If you're not on our e-mail subscriber lists, now might be a good time to hop aboard. We've begun sending The Pasta Shop's Weekly Menu to your e-mail inbox - and we're on a steady weekly schedule of e-mail newsletters from our online store. Maybe it won't interest you every week, but sometimes you'll get to read about new products like these two gems...
Seriously Nice People Making Serious Food - Part 2
A year ago, we highlighted a few of our producers who rose to the top, not only because their products were fantastic, but because they ran their business with a certain kindness and joy. Most of the people we come across in the food business fall into this category - nice people - but every now and again, we come across someone whose charm is impossible to resist.
Blue Chair Fruit Company Marmalades
The business of making jam is pretty sweet. Time spent slowly stirring a bubbling cauldron of fruit and sugar can bring out the sweetness - in the person and the fruit.
Meet Rachel. Rachel is the owner of Blue Chair Fruit Company based here in the Bay Area. Her marmalades are made, by hand, in these small French copper kettles with locally-grown, seasonal fruits. Rachel can be found on weekends at the local farmer's markets and she is nice enough to come into our stores to sample her products some afternoons. The patience and passion she stirs into her marmalades contributes to the finished product, of which we're HUGE fans.
Rachel makes a Bergamot Marmalade - a rare find that must be tasted. Sweet and tart with a loose texture, this sour orange marmalade has a tangy flavor. The "English" Marmalade is rightfully in quotations - it's a twist on the classic, made with bourbon and star anise. The flavor is intense and for those looking for a bitter marmalade, this is the one for you! The Lemon and Pink Grapefruit Marmalade is destined for your tea time. The thick-cut fruit gives all of its sweet and tart flavor to this new favorite.
Olio Verde al Limon Extra Virgin Olive Oil
His rhythmic name alone lends credence to his reputation as a collector and lover of fine antiquities - Gianfranco Becchina. A man whose passion for food runs parallel to his love of all things ancient, Gianfrancho has a gentle touch when it comes to his extra virgin olive oil.
His goal with this new product was to create balance and harmony between the peppery flavor of his olive oil and the sweet, high notes of the lemons from his Sicilian lemon trees. On any given day at the Becchina estate in Castelvetrano, Gianfrancho can be found in the kitchen with his daughters, cooking and entertaining the guests of their agriturismo. His charm and wit are only outlasted by his insatiable desire to please his guests.
We've been drizzling this gorgeous oil over roasted chicken (after it's out of the oven) with great results. The first asparagus of the spring, which are just poking through the soil, can soon be roasted and finished with a shower of Parmigiano Reggiano and a healthy pour of this oil. And our thoughts immediately turned to this zesty oil when we read Melissa Clark's recipe for Olive Oil Cake in this weekend's NY Times.
