Fancy Food Find: Pasta Chips
In the “Fancy Food Find” series, take a closer look at some of the treats on display at the 2015 Winter Fancy Food Show.
When seeking inspiration for the next big food idea, it often requires endless iterations in the kitchen until something sticks. Sometimes, however, the idea strikes like a bolt of lightning.
Such was the case when Jerry Bello was with his wife on vacation in Italy in 2011. At a restaurant in Tuscany, the server surprised Bello with “chips” instead of the usual bread/olive oil/vinegar combo. These “chips” were in fact offcuts of fresh pasta dough left after making ravioli, becoming addictive once baked and drizzled with olive oil and sea salt. With that, Pasta Chips were born.
Bello is no stranger to snack food success. With Veggie Straws, Pita Bites, and Sensible Portions already under his belt, it was only a matter of time before he dreamed up the next big snack. Pasta Chips took about a year of development to get the texture right—“rigid enough to hold a dip but not like hard dried pasta”—and find the right balance of durum semolina and Italian herbs.
Each flavor is based on a regional Italian favorite: pungent Garlic Olive Oil (Aglio e Olio); mildly cheesy, buttery Alfredo; tangy Marinara evoking the pizza hot-spot of Naples; savory Spicy Tomato Herb (Fra Diavolo); and humble Mediterranean Sea Salt (Sale de Mare) paying tribute to the largest salt flat in Europe found in Puglia. As a vampire’s worst nightmare, I found the Garlic and Olive Oil chips to be right up my alley with their bold garlic salt intensity (you may want to keep some TicTacs handy, however). The Mediterranean Sea Salt chips—the plainest of the bunch—are also addictive for their simplicity and easy pairing with other foods (hummus, fruit, cheese, and charcuterie are the first to come to mind).
If you’re not in the mood to cook yourself a whole plate of pasta, Pasta Chips might be the next best substitute.