Rating 4.5 Stars

I have a pasta machine that doesn't get out as often as I like, so I hoped this book would encourage me to do just that; Pasta is easy enough to make, so goodness knows what my excuse is really!

The Ultimate Pasta Machine Cookbook is divided into six main sections:
- Introduction including pasta machines
- Storing, Cooking, Saucing and Serving
- Creating Finished Dishes
- Pantry and Fridge Staples
- Creating own new pastas
- Sources, tools & Equipment and Ingredients

First off, there is more than one pasta machine? That's something I wasn't aware of. I always thought there was just the rolling type one, though admittedly I did know there are attachments for the KitchenAid. Does that count as a machine in this case? There are colour photographs provided to show two of the different types of pasta machines-sheeter and Extruder. It seems I have a Sheeter, making long thin sheets that can then be placed in the cutter to make different long shapes such as spaghetti or tagliatelle. The Extruder looks like a butchers mincer but has no blade and forces the dough through a die-think of the kids using playdough and making the long thin hair. Finally, the Cavatelli is used to make thick pasta shells or dumplings

The Introduction continues with an explanation of the different types of pasta and the other equipment you would need to make pasta plus a list of ingredients.

The Sheeter Pasta Machine section has a basic dough recipe, then 23 different types of dough recipes from chocolate to green tea. The mixing of the dough instructions is covered by a multitude of colour photographs. It provides details on how to make the dough into sheets and if you do have the KitchenAid attachment, what settings to use. Also explained is how to laminate herbs, flowers and colours into your sheets. Then it provides details on how to get the different pasta shapes, even something as simple as a lasagne sheet or as interesting as Farfalle (bows) before moving onto stuffing pasta. This section provides nine different recipes for the fillings.

Both the Extruder and Cavatelli chapter are very short - no more than half a dozen pages on each. The section on the Extruder, has another basic recipe and then provides three more. It provides no other recipes or doughs but comes with a colour photograph of different dies. The Cavatelli section shows an image of the machine itself. It again comes with it's own basic dough recipe along with four more. All the chapters on the machines comes with tips on how to clean the machines after use.

Storing, Cooking, Saucing and serving comes next. It explains how to freeze pasta, how to dry it out without it cracking and how long to cook it for.

The Finished Dishes chapter provides recipes of essential sauces with suggested recipes and their page numbers they are married with. Following on from the sauces are Pasta and Noodle Dishes, which include classic such as Lasagne and Pork Ragu plus Wonton Soup, Chocolate Egg Fettuccine with strawberries, Seafood with spaghetti - overall there are 51 recipes to choose from. Beyond Pasta has recipes for Cannoli and Semolina Crackers.

The Pantry and Fridge Staples provides a number of different homemade recipes such as spicy Italian sausage, Crème Fraiche, Ricotta, Pickled Peppers and stocks.

The recipes throughout the book come with both imperial and metric measurements, however not all of the recipes have a colour photograph to accompany them.

There is a list of resources at the rear of the book for equipment, which appear to be mostly American.

Overall this is an excellent book and has inspired me to get the pasta machine out much more often and try some new dishes with fresh pasta.

I received this book from Netgalley in return for a honest review.

After reading this cookbook, I definitely have pasta machine envy. Vaserfirer gives detailed instructions on how to use the three main types of pasta machines, along with simple-to-follow recipes for different pastas. There are also recipes for finished dishes, from ragu to cannoli. The photography is appealing--it'll make you feel like you're in an old-world Italian restaurant kitchen. I could have used more pictures (I like a one-to-one ratio of photo to recipe), but overall this will inspire home cooks to dust off that pasta machine in the cupboard and give it a try.

This is my first pasta making book, and I am wowed! Not only does it help you figure out the mechanics, and the dough, but also gives you recipes for prepared meals. So if you want to skip the noodle making you can just use store bought for the recipes. This is a keeper.

What did I like? All around book... so you can prepare and make pasta. Use kitchen aid attachments, or other various tools sold on Amazon. Wealth of info here but all inclusive. I would love to make my own pasta. Step by step, picture by picture of making dough was helpful. Different recipes for different equipment. Just amazing. Then the recipes...wow. I’m hooked.

Would I recommend or buy? This is going on my wish list! I feel like even if you don’t make the pasta from scratch the recipes still add value. I’ve never seen a pasta making book before but I love that it includes pretty much every style, and loads of dough recipes. The recipes look amazing. If your into dough making, then this book is a keeper.

I received a copy to read and offer an opinion. I loved it! Five stars!

I tried on three devices I can use and none would open this book so sorry I cannot make a genuine review.

This is a book for the pasta lovers out there, especially if one is a bit keen on making your own. This book breaks it down how to make pasta, and it has also various pasta recipes in general, so you can actually make a dish out of your freshly made pasta.

I never knew that making pasta was so work intensive. This book breaks everything down and even gives you recipes. Who would have thought that you would need special tips for your pasta maker to make types of pasta that I didn't know existed. I definitely recommend this cookbook and will be buying my own copy... along with all the special gizmos.

I have an extruder and am terrible at motivating myself to use it. But this book really inspired me to try out some new recipes. I appreciated having some guidance and feel better versed in my equipment. Beautiful photos and lots of helpful details! I wish there were some more gluten free pasta options, because they have become so popular at the store. i would love to learn how to utilize various types of flour with the extruder for healthier alternatives. But thats probably better suited to a whole new book!!!

Oh, I love pasta and hopefully one day I can master how to make them from scratch (so I don't have to keep buying Barilla from my grocery store)! The book has gorgeous photography and such yummy recipes. It looks very accessible to a beginner cook.

This is a gorgeous and informational book.

What I loved: It goes into great detail about the three classic types of pasta makers (sheet rollers, extruders, and the ones for those little pasta shapes that I will never make or eat because they look like grubs to me, LOL) with lots of recipes for pasta and all the info you need for classic pasta making. I love the gorgeous color photos of pasta making and the creative applications like making the striped beet pasta. There's a variety of recipes for doughs, fillings and then recipes to put it all together.

What I would have liked added: There is only one recipe for a gluten free pasta and that's a chickpea pasta for sheet rolling. I know you can make good gluten free pasta because my kids and I do it often, and we use a variety of flours (my 13 y/o son loves using the sheet roller and my 8 y/o daughter loves hand mixing, rolling and cutting doughs with add-ins like ramps). Also, I have a big old plastic electronic pasta machine that I picked up at an antique store that I've used for years but I guess this isn't an authentic enough sort because the book only covers the high end metal sort of machines and rollers like the KitchenAid attachment or the professional metal dies. We also have a sheet roller and use that, but we honestly use the big plastic beast more often because o all of its dies. There aren't many photos of the recipes for pasta dishes themselves after the instructional portion and I'd have loved more. I also would really appreciate nutritional information for the recipes and more recipes for those on special diets since that is one advantage of making homemade pasta, that you can make your own gluten free, vegan, low-carb, etc. pastas right to your tastes. This is really designed just for those who want to make fairly traditional pasta with traditional tools for traditional dishes -- but it does that exceptionally well.

All in all, I really enjoyed the book even though I'll have to adapt it for my machines and ingredients. It was a fun, beautiful and inspiring read.

I read a temporary digital ARC of this book for review.

There is so much information packed into this book. The book starts off with a very informative introduction to pasta, then moves into recipes for so many different noodles using two different methods, and finishes with some mouthwatering recipes using the noodles.

Having just recently jumped into making my own pasta and really enjoying the process, I was excited to review this book! The beautifully shot color photos made me want to try all the pastas! If you want to make pasta on a regular basis, I highly recommend an electric pasta maker or the attachment(s) for a stand mixer unless you have a helper who can crank for you. This allows for easier dough/noodle handling since you'll have two free hands. The book begins by discussing the 3 types of pasta machines - sheeter, extruder and cavatelli. - and moves into pasta shapes and names. I was very happy to see that the recipe ingredient amounts are specified both by volume and weight. This is a huge pet peeve of mine with cookbooks. Weights are so much more accurate! There are so many different dough recipes to choose from, including a sourdough noodle recipe. So many have sourdough starters going right now and sourdough pasta is yummy! This was my first foray into pasta making as I was looking for more ways to use up my sourdough discard. I appreciated that the recipes include helpful notes such as which dry well and notes about color and flavor to be expected. Recipes are divided by which pasta machine you'll use to shape the pasta which is helpful if you don't have all the options on hand. Clear instructions, with photos, are included on the use of each machine. In addition to the pasta dough recipes, there are recipes for a variety of fillings and sauces as well as recipes that include your fresh pasta. The only negative for me is that many of the dough recipes include eggs and I don't consume eggs. I'd have to play around with various egg replacers to see what would work. I didn't expect many of the full dish recipes to be ones I'd try due to expected animal ingredient content and that proved true. If you're vegan, this would be one to borrow from the library rather than buy.

Thanks to Quarto Publishing Group – Harvard Common Press and NetGalley for the opportunity to review this book in exchange for my honest review.

The Ultimate Pasta Machine Cookbook by Lucy Vaserfirer is a reasonably comprehensive cookbook that gives directions for using a sheeter pasta machine, Extruder Pasta Machine and Cavatelli maker. There are foundation doughs for each machine and recipes to go along with each type of machine.

You will also find a clear explanation of ingredients and how to use them along with pasta making tools to use.

Throughout the cookbook are numerous color photos illustrating cooking techniques and recipes.

Some of the recipes you'll find include:

Beef Straganoff with Egg Noodles
Shoyu Ramen
Grano Arso Caratelli with Sundried Tomato Sauce
Semolina Crackers

Recommend.

Review written after downloading a galley from NetGalley.

I typed a pasta recipe and it worked Did work out, I did need to add more flour but I may have guessed the measurements wrong Since they were in oz not cups.

It's a great book if you want to make your own pasta from scratch. This book teaches you a few basic pasta and noodles recipes, shows you the how to step-by-step with photos, explains how to use three different pasta machines (Sheeter, extruder and cavatelli pasta machine) and it also gives you tips on how to storage, cook, serve your pasta, and at the end there are some sauce recipes and some yummy dishes you can make using you fresh made pasta. I got a pasta machine and I haven't used it but I'll follow this book and hopefully I can learn how to make my own pasta. This book is very useful and very well done and organized. Before trying to make the recipes, read the beginning of the book because that's where all the tips and informations are.

I received a free digital copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review

So much more than pasta recipe book. This is a comprehensive guide on how to make your own pasta from scratch using three different machines available.

I particularly enjoyed the recipes at the end of the book, showing you what mouthwatering meals you can make with your finished fresh pasta.

At times I found this book overwhelming, due to the sheer range of possibilities, but the more I read the more I realised that everything was possible if you followed the recipe and learnt as you went.

I'm off to try a basic egg pasta, it's just too tempting not to.