghetti & shells.
Good on you for hosting a girls night in! I didn’t want to hold another afternoon tea this year after all the work I did last year… But I’ll be doing something next year.
I saw that book at Costco on the weekend and debated about getting it. I have bought FAR too many cook books in the past month, I have no where to store them.
Pink pasta with pink champagne and lucky bougainvillea looks perfect!
Pink Pasta. What next dear Lorraine? It is my turn to renovate the kitchen. I will be churning out all different coloured home made pasta then!
It’s pink enough
I doubt anyone wants a bright pink dinner anyway!
Pink desserts are boring, in my opinion. Bring on the savory pink dishes! I love pink sauce! They have the perfect blend of creaminess and tanginess!
Also, what about smoked salmon?
Oh I gave you an award btw! http://www.chefspiration.com/2009/10/blog-love.html
I love Lasagne, Tortellini and Linguine.
I am poring through a huge 1960’s italian cookbook i picked up at a flea market for only $3 and loving the retroness of it
so sweet of you!! those pink pasta sound terrific
love the books
cheers!!
Ditalini are my favourite but sometimes it has to be nothing but thick spaghetti with garlic, chili and olive oil and maybe some lemon zest and parsley. What intrigued me most was other savoury pink foods. The only thing from the top of my head would be borscht with lots of sour cream or any other beetroot dish. Um, pink peppercorn sauce with rare steak?
BTW those pink flowers are called Bougainvillea.
maltagliani , eh? i like the looks of it, although sadly, its unique texture has never graced my mouth. your dish is so appealing to me, and bravo for breast cancer awareness!
This is a great idea for a pink main course! I’ve made beet pasta for ravioli and it was very pink, but the dough is a little sticky and difficult to work with. The book sounds great since I’m a pasta lover.
This pink pasta looks excellent! I love all kinds of pasta!
Oooh, what pretty pink pasta! And such a great cause to support. As a kid my fav pasta shape was stars.
While I still like stars, I also like penne and linguine.
Hi Anh-Thankyou!
Hi Su-yin-Yes there’s so many pink desserts but not mains!
Yes that makes perfect sense! 
Hi Amy-Haha I get like that too!
Hi Rosa-Thankyou!
Hi Betty-It has really disappeared from the shelves recently-I wonder why? Perhaps it was the colour draining thing!
Hi Shanks-Oh fabulous! I’m so glad!
Yes I lvoe those too! They’re fantastic! 
Hi Anita-Ahh yes I had almost forgotten about that! LOL at weird shaped pasta! Thankyou
Hi sandra-Ahh cool! Hubby loves those ones and I admit I love the pebbly texture of risoni!
Hi Helen-Yup just for pasta!
Ahh well that’s good that he likes to make it! I’d like Mr NQN to get into it! 
Hi Julia-Thankyou so much!
It’s such a worthwhile cause!
Hi Trissa-Thanks!
Haha it was the only small bottle I had honest! 
Hi Kym-It’s really good for pasta lovers! Ooh yum!
Hi Lianne-You’re more than welcome!
Hi Sue-Yum a nice thick, meaty sauce sounds lovely!
Hi June-Thankyou! Congratulations on being a BC survivor!
Hmm I think there’s a special pasta flour you can buy? Sounds lovely still! Thankyou! 
Hi Steph-Hehe yes a pink dessert would be gorgeous!
Hi Lauren-Hehe sorry!
Hi ms délicieuse-Absoutely!
Hi Midge -I wish it were pinker!
Ooh rotelli, I must look that up!
Hi Angela-Ooh good idea!
Oh yes please! 
Hi Matilda-Ahh I bet you cook up some fantastic pasta!
30 eggs of pasta? 
Wow! Thankyou 
Hi Conor-Thankyou!
Hehe aww thankyou! I wish it were pinker but everyone ate it happily! Fabulous! 
I love the ear shapes of the orrechiette
Hi Liv-Thankyou so much!
Haha well it’s a great thing to know how to cook! 
Hi clekitty-Thankyou!
Hi Katherine-Hehe desperate times call for desperate measures! Thankyou
Hi Cakelaw-Aww what a shame!
Hi zaou-Oh yes that’s true, I forgot about those!
Hi Ali-Haha I should have done that!
I love it when the shells are filled with goodies 
Hi Iron Chef Shellie-Thankyou! Yes they’re a lot of work aren’t they!
Ahh yes that’s my issue too!
Hi Arwen-Thankyou!
Hi penny-Haha very cool! I can’t wait to read all about it!
Hi Chefspiration-Aww thankyou!
And thanks for the award too! x
Hi sophia-Haha thankyou! Well there was smoked salmon in it
Hi Tara-I love tortellini when it has a really nice flavour to it
Oh fabulous! 
Hi nora-Thankyou so much!
Hi Moya-I had to look that one up! Yes borscht was a definite contender!
Hi Pip-thanks!
Hi grace- Hehe yep! I would love to make it myself
Thankyou yes it’s a great cause!
Hi Lisa-Thankyou!
Ahh good to know!
Hi 5 Star Foodie-Thankyou so much!
Hi Faith-Isn’t it just! I do love a good charity
Stars? I’ve never seen those! 
They sound fab!
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