Dan Pashman creates funky new pasta recipes | Good Food

Mapo tofu cascatelli

service 4～6

total time: 40 minutes

This is my favorite way to eat cascatelli.Chewy pieces of meat and the chewiest parts of pasta The thick consistency of the sauce and the flavor of the cascatelli combine to create an incredibly chewy bite. Patented sauce trough ensures each bite is generously delivered to your mouth. The deep and heart-filling spices of Sichuan pepper and bean sauce are added to create a mouth-watering texture and flavor.

material

• 2 tablespoons kosher salt
• One 16-ounce package of silken tofu
• 2 teaspoons Sichuan pepper (see notes)
• 3 tablespoons canola oil or other neutral oil
• 8 ounces ground pork (or 80/20 ground beef or other ground meat)
• 3 tablespoons bean sauce (see notes)
• 2 cloves of garlic (chopped)
• 2 teaspoons minced fresh ginger (or 1 tablespoon tubed ginger)
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 and 1/2 teaspoons sugar
• 1 and 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1 pound cascatelli pasta (or quattrotini, vesuvio, or rigatoni)
• 3 green onions, thinly sliced ​​and separated from the white and green parts.

Instructions

1. Bring 4 quarts of water and salt to a boil in a large pot.

2. Drain excess water from tofu, transfer to a blender (or use an immersion blender or food processor), and puree until smooth, about 30 seconds. Set aside.

3. Toast the peppercorns in a large pot over medium heat until fragrant and slightly blackened, about 3 minutes. Let cool slightly, then coarsely grind in a mortar and pestle or spice grinder. Reserve the pot.

4. Add oil to a frying pan and heat over medium heat until it turns golden brown. Add the meat and cook, stirring and breaking up with a wooden spoon, until no pink remains, 2 to 4 minutes. Add the bean sauce, garlic, and ginger and cook, stirring constantly, until deep red-brown, about 2 minutes. Add the soy sauce, sugar, and reserved tofu, scraping it out of the mixer jar, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low, cover with the lid slightly ajar, and cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally and scraping the corners of the pan. (Orange oil will appear on the surface.)

5. Meanwhile, combine cornstarch and 2 tablespoons water in a bowl.

6. Add cornstarch mixture to sauce and simmer for 1 minute.remove
   Remove the pot from the heat and stir in half the peppercorns.Leave it alone while cooking
   When made into pasta, the flavor becomes deeper. (At this point, the sauce can be cooled, covered, and refrigerated for up to 3 days.)

7. Add the pasta to the boiling water and cook for 2 minutes less than the package directions. Drain the pasta, reserving 2 cups of the pasta cooking water. Pour the sauce into the empty pasta pot, add the reserved 1 cup pasta water, and bring to a boil over medium heat. Add the pasta to the sauce along with the green onion whites and stir until the pasta is well coated but the sauce still collects slightly at the bottom of the pan, about 1 to 3 minutes. (If the sauce seems too thick, add more pasta water, 2 tablespoons at a time, until the sauce loosens but still coats the pasta.)

8. Transfer the pasta to serving plates or individual bowls, sprinkle with the green onion leaves and remaining pepper, and serve.

From “Anything’s Pastable” by Dan Pashman. Copyright 2024 by Dan Pashman. Reprinted with permission of HarperCollins Publishers.