Christmas is fast approaching and the Pasta Ladies have been busier than “Santa’s elves” adding new food items to our menu to make your holiday festivities even more memorable. Here’s what’s in store this month.
Throughout the month of December Pasta Tavola will roll-out its holiday Italian pastries and sweets. The star of our sweets menu is our homemade cannoli. This Northern Italian treat known as “little tube” is an Italian pastry filled with a delicious ricotta cheese filling. Our version has a dash of orange zest and milk chocolate just for added taste and decadence. In addition to cannoli we welcome the return of our homemade ricotta cookies, Zia’s ginetti sweets and custard tarts—big hits with our customers around the holidays.
The Pasta Ladies are very excited to begin building its “La Piazza” market. This is a work in progress but our hope is to bring our customers a selection of high-quality, tasty products that not only make cooking easy and nutritious but also support the many local food producers we have met over the past year. We will continue to create homemade products under the “Pasta Tavola” label but we will also introduce other premium culinary fare to complement your Pasta Tavola meal.
In the market you will find homemade dips, olive oils and vinegars, gluten-free baked goods and more. The Pasta Ladies have been on the hunt for only the best products on the market to retail in our shop. Any products we sell have met with our own high-quality standards of excellence.
Over the past month we have added even more food options to our menu including convenient microwaveable meals and fresh salad greens and vinaigrettes. The variety of our ravioli products continues to expand with the addition of our Chicken and Sage ravioli, our Smoked Water Buffalo Scamorza ravioli and this month a Slow Roasted Tomato with Asiago Cheese ravioli. We are currently working on an oven-ready gourmet pizza that is made on a homemade gluten-free shell. In-store tastings will begin in the next few weeks—all details will be posted on facebook, twitter and at www.pastatavola.ca.
With the arrival of a new pasta machine, we will continue to add to the variety of fresh pastas offered in our shop. Watch for our own “mac & cheese” as well as a new spaghetti, pappardelle and rotini shape pasta.
One of our most exciting additions to the shop has been the introduction of authentic Italian and artisan cheeses. We have tasted such a variety of wonderful tasting local cheeses that we just had to share them with our customers in-store. Try artisanal sheep cheese from KendalVale farm in Newtonville Ontario or smoked water buffalo scamorza cheese made from milk from the Ontario Water Buffalo Company in Stirling. Tastings happen this Saturday in-store.
Have you planned your holiday meals, Christmas party or staff potluck? Pasta Tavola offers per person catered meals as well as “build your own dinner options” which allows you to choose only the dinner items you require. Choose from a variety of pasta trays including lasagnes, cannelloni, pasta bakes and chicken alfredo. Our trays feed 2 people to 25 people or more. Assorted bread trays, sweets, tossed salad trays and dips and spreads are also available to complete your meal. We’ll even have your trays heated and ready to serve! Order early to cross dinner planning off your busy holiday to-do list!
Here are our store hours during the holiday season:
December 24th – 10:00 a.m.to 3:00 p.m.
December 25-27th CLOSED
December 28-30- Regular Hours
December 31st – 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
January 1 &2 – CLOSED
January 3 – Open regular hours.
Finally, as we approach our 1 year anniversary we would like to thank all of our wonderful customers who have supported us. Thank you for spreading the word about our products. Our pasta shop continues to grow and evolve because of you. Have a safe and happy holiday season!
Mangia Bene. Eat Well.