It’s October 25: World Pasta Day–Celebrate! While you slurp your spaghetti or fork up fusilli, check out some titles you can get from the library to enjoy (sauce on the side, please!)! If you want to browse your local shelf for recipes, the pasta cookbooks are found in 641.822.

An A-Z of Pasta: Recipes for Shapes and Sauces, from Alfabeto to Ziti, and Everything in Between by Rachel Roddy (2023)

This is the story of pasta. Award-winning food writer Rachel Roddy has lived and cooked in Rome for almost two decades. She has spent years browsing bucolic Italian markets, cooking with fresh and seasonal vegetables, discovering cheeses, and perfecting the art of making Italy’s favorite food: pasta. Now she has condensed everything she’s learned about pasta in a practical, highly entertaining collection of recipes that will ensure authentic Italian meals and take your pasta dishes to the next level. In this cookbook, you will learn the many ways to pair pasta shapes with sauces, how to make certain pastas from scratch and how to best serve them–from Cavatelli with Sausage, Mint, and Tomato to Fregula with Clams; and from Bucatini with Cauliflower, Saffron, and Anchovies to a spaghetti for every night of the week and a Bolognese-style lasagna. Here, too, are short essays that weave together the history, culture, and astonishing variety of pasta shapes from the tip to the toe of Italy.

 

The Best of Lidia. Pasta [DVD], Tavola Productions (2011)

A collection of more than a dozen of Lidia’s favorite dry pasta dishes from Lidia’s Italy in America. These delicious, simple pasta creations include Italian American favorites, American classics with a Lidia twist, and some of the more contemporary Italian dishes found in the United States.

 

 

The Big Italian Music Box [Hoopla Streaming Music], Various Artists (2017)  /

The Wildest! [Hoopla Streaming Music], Louis Prima with Keely Smith (2002)

While you roll the dough, boil the water, or when you sit down to eat, listen to a little music! A few options to consider. If your tastes run to instrumental/classical/operatic, try The Big Italian Music Box, featuring great composers including Verdi, Rossini, and Vivaldi. If you prefer more contemporary, popular music, set the mood with some Louis Prima popular jazz tunes (especially if you watch Big Night, which is set in the 1960s),  to inspire you.

 

Big Night [Hoopla movie], Paramount Pictures (1996)

If you’ve never seen this film, you are in for an absolute delight. One of my all-time favorites, with a brilliant cast including Stanley Tucci, Tony Shalhoub, Minnie Driver, Isabella Rossellini, Ian Holm, and many other recognizable faces, all playing wonderful parts.  A film about seeing your dreams through no matter the cost; family; and the clash between what’s easy and popular vs. what’s authentic. The final scene, with no dialogue is ..<chef’s kiss>

 

Fresh Pasta at Home: 10 Doughs, 20 Shapes, 100+ Recipes, With or Without a Machine by America’s Test Kitchen (2022)

Whether you want to roll, cut and shape by hand or you prefer to use a pasta rolling machine or an electric extruder, the staff at America’s Test Kitchen share everything you need to know to make fresh, from-scratch pasta. They’ll introduce you to four master pasta doughs– along with flavor variations on each. You’ll find foolproof methods for shaping, cooking, saucing, and serving your handmade pasta to perfection.

 

The Pasta Queen: A Just Gorgeous Cookbook: 100+ Recipes and Stories by Nadia Caterina Munno (2022)

TikTok star and beloved home cook Nadia Caterina Munno, a.k.a. The Pasta Queen, presents a cookbook of never-before-shared recipes featuring the signature pasta tips and tricks that are 100% authentic to Italian traditions-and just as gorgeous as you are.