Delicious Severino Pasta

Gail planned a yummy pasta dinner for tonight. As we went through our weekend drive-about, we found ourselves augmenting the plan with a new EVOO, a nice grating cheese, and a special loaf of bread. Regular pasta wouldn't do. So we went to Whole Foods and picked up a package of Severino pasta. The label called the shape Mafaldine, but that doesn't mean much.  It looks like lasagna sheets where someone took out most of the flat part in the middle.  Cool look, but the flavor was truly wonderful. This had all the fullness of homemade fresh pasta. It's a difficult flavor to describe, but imagine a little egg, a little bread, possibly a little mushroom. Everything was delicious, but the pasta was the clear star.

Vegan Fettuccine Alfredo

Noele has been extending her vegetarian repertoire with some great vegan recipes. She shared a vegan fettuccine Alfredo recipe with us that she really enjoyed. We weren't able to find the raw cashews, so we substituted the walnuts we had.

Ours didn't come out tasting like Alfredo, but it did taste good, more like carbonara. I think you can see in the picture how the nuts didn't chop into a butter like I think the cashews will. We bought some raw cashews today and will try it again soon.

We put the sauce on a fun, flower shaped pasta. It is called Primule Mediterranee from Pasta Di Stigliano. Gail also sauteed a vegetable mix of celery, zucchini and tomatoes that was really wonderful.
Vegan Alfredo Sauce
Makes 2 c sauce

½ c plus raw cashews
Salt and pepper to taste (1/16 t)
½ t ea onion and garlic powders
1 ½ c vegetable broth
2 T olive oil
1 ½ T cornstarch

1. Pulse nuts with seasonings in food processor.
2. Mix broth and oil in saucepan; temper in cornstarch. Stir into saucepan; bring to boil, stirring constantly. Reduce heat to a simmer; cook, stirring constantly, until thickened.
3. Pour thickened broth mixture into cashews; pulse to puree.
4. Serve over cooked fettuccine.

Valicenti Organico Pasta

Gail and I went to a farmer's market today and met David Valicenti one of the owners of Valicenti Organico. We were taken by the amazingly beautiful pastas. David gave us a sample of his Red Gravy, a tomato and basil sauce. It tasted as good as the pasta looked. We bough a package of Melanzane alla Sorenentina raviolis and are excited to try them later this week.

Fromaggio Kitchen has the Best Cheese

If you are in the area and want good cheese, there is no better place than Fromaggio Kitchen in Cambridge. Every time we go in we are overwhelmed with the selection. Thankfully, the staff is amazingly good at helping you find what you like, giving you all the tastings you need. Today we left with half a pyramid of goat cheese, a gooey sheep cheese, and a semi-hard Swiss cow with a crystal-crunch texture.

Beyond cheese, they have an equally amazing selection of pasta, oils, cured meats, wine & beer, honey, chocolates, pastries, fruits and vegetables. They have everything indulgent a foodie might love. Don't miss it.