Busboy Tasting Notes

Jersey Girl 🤝 Basta Pasta

I’m from New Jersey, so naturally, I grew up thinking I was Italian by association. We had weekly pizza nights with at least 3 pizzerias on speed dial and spaghetti was in our home-cooked roster of some of the only western meals that my mom would willingly cook us.I’m fully ethnically Chinese but where Italians and the Chinese can agree on is the importance of the noodle.

So when Sfoglini reached out with their generous gift to send me their new long cuts, it was an immediate, “Yes chef.”

Pasta is one of the categories of food I am so happy to enjoy in a restaurant (Altro Paradiso, Via Carota & Anton’s are top favorites) but equally as happy to make it myself. There’s something about the gathering of ingredients, setting up my mise in place and watching it all come together that is meditative for me. On the weekend, I love a project like a bolognese and during school nights, I love how easy it is to whip up a quick sauce + get dinner on the table in less than 30 minutes.

I tested these two new long pastas in both methods - 1 project and 1 easy recipe with the help of NYTCooking.

Dinner #1 - Bucatini with Drop Turkey Meatballs in Tomato Sauce

You truly can’t go wrong with red sauce. However, next time, would make the turkey meatballs separately i.e. baking it and make the sauce separately. We found the onions weren’t cooked evenly when following this recipe step for step. The highlight of this meal was the bucatini - I love this shape because it is simply so fun to eat. It’s like a noodle straw!

Dinner #2 - Bigoli, Green Beans and Potatoes in Pesto Sauce

I owe NYT Cooking an apology, because when I read this recipe, I was super skeptical of cooking the potatoes, green beans and pasta in the same water for 20 min total and called BS. I’m sorry I ever doubted you. What the potato did do perfectly was add texture and body to the pesto sauce and it felt super hearty. We ate this with local arctic char from our fish shop and it was divine. I had this for lunch leftovers for two days straight and I could have eaten it more.

Sfoglini is definitely an investment but it makes a difference in your meals and you can taste the quality.

I may or may not have added this Year of Pasta subscription to my wedding registry because I can’t get enough.

x

Angel