Skip to main content

Smoke and Mirrors Hand-Rolled Pasta #YouAreNotAloneParty #Sponsored

 This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of authors Greer Hendricks & Sarah Pekkanen and publisher St. Martin's Press. I received a complimentary book for the purpose of review, but all opinions are honest and they are my own. No additional compensation for this post was provided; this page may contain affiliate links.

This week I am excited to be taking part in a virtual book release party for You Are Not Alone by Greer Hendricks & Sarah Pekkanen* hosted by The Book Club Cookbook. The hardcover book was released last year, but it coming out in paperback this week. I received an advance copy to enjoy and be inspired into the kitchen to create a dish.

You can see the party page! You may also search for the hashtag #YouAreNotAloneParty on social media to find the posts. But to make it easy, I'm also linking to my fellow bloggers'; I will add their direct posts once everyone is live. Please take a look...

The #YouAreNotAloneParty Recipes 
The Book Blondie
The Book Cook NYC
Books and Bites Roc
Smoke and Mirrors Hand-Rolled Pasta by Culinary Adventures with Camilla
Chicken Hummus by A Day in the Life on the Farm
Herby Feta  Dip by Kahakai Kitchen
Living My Best Book Life
Falafel with Tahini Sauce by The Book Club Cookbook

On the Page

So, I'll start with this: I was completely unfamiliar with the works of Hendricks and Pekkanen; also, I guess I'm not much into the thriller genre. I used to be...when I was a teenager and into my early 20s.

The premise sounded interesting. From the book jacket...

You probably know someone like Shay Miller.
She wants to find love, but it eludes her.
She wants to be fulfilled, but her job is a dead end.
She wants to belong, but her life is so isolated.
 
You probably don’t know anyone like the Moore sisters.
They have an unbreakable circle of friends.
They live the most glamorous life.
They always get what they desire.
 
Shay thinks she wants their life.
But what they really want is hers.

But clique-y women make me twitch which is probably because I was never part of the clique! From the get-go, these picture perfect women gave me the creeps and - without spoiling the fun - rightly so. Still I found myself vacillating between rooting for Shay and inwardly screaming at her for making ridiculous decisions. I will, however, call the book a success in the sense that I felt the characters were real enough to merit such a visceral reaction from me.

In the Bowl

Without giving away too much, the clique leaders were experts at creating an illusion, veritable masters of smoke and mirrors. That got me thinking about using smoked paprika in a dish. And characterizing Shay as being in hot water for most of book had me pondering poaching or boiling something. I landed on homemade smoked paprika pasta with a spicy meat sauce.

Ingredients serves 6 to 8

  • 200 grams semolina flour plus more for rolling
  • 150 grams pasta flour plus more for rolling
  • 2 ounces pepper puree or sauce
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 Tablespoon smoked paprika
  • Also  needed: rolling pin, olive oil, pasta sauce for serving, hard cheese for serving

Procedure

Place all of the dry ingredients medium mixing bowl. Add the wet ingredients. Whisk until it comes together in a shaggy ball. Turn the dough onto a floured cutting board and knead until smooth and elastic, approximately 5 minutes. 


Wrap the dough in plastic and let rest for, at least, 30 minutes at room temperature.

Once the dough has rested, slice your dough ball into quarters. Cover the portions you aren't rolling. Turn the rested dough out onto a lightly dusted board and roll out as thinly as you can. I found that rolling it into a long rectangle make the most even strips.

Once the pasta dough is as thin as you can get it, starting at one (short) end of the rectangle, roll the dough into a cylinder.

With a sharp knife, hand cut the roll into pieces whose width is the width you want for your pasta. I went with a wide fettuccine. 

Carefully unroll the strips and lightly dust them with semolina flour. Set aside until you are ready to cook them. 

To  cook, bring water to a boil and lower in your pasta in batches, as needed. They will cook in about 3 minutes.


Place drained pasta in a large mixing bowl and drizzle with olive oil to keep them from sticking to each other. Serve hot, topped with your favorite pasta sauce. Allow diners to grate cheese over the top of their own individual bowls.


Many Thanks...
To the Publisher, St. Martin's Press, on Twitter
To Greer Hendricks on Facebook, on Instagram, on Twitter
To Sarah Pekkanen on Facebook, on Instagram, on Twitter
To the Book Club Cookbook on Facebook, on Twitter, on Instagram, on Pinterest

*This blog currently has a partnership with Amazon.com in their affiliate program, which gives me a small percentage of sales if you buy a product through a link on my blog. It doesn't cost you anything more. If you are uncomfortable with this, feel free to go directly to Amazon.com and search for the item of your choice.

I have also added this to #FoodieReads.
Click to see what everyone else read in January 2021: here.

Comments

  1. I LOVE the recipe inspired by this book....Smoke and Mirrors....perfect!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Wendy. I can't wait to see what you're posting.

      Delete
  2. You pasta looks delicious and I love the clever name!. I liked the book but I am a fan of the genre--though I did spend time yelling in my head at Shay! ;-)

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Connecticut Lobster Rolls, Canned Lobster Bisque, and a 2019 Henry Fessy 'Maître Bonhome' Viré-Clessé #Winophiles

This month the French Winophiles group is looking at affordable wines from Burgundy.  Host Cindy of Grape Experiences wrote: "Burgundy, or Bourgogne, is known for its wines of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir... as well as Aligote, Gamay, Sauvignon, César, Pinot Beurot, Sacy, Melon in lesser quantities. Many of the well-known wines are quite expensive, but there are plenty of values to be found." Read her invitation here. And there won't be a Twitter chat for this event, so you will have to dive into the articles themselves to read about our pairings and findings. Here's the line-up... Wendy Klik from A Day in the Life on the Farm enjoys Domaine Chevillon Chezeaux Bourgogne Hautes Cotes de Nuits, 2018 Paired with a Maple Pecan Chicken . Camilla Mann from Culinary Adventures with Camilla shares her love of Connecticut Lobster Rolls, Canned Lobster Bisque, and a 2019 Henry Fessy 'Maître Bonhome' Viré-Clessé. Jeff Burrows of FoodWineClick! explains why we should Look t

Meyer Lemon Custard-Filled Matcha Turtles #BreadBakers

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. You can see all our of lovely bread by following our  Pinterest board  right here. Links are also updated after each event on the  Bread Bakers home page .  We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient. This month Stacy of Food Lust People Love  is hosting and she wrote: "Your bread can be large, as in one big animal, or small - animal-shaped rolls. Use your imagination! Points for flavor and shape!" If you are a food blogger and would like to join us, just send an email with your blog URL to Stacy at foodlustpeoplelove@gmail.com. Here's the animal-shaped bread basket from the #BreadBakers... Beef and Sweet Onion Dim Sum Pandas from Karen's Kitchen Stories Bird Bread Rolls from Ambrosia Easter Bunny Buns from Cook with Renu Ham and Cheese Elephant Rolls from Food Lust People Love Hedgehog Bread from Making Mir

Homemade Lorna Doone Cookies #SundayFunday

Today the Sunday Funday group is celebrating childhood favorites. Thanks to Stacy of  Food Lust People Love , Sue of  Palatable Pastime , Rebekah of  Making Miracles , and Wendy of  A Day in the Life on the Farm  for coordinating this low-stress group. Today Stacy is hosting and she's given us the following prompt: "Childhood favorites. Did you have a favorite dish growing up? It could be something your family cooked or a restaurant dish, even a Chef Boyardee canned good or packaged ingredients like Rice-a Roni or mac and cheese. Recreate THAT dish from SCRATCH for this event."  Here's the #SundayFunday childhood favorites line-up... Chili Mac from A Day in the Life on the Farm Ham and Mushroom Breakfast Burritos from Making Miracles Homemade Lorna Doone Cookies from Culinary Adventures with Camilla Homemade Wonder Bread from Karen's Kitchen Stories K-Mart Sub Sandwiches from Palatable Pastime Kempakki Dosa from Sizzling Tastebuds Meat Chilly Fry by Sn