We set the bar high for our small batch pasta.

From the beginning part of our mission, besides spreading carby goodness across the land was to do good as well. I chose to help those that are hungry in the US, specifically children. We do this in a couple of ways. We support National organizations like No Kid Hungry, and Feeding America as well as local food banks. It’s so humbling and rewarding to be able to do this.

If you bought pasta or a holiday gift basket from us this season you helped. That picture is Marie making a donation yesterday to the food pantry at Life Church to buy 1 ton of food! 2000 pounds of food will help several hundred families and is in great need after the holidays.

We want to thank you for not only supporting our tiny business at Valentino Pasta, but also for enabling us to help others. Together we are raising expectations on what a bowl of pasta should be, and what it can do. Mangia!

It was one year ago today I made the first post on this site. What a year it’s been! I started putting the idea together in October and  November 2011 and was ready to announce to the world on Dec 22, 2011. Little did I know it wouldn’t be until then end of April before our first batch of artisan pasta was ready to be sold. If I would’ve known that, I might not be typing this today.

I wanted to recap and remember a few things from this year and preserve them on the inter webs for all to see. So, here are a few things I did right

and a few things I did wrong this past year.

• I’m proud our company had a social mission from the beginning. By donating one meal for every pound of pasta we sell to help hungry kids in America we’re helping make a difference. As cliche as it sounds, it is sooo rewarding. It’s one of my favorite parts of this whole deal.
• I didn’t know how hard it was to make really good dry pasta. That one costs months of work and lots of $$$ to figure out. My trip to California really helped.
• I really like our logo. We used 99 Designs to run a contest for the logo design. While I had a vision of what I wanted the logo we ended up with is not what I was originally thinking. I sweat every detail, but the process was really fun. We get lots of compliments on it.
• My writing style was (sometimes still is) a bit over the top. What can I say, I think I’m funnier than I am sometimes. I go back and read a some of those early posts and shudder a bit.
• People really like our pasta!! Another one of my other favorite parts of this whole deal. At our price point it sometimes takes convincing  to get people to give Valentino Pasta a try. The majority come back. *cheesy grin*

I don’t want to make this too long, but those are some of the things that jumped out at me. Marie and I have met some amazing people because of this business. From people that help organize and run farmers markets, to food pantry volunteers, to vendors, retailers and customers. It’s been our pleasure to share some carby goodness with you this past year. It’s been a blast.

Thank you, and here’s to the future!

This is our go to red sauce these days. I like it because when it’s not cooked down for hours it shows off the flavor of the tomatoes and doesn’t have that heavy feel or taste. It also really compliments an artisan made pasta instead of hiding it under tons of garlic and spices. If you start with good quality San Marzano tomatoes, and remember Rule 1 and Rule 2 you’ll be eating great in no time flat!

Simple San Marzano Tomato Sauce

Ingredients:

• 1 lb Valentino Pasta
• 1 28 oz Can San Marzano Tomatoes
• 2 Cloves Garlic, Sliced
• 12 Fresh Basil Leaves, divided
• 1 Pinch Crushed Red Pepper, more to taste
• 1 tsp Salt
• ½ tsp of Sugar (optional)
• 4 Tbs EVO
• ½ Cup Pasta Water, As Needed
• ½ Cup Parmigiano Reggiano, Grated plus more for garnish

Directions:

1. Empty can of tomatoes in a bowl. Crush roughly with your hands. Add salt & 8 basil leaves & set aside.
2. Put 4 Tbs EVO in a large, high-sided skillet on medium heat.  Add garlic & crushed red pepper.  Sauté 2-3 minutes until golden. Add tomato mixture.  Bring to a simmer.
3. After sauce has simmered 10 minutes, drop your pasta into boiling, salted water.
4. When pasta is 1 minute short of al dente, drain it & add it to the sauce.
5. Finish cooking pasta in sauce for 1 minute, adding pasta water if it is too thick.
6. Cut the heat.  Add Parmigiano Reggiano.
7. Garnish with remaining chopped basil, more parm & EVOO.

Marie has outdone herself and come with a gift giving solution for almost everyone at almost any budget. Below are the basket contents and descriptions. They will be seasonally decorated and the basket may vary. Call us, email us valentinopasta at gmail dot com or on Facebook <-click.

   Piccolo $19

1 lb Valentino Pasta

½ Liter Premium Extra Virgin Olive Oil

28 oz Can San Marzano Tomatoes

1 Valentino Pasta Recipe Card

Seasonal Gift Basket & Wrapping

2 Meal Donations to feed hungry kids

   Medio $29

2 lbs Valentino Pasta

One  3 oz Tin of Flavored Valentino Pasta Sea Salt

½ Liter of Premium Extra Virgin Olive Oil

28 oz Can San Marzano Tomatoes

2 Valentino Pasta Recipes Cards

Seasonal Gift Basket & Wrapping

4 Meal Donations to feed hungry kids

   Grande $49         *Best Value

3 lbs Valentino Pasta (2 Traditional & 1 Whole Wheat)

Two 3 oz Tins of Flavored Valentino Pasta Sea Salts

½ Liter of Premium Extra Virgin Olive Oil

28 oz can San Marzano Tomatoes

Olive Oil Decanter

Pasta Spider/Skimmer

3 Valentino Pasta Recipes

Seasonal Gift Basket & Wrapping

6 Meal Donations to feed hungry kids

When you combine the carby goodness of Valentino Pasta with cheesy goodness you get magic. You get comfort. You get…I got it… You get carby cheesy awesomeness. Yes, that’s it. Carby. Cheesy. Awesomeness. You have been warned.

In a dish where the pasta can be an afterthought using an artisan pasta makes more difference than you may think. A good small batch pasta that has been extruded through brass dies and dried slowly will give a great chew and texture, as well as hold more cheese (bonus!). The pasta should be a part of the dish, not just a vehicle for cheese. That beats the blue box every time. Also the cheese can be a mixture of what you like.  There are some ideas of cheese mixtures and garnishes at the end of the recipe.

This recipe is super simple. We used lumache here, but ziti rigate would also be great, and fusilli gigante would be really great! Some was served plain, and some we garnished with bacon and mini whole wheat croutons. Enjoy!

Stove Top Mac and Cheese

1 lb Valentino Pasta- fusilli gigante, ziti, or lumache

12 oz  sharp cheddar cheese or a combo below

1 ¼ C half and half

3 Tbs butter

1tsp Valentino Pasta garlic salt

¼ tsp cayenne pepper

Splash of white wine (optional)

1. Drop your pasta in boiling salted water and cook til one minute short of al dente. Drain and return to pot.
2. Over low heat add all the rest of the ingredients and stir to combine. Cook at just at or below a simmer for 2-3 min. Cut the heat. If the sauce is too loose it will thicken after standing for a minute or so,
3. Serve straight up or with a garnish below.

Cheese Combo Ideas

8 oz cheddar, 4 oz Fontina or Monterrey jack

6 oz pepper jack, 6 oz mild cheddar

6 oz Fontina, 4 oz sharp provolone, 2 oz parm

Garnish Ideas

Bacon bits and mini croutons

Toasted panko breadcrumbs

Crispy prosciutto

*Crickets* So sorry for the lack of action here lately but it’s been crazy!! Machine problems etc have had us scrambling and unfortunately missing most of you! I’m happy to say we will be at the last two weeks of Glenwood Sunday Market, and hope to have the online store up in some capacity soon. I will also be working on a few new recipes for Fall.

If you are still there, stay tuned! Bueller?…Bueller?

I made these for two primary reasons-

1. I’m witty

2. To show some of the differences between artisan pasta and industrial stuff.

Yes, even in the small batch pasta world you usually get what you pay for. If you haven’t yet you should get some of the good stuff and see for yourself.

Hopefully we’ll do this more with other shapes. Thanks for reading!

We gave out copies of this recipe at a recent farmers market and quite a few people commented on how great it was. The ziti with all its rustic charm really lets you appreciate the carby goodness here. It’s also one of my favorite types of recipes for a good artisan pasta. It’s seasonal, simple, flavorful and lets the pasta shine. If you need to you can substitute regular zucchini for the heirloom variety.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb Valentino Pasta
• 1 – 2 Costata Romanesco (Heirloom Zucchini) Cut in 1/2 Inch Slices
• ½ Lb Herbed or Italian Sausage
• 1 Medium Red Onion, Sliced
• 2 Cloves Garlic, Sliced
• ½ Cup Parmigiano Reggiano, Grated
• 1 Pinch Crushed Red Pepper
• Salt & Pepper
• 4 Tbs EVO, Divided
• ½- 3/4  Cup Pasta Water, As Needed

Directions:

1. Put 3 Tbs EVO in a large, high-sided skillet on medium heat.  Add sausage, onion, & crushed red pepper.  Sauté until sausage is well browned & onion caramelized.  10-15 minutes.  Remove & set aside.
2. Drop your pasta into boiling, salted water.
3. Add remaining EVO & garlic.  Place heirloom zucchini in a single layer.  Season with salt & pepper.  Brown 4-5 minutes.  Reduce heat to medium low; add sausage & onion back to skillet.
4. When pasta is 1 minute short of al dente, drain it & add it with ¼ cup pasta water to the skillet.
5. Cut the heat.  Add Parm. Finish with EVO.

from sheeshoo on Flickr

So, if you’ve looked at the first post here, the Mission tab, or read one of my two (to date ) pasta interviews you will see that giving back and feeding hungry kids in America has been a part of this since the beginning. People have really responded to it. Just to be perfectly clear- Giving back will never be an excuse to sell sub par pasta, or get people to buy something they wouldn’t otherwise. Delicious artisan made pasta is and always will be our first priority. Small batch carby goodness for you… that’s why we are here! Feeding kids is a side product of that. Therefore if our product stinks we won’t help many people! It’s why I waited to have quite a few customers and some good reviews to tell anyone any specifics. That takes us to Rogers Park and the Glenwood Sunday Market…

We’ve felt so welcomed at Glenwood Sunday Market from Ann and Sheree, our fellow vendors, and the customers. It’s been a blast! We’ve really become attached to the neighborhood and the people in and around it. Marie said the other night she wanted to do something extra for the community in Rogers Park and I agreed. Through our Eat Pasta, Help a Kid program we will always donate 1 meal for every pound of pasta we sell to hungry or at risk kids in America. The extra is where our 1000 lb challenge comes in. As of this writing we have sold 562 lbs of pasta at the market and through direct referrals from the market. If we can sell 438 more pounds by the end of the August 26th market we will donate an extra 2000 lbs of food to people in Rogers Park! That means one ton of food will be given to people right in the community and that’s in addition to the 1000 meals we will donate otherwise.  St Ignatius Church food pantry serves an average of 925 people each month in Rogers Park. You can read more about them here. It would be really cool if we could do this!

Hopefully we’ll see you at the market.

We made this for a farmer’s market this past week, and it got good reviews so I thought I’d share the recipe. We used whole wheat pasta, but traditional would work just as well. I also think traditional pasta  stores better if you plan on making it a couple of days ahead or eating it over a few days. These are the vegetables we used, but it’s really up to what you like and what’s in season.

Ingredients

• 1 lb Valentino Pasta
• 3 Cups Seasonal Vegetables, Grilled & Chopped (we used zucchini, green beans & carrots)
• 1 Pint Grape Tomatoes, Halved
• 1 Bulb Kohlrabi, julienne

Roasted Garlic Sherry Vinaigrette:

• ½ Cup Garlic Oil
• 3 Tbs Olive Oil
• ¼ Cup Sherry Vinegar
• 2 Cloves Garlic, Roasted & Smashed
• 1 tsp Dijon Mustard
• 1 tsp Honey
• Salt & Pepper

Directions:

1. Mix vinaigrette & refrigerate.
2. Drop your pasta in salted boiling water.
3. Just before pasta is al dente, drain, rinse, & cool.
4. Add grilled, chopped vegetables.
5. Add kohlrabi & tomatoes.
6. Add vinaigrette.
7. Mix well & refrigerate 2 hours before serving.  BEST SERVED COLD.