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.