Pasta di Solazzi’s fragrant creamy tarragon sauce over their fresh conchiglie
Fresh noodles are a gift unto the world. There’s nothing wrong with dried pasta — my husband thinks it’s one of civilization’s best culinary conveniences, and it’s hard to disagree. But the fresh stuff’s something special. It has a certain texture when it’s bitten into that’s yielding but substantial in a way that’s just lovely. It is possible to get something of the same texture in higher-end dried pasta, the kind with a rough, no-gloss exterior.
But Pasta di Solazzi didn’t return from 20 years of hiatus to screw around. Gina Solazzi and Gregg Braha first opened their Italian joint in 1982, maintaining it over 19 years and across multiple relocations. Now, they’re back, operating as a ghost kitchen from Picnic Basket Catering on Eighth Street, offering pickup and limited deliveries of a small menu that’s reminiscent of a high-end Italian deli. (Worth noting, their products are also on a few retail shelves in town.) Solazzi, Braha and their eldest daughter, Alex, sell a small menu of fresh pastas and sauces, plus mini cannoli and their once-legendary cheese torte.
We place a simple online order: two bags of pasta, or a total of eight servings; two 1-pint tubs of their sauces; an order of six mini cannoli; and a six- to eight-serving cheese torte. For this, we pay almost $90 — not cheap. But that cheese torte is $30 on its own, and what we’ve ordered gives us multiple full meals with the addition of some good bread and wine. Our bags of fusilli and conchiglie come with clear use-by dates and cooking instructions, but our sauces do not, so in the interest of greater-than-necessary disclosure, here’s how we chose to prepare things: We warmed the sauce in a pan, then added an ounce or two of the water we’d boiled the pasta in, then added the pasta and gave everything a minute to get to know each other. Some people may heat the sauce and put it over the pasta, some may use it cold, and while we’re not interested in policing private pasta prerogatives, varying methods mean varying results.
We pair the fusilli with Pasta di Solazzi’s porcini e funghi sauce, which has sliced baby portobello mushrooms, dried bits of porcini mushroom, garlic, scallions, olive oil, thyme and vegetable stock and proves a vegan delight (though the pasta isn’t vegan). We’ve said time and again that simple things done well are a pleasure, and this sauce is no exception. There’s a real depth from the vegetable broth and a nice hit of garlic and thyme, and that mushroom savoriness makes our mouths water.
As for the conchiglie, we pair that with creamy tarragon sauce, which is tomato-based. From the moment we open the container, it fills the room with fresh herb aroma. It tastes fresh and fragrant, sure, but the balance of flavors works out such that it’s one of the best balanced red pasta sauces we’ve had in some time. Cooked-clear onions add savoriness, the tomato base isn’t too acidic, there’s a little sweetness and that tarragon puts it over the top. We have it in our heads that this sauce would make meatballs or Italian sausage really special, too, for those who want meat with their meal.
We quickly learn why the cheese torte was legendary in Pasta di Solazzi’s first run. This heavy block consists of sliced provolone wrapped and layered with basil pesto, sun-dried tomato pesto and a ricotta-thick garlic cream. It makes us think of keto-friendly lasagna, and its rich, intense tomato-basil-garlic combo delights on its own or on good bread. We picture it as a ready-made shareable appetizer, and it’s a few crackers and salami slices shy of a charcuterie board. Sliced and broiled atop bread, it’s even better. Sure, those mini cannoli tick every box cannoli need to tick, but the cheese torte leaves a lasting impression we’ve yet to shake. Hell, we even get a lagniappe in the form of two packaged amaretti cookies and wearable buttons with dopamine molecules on them.
Pasta di Solazzi undoubtedly makes a great source for fresh pasta and sauce. We’re certainly looking forward to seeing cheese tortes and fresh pasta make appearances at dinner parties when this whole COVID thing finally blows over.
The Link LonkFebruary 24, 2021 at 03:15PM
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Pasta di Solazzi impresses, with some assembly required - Colorado Springs Independent
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