Three Tasty Ways to Serve Our Italian Harvest Foglie d' Oliva Pasta

One of our very favorite pastas from Italian Harvest is Foglie D' Oliva. We love the olive leaf shape, and you have to taste this pasta to understand how very delicious it is!

This gourmet organic pasta is quite unusual, so we think it makes an excellent gift. Stock a bag or two in your vacation home as a nice surprise for guests, too.

Look at the beautiful olive leaf shapes! We find sauce tends to cling, wonderfully, to the pasta, making it extra delicious. Speaking of sauce, what is the best sauce to serve with this pasta? We have three suggestions for you!

This pasta is best when cooked slightly al dente. The package recommends a nine minute cooking time in boiling salted water, stirring every two minutes. Be sure to stir gently - the leaf shapes, especially towards the end of the cooking time, are a bit fragile.

Alfredo Sauce

Here's Foglie d' Oliva pasta with a nice creamy Alfredo sauce. It supports, but doesn't obscure, the natural flavor of the pasta. As you can see, it's not the best sauce for presentation - it looks a bit "gloppy" in the bowl. Perhaps some basil for garnish would help. I might serve this Alfredo pasta from a giant tureen my guests could serve themselves from, but I probably wouldn't "plate" the pasta ahead and bring out bowls to serve in front of guests.

Use your favorite supermarket Alfredo sauce, or make your own at home.

Pesto

Look how gorgeous Foglie d' Oliva looks with a nice green pesto sauce stirred in! I garnished it with a little freshly grated Parmesan, but thought basil leaves would be an unnecessary extra bit of green. Serve with your favorite grocery store pesto, or make your own classic pesto at home.

Basil Marinara

This is my personal hands down favorite flavor combination! I like the contrasting colors, as well. Garnish with grated Parmesan and several snips of fresh basil from your herb garden.

Make easy homemade marinara sauce or serve with your favorite grocery store jarred sauce.

Shop for Foglie d' Olivo and our other gourmet pastas from Italian Harvest at the Gilded Lily in downtown Wenatchee. Or pick up a package via our website!

A Most Colorful Spring Salad

What's our secret for dressing this beautiful colorful Spring salad without discoloring the tomatoes, carrots and delicate leaves?

We use White Balsamic Vinegar from Leonardo y Roberto's Gourmet Blends. Tangy and a little bit sweet, it gives your salad a little kick without obscuring the gorgeous colors. For the salad, we used yellow tomatoes, heirloom red spinach, butter lettuce, and heirloom carrots.

Find White Balsamic Vinegar in our gourmet food section, or buy it at our online store!

Gilded Lily's Balsamic Watermelon Feta Salad

We love serving this refreshing watermelon feta salad to guests at our outdoor summer dinner parties. The salty feta balances the sweet watermelon, the peppery arugula adds a little kick, and the balsamic vinegar adds a tasty tang. Adding fresh mint gives it that extra refreshing summery flavor. It's perfect as a side dish or appetizer salad. You can make it a couple hours before guests are due to arrive, plate it ahead of time, set over a bowl of ice, and then serve cold.

Start by scattering fresh arugula on a serving platter. If you want more flavor, begin by tossing the arugula in a tiny amount - half a teaspoonful - of Leonardo y Roberto Basil Olive Oil, then place the arugula on your serving platter. You don't want too much oil as the watermelon adds a lot of liquid to the salad as your guest eats it.

For a simple four-person appetizer salad, I used a miniature watermelon. ("Seedless," of course, but it does contain lots of little white seeds). I cut a flat part out of the bottom to help it stand up while I sliced the watermelon thinly (about an inch-and-a-half thickness to allow for bite sized cut pieces).

To add interest and flair to your salad, try cutting out fun shapes with your cookie cutters. I chose a star and round biscuit cutter for this salad today. Cut carefully so you maximize your watermelon. Save scraps and edges to make fresh Watermelon Margaritas. Plan on about eight to ten watermelon shapes per guest.

After cutting out all the shapes, gently pat them with a paper towel or dish towel to absorb some of the moisture on both sides. Place the watermelon shapes on top of the arugula, arranging them attractively.

Next I used a chef's squeeze bottle (actually just the cap) to drizzle our tasty Leonardo y Roberto balsamic vinegar oil on top of the watermelon.

I used Black Currant balsamic vinegar, but our other flavors (Pomegranate, Vanilla Fig, and Traditional) work just as well. Other recipes for watermelon salads call for you to take the time to make balsamic reductions, but our balsamic vinegars from Leonardo y Roberto are already thick and rich.

Finish by sprinkling feta and chopped mint leaves over your salad. Use tiny chopped feta for more flavor, or bigger chunks of feta for a more attractive presentation to show off your watermelon shapes.

You can customize your salad by adding thin slivers of red onion, chunks of peeled cucumber, goat cheese instead of feta, and chopped pistachios if you like.

Shop for Leonardo y Roberto and our other gourmet balsamic vinegars, olive oils and gourmet foods at the Gilded Lily in Wenatchee!

Colorful Rainbow Pasta Salad for Spring

Serve our colorful spring pasta salad at your next luncheon, brunch or as a side with your family dinner. Easy to make, and keeps in the refrigerator for 3 days.

INGREDIENTS:

Rainbow Bow Tie Pasta ("Farfalle Arcobaleno"), 8 Ounce Package, $12

• One bag of our Italian Harvest Rainbow Bow Ties pasta
  

• 1 ounce (1 package) of fresh basil, chopped, reserving a few ribbons for garnish
  

• 1 package grape tomatoes or cherry tomatoes (preferably yellow and orange if available)
  

• Good olive oil
  

• White balsamic vinegar (regular balsamic vinegar will work, but will discolor the pasta)
  

• 1 package (6 ounces) frozen peas
  

• 1/2 cup (or more, to your taste) grated mixed asiago, fontina and parmesan cheese (available at Top Foods or Fred Meyer)
  

• Salt and pepper to taste
  

RECIPE:

In a large pasta pot, boil lightly salted water to a gentle boil. Carefully add the entire bag of pasta. Bow tie pasta is delicate, so boil gently - no rolling boil. Follow package directions for boiling time, but for pasta salad I recommend boiling for one minute less so the pasta is firmer.

Immediately remove the pan from the heat and drain pasta. Run a bit of cold water over pasta to stop cooking, and gently fluff the pasta with your hands so it doesn't stick together. Set pasta aside to cool for twenty minutes or so.

While the pasta cools, cook frozen peas to their package's directions.

Slice cherry or grape tomatoes in half.

Chop basil or slice in ribbons as you prefer.

When pasta is cool, toss peas, basil, cheese and tomatoes into the pasta. Drizzle olive oil and white balsamic vinegar over the pasta til it's moist but not drenched. Toss through the pasta. (You can also make the vinaigrette ahead of time and stir it through).

Serve in a pretty bowl, then top with a sprinkling of cheese and basil ribbons as garnish.

Serve cold and enjoy!

Other delicious items you can add to your Spring Pasta Salad:

• Sliced hearts of palm
  

• Sliced green olives
  

• Asparagus, blanched for 2-3 minutes first
  

• Artichoke hearts
  

• Thinly sliced radishes
  

• Perlini mozzarella balls
  

Our other colorful pastas also work beautifully in a Spring Pasta Salad

Orecchiete "Little Ears" Pasta, $7

Capricci Mix Multicolor Pasta, $7.50

Shop at the Gilded Lily for these and our other gourmet foods for elegant spring entertaining!