Image: Samantha Mandato/Dupephotos.com
There are comfort foods, and then there’s pasta. It’s the dish that never fails, whether you’re winding down after a long day, cooking for family, or indulging in a guilty-pleasure midnight snack. But just when you thought there was nothing new left to learn about cheesy pasta bliss, All on the Table dropped an episode that might completely rewire your kitchen habits.
On All on the Table, host Katie Lee Biegel sat down with Danny Freeman—also known as Danny Loves Pasta—for precisely the kind of conversation you’d expect from a former lawyer who left the courtroom for a life filled with carb-filled creativity. Now a cookbook author and viral pasta maker, Freeman’s not interested in intimidating anyone or gatekeeping Italian traditions.
Instead, he’s explaining why Italians have been quietly eating their own version of mac and cheese for centuries—and how a few of his pasta hacks can transform your weeknight routine.
The cacio e pepe trick that actually works
Cacio e pepe translates to “cheese and pepper,” and it’s one of the simplest, most beloved Roman dishes. But don’t let the ingredient list fool you. As Biegel points out, “Sometimes people have trouble making it at home, like getting the cheese to melt and stabilize it. So, it does take a little bit of practice, even though it’s only a couple of ingredients.”
Freeman reveals a secret fix that purists may clutch their pearls at, but home cooks will thank him for: “If you have run into problems making cacio e pepe, you can add a little bit of cornstarch.” He suggested whisking a teaspoon into water to make a slurry, then adding it “with the cheese and the pasta and pasta water. It just stabilizes it.”
If done correctly, you will get a glossy, creamy finish instead of gritty clumps. It’s the upgrade any pasta lover would appreciate.
Lasagna soup proves one-pot pasta recipes can still be indulgent
Freeman doesn’t just stop at Italian mac and cheese. He’s constantly reimagining family favorites in approachable ways. Take his viral lasagna soup, which he describes as “basically a one-pot dish that has all of the lasagna flavors.”
Instead of layering pasta, cheese, and sauce in a pan, he explains, “you start by making a meat sauce. I add chicken broth to that and then add the broken-up lasagna noodles. Once the lasagna noodles are cooked and the sauce has thickened, I add mozzarella cheese and parmesan cheese and stir everything together.”
It’s comfort food without the architecture project, and sometimes, that’s precisely the kind of pasta recipe you need on a Tuesday night.
Why a knob of butter transforms any pasta recipe
Freeman also shared a tip that feels tailor-made for anyone who loves creamy pasta dishes: finish your sauces with butter. “I finish almost every pasta sauce. At the end, I put a little nub of butter in there. I do it with the pesto,” he explains.
The logic is simple: Butter makes the sauce silkier, helping it cling to pasta while rounding out flavors. For pasta lovers, this trick is a subtle but powerful upgrade—turning homemade sauce into something restaurant-worthy without adding extra steps.
As Biegel noted, butter “really helps stabilize the sauce, helps it stick.” And who wouldn’t want a glossy finish that coats every bite perfectly?
Perfect pesto pasta recipe with two minor tweaks
Another trick from Freeman involves keeping pesto bright and smooth. “When I’m combining it, I add a little knob of butter, and it melts as you’re mixing the pasta, and it kind of makes it a little bit creamy,” he says. “If I have time, I also blanch the basil before I add it to the pesto, so that helps the color too.”
These tweaks matter because the same principles apply to pasta dishes that require the ingredients to “stick.” Just as butter helps pesto cling, it can do the same for the cheese in your cacio e pepe. If blanching greens helps preserve vibrancy, imagine what a quick adjustment can do to keep your cheese sauce looking (and tasting) fresh.
Creating family-friendly pasta dishes doesn’t require a Michelin chef coming into your kitchen or countless hours sweating over a hot pot of water. With Freeman’s simple hacks, any night can be pasta night.
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