Danny Freeman Shares Spinach Pasta Recipe 

<div class="block">Danny Freeman, author and cook, joined Cheddar News to talk about his rise to social media stardom and to share some tips on making the best pasta dishes.</div>

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Guys, you probably see Danny Freeman's colorful pasta creations over on tiktok. That's where he posts at. Danny Loves pasta and now he has his own cookbook with the same name. You see it right there and he's here in our studio to upgrade our pasta making skills. Danny, good morning. Good to have you. Thank you. Thank you for having me. So interesting about you. No culinary background whatsoever. You used to practice law before. So how did you wind up with over a million followers and now a new cookbook and teaching us now on national television, how to make pasta, right? I was a lawyer for 10 years doing something very different, but I come from a family of cooks. My mother, my father, my grandmother, aunts and uncles are all amazing cooks. Uh And after my grandmother passed away a few years ago, I really got into pasta making as a way to carry on her legacy and just feel kind of close to her. And um I had a daughter at the time so it was uh just a way to bring all my family together. A lot of changes. But you also brought some spinach pasta dough to show us. So it looks so good. Take us to the recipe. Yeah. So this is all um spinach pasta dough that I made fresh pasta dough. I always use different vegetables or herbs or spices to add the color. All natural ingredients, things like red peppers, turmeric beef. This is spinach pasta dough. I started making some into some bow tie shapes. It's a really simple shape to make, it's fun. Um It's a great shape for kids. So, all right. So anyone Danny who might be a little bit nervous about me too for the first time because it seems like it's sort of a labor intensive process. What's your biggest piece of advice? It's not as intimidating, intimidating. I promise, I promise you can do it. You can start simple with just flour and eggs. You can put in a food processor, mix it all together, you have the dough in five minutes, uh roll it out and I just love how you've created these little green bow ties here. This is a very simple shape. You just kind of pinch it in the middle and you get a cute little bow tie that to our camera also really quickly because I think it's so interesting. So you literally just have like this, this little flat street. And how do you sort of, I just cut these into rectangles and you just give it a P fold in a pinch right in the middle. I have, you have about a minute. But if, if, if your dough is too dry or too wet or you just mess up. Do you start over? What do you do? You can always fix it. Spray in a little bit of water. Ok. Flour. It's very easy to fix. And you actually brought some pasta for me and baker. Yes. What are we eating here? Pasta salad? It's very easy to make. you just throw whatever vegetables you have. I got a little vinaigrette here. Very simple, very good. I got some tomatoes, onions, cucumber, a little Parmesan cheese and a nice lemon vinaigrette. How long did this take you to make? This is simple. Oh my gosh. This you could throw together on a week night. Uh add whatever you have in the fridge. Throw with the pasta. You, you're known for your creative pasta shapes, including cartoon characters as ravioli as well. How long is it gonna take to put one of these together? Well, I started with this after my daughter was born. So everything I did I had to do her nap time. So it was like a, you know, like an hour sprint. So I learned to make it very fast. Uh You know, I only make a couple for her. My daughter's only two. So we don't need a whole platter of cartoon ravioli. One or two will do. So it does not take that. And does your daughter have a favorite so far. Uh, she loves Peppa pig and we have 20 seconds. How do people get their hands on your book? You can get the book, Danny loves Pasta. Now, wherever books are sold online at your local bookstore. It just came out yesterday. All right. Yeah, I'm gonna finish eating this. Thank you so much to Danny. This is delicious. Love having you available now, learn how to make more incredible dishes just like this.