New Gluten Free Pastas and Squid Ink Pastas and more at chefshop.com/enews EXCLUSIVE SUBSCRIBER 5% OFF CODE pasta  Recipes | Chef's Pantries | Shop for Food & Ingredients | Food Blog Pasta is Personal “Everything you see I owe to Spaghetti”—Sophia Loren Let’s face it, we love great shapes! And we swear one shape is better than another, with favorites kept in our minds in an orderly list. Kids love wagon wheels and elbow macaroni. And you couscous lovers who swear they will never eat pasta, I got news for you, couscous is pasta! Now, logic applied, it doesn't quite make sense that you could love one shape over another, as a fact all pasta share one ingredient, aqua/H2O, you know, water. That’s one of two, and the second one is a grain. Not a lot of variation there to make such highly pointed opinions! That being said, we do know that there is a true art form to making both dried and fresh pasta. Technique is not a given, with skill & lots of practice (along with a good teacher) and more practice, one can hope to achieve excellence. So, then how important are the water and the grains? Perhaps extremely important. Like Panettone, the water is often considered, in order to achieve the “families” unique flavor, critical. Clearly, Ca, Mg, even U & Na in the water, can all make a distinct effect on the final result. And then there is the grain. Most pastas are made with Semolina, the coarse middlings of a grain, most often listed with Durum Wheat, but some are also from rice, corn and other wheats like Khorasan. It’s these two, water & grain, elements, combined, that successfully create an amazingly varied pasta taste! And this is why there are such strong opinions about one pasta over another. Indeed, pastas do taste differently, sometimes significantly, and sometimes not so much. When the Semolina is different, then you can taste a significant change. Now, not all pastas have just two ingredients. We have 3 new pastas, one for carnivores with squid ink (not from a squid, read below), and 2 gluten free shapes with corn & rice combined to make some truly special pasta. Read on as we talk about our favorite shapes to come! Click here to see the pasta aisle. 1) Penne Rigate Pasta GF A magical combination of corn and rice flour gives this robust pasta a great bite and flavor. In the world of GF, getting a pasta that cooks right without meticulous attention to cooking times and doesn't fall apart is hard to do. And this familiar shape of penne means you can create tuna pasta tapenade again! We spend a lot of time looking for the very best GF products that aren't just free of gluten, but taste great, act great and are heavenly! Shop now for GF Penne Rigate 2) Caserecce GF Pasta This GF Italian pasta made of corn flour and rice flour with H20 is one great pasta! Cook it and eat. Can't get much better than that! Caserecce means "home made". A flat noodle folded & twisted to make the shape. It's got a good bite with the double layer of pasta. Think a robust seafood sauce and your good to go. Shop now for Caserecce Italian Pasta 3) Squid Ink Spaghetti Pasta for Carnivores. This pasta has the ink of the cuttlefish, a member of the same family as squids. This expelled liquid makes the pasta black in color and adds a unique flavor. Not an overpowering note, the deep color looks great on the plate and a nice background for a colorful sauce. Gorgeous is hardly a reason to pick a pasta... or is it? Shop now for Black Pasta! 4) Maestri Pastai Fusilli Napoletana Lunghi pasta has to be one of my all time favorite "shapes". The rough texture acts like little ailerons grabbing not only a big meaty sauce, but also captures the essence of subtle flavorful olive oils like Katz's Meyer Lemon, tossed with toasted garlic, a little sprinkle of pepper & salt, and a simple but glorious result! Shop now for Fusilli! 5) Organic Kamut Chiocciole Shaped like a 45 degree elbow bend with a smooshed end it's a pasta that has a good bite with a bouncy feel in the mouth. Using organic Kamut Khorasan wheat semolina, this pasta has one of the best "bites" of any pasta we have ever had. I like this with a red sauce with mushrooms, bell peppers, garlic and ground beef. It seems to match just right with every bite just a little different. Shop now for Chiocciole Kamut Pasta 6) Katz Meyer Lemon Olive Oil This wonderful lemon crushed olive oil is perfect year round. But right now, drizzling the first of the sweet asparagus is a match made in heaven. Or any of the wonderful fresh spring greens! Combined simply with salt & pepper it seems to be able to take any white fish to new heights and it reminds you why you like to eat. Shop now for Meyer Lemon Olive Oil 7) Early Spring Parm Parmigiano-Reggiano. Did you miss the last cut? Good news the next one is here. Early Spring, March 2013, will make this a 36 month old, full of tyrosine (the crunchy bits), cheese head. I love the spring cheese. Full of the first floral notes and combined with a bit of winter hay it might just be the best. Either way, if you're out, then you need more! Order up as always it's limited. Shop now for Parmigiano-Reggiano now! 8) DOP San Marzano Tomatoes Canned tomatoes from Italy, grown in Italy, can be way better than those that are grown elsewhere. These San Marzanos are the most wonderful tomatoes to make a glorious pasta sauce. Not full of bitterness or toughness of an unripe tomato, or overly flavorful of a bad tomato, these, with the canning process, come alive with the sweetness that you want. Shop now for Rega Rega DOP San Marzano Tomatoes!   Just-In - Spring into Cooking Classes Pickles are back-in-stock! Come in and sample them! Like all artisan products, every batch is different and better too! Cooking the Spring Farmer's Market Class This is the time of year that the Farmer's Market is just beginning to produce fresh, young fruits and vegetables - giving us hints about the abundance of early summer in the Pacific Northwest. Learn how to combine some of those lovely and delicious summer crops, with some fine pantry staples, to fill your families spring table. List of Recipes: Lemon-thyme Spring Crostini, Beluga Lentil Salad with Smoky Blue Cheese Saute of Kale, Spring Vegetables and Flageolet Beans Chickpea Salad with Einkorn, Arugula and Chive Dressing.   This Weeks Recipes Pasta with Broccoli, Gorgonzola and Walnuts Pasta Easy to make with just a few ingredients you get a great meal! Squid Ink Pasta Recipe Another simple recipe to make. A classic "fruits-of-the-sea" dish! You can use any pasta, but add a squid ink and it completes the dish. Avocado, Arugula, Pesto and Parmigiano-Reggiano Recipe Take advantage as the California Haas Avocados arrive in the market and make this scrumptious dish. See what you missed in previous Newsletters Do You Know Grissini? Cocoa Cakes, Diabetes Fighter Pasta Ala Carbonara Video Recipe Rare Ivy Honey - From Tuscany ChefShop.com Toll-free: 1-800-596-0885 You've received this email because you have purchased from us or subscribed. We respect your privacy online, and will never share your email address. Help | Contact | About | Terms | Privacy Policy | Search | My Account DESIGN: JODI LUBY & COMPANY, INC. NEW YORK CITY, NY; EMAIL STRATEGY: CRM Group USA, SEATTLE, WA