Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, July 18, 1990 TAG: 9007180217
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: E-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: CHARLOTTESVILLE LENGTH: Long
The matriarch of the pasta-making mother-daughter duo, Fran is the kind of cook who prefers the term spaghetti to pasta. She also prefers old-style Italian dishes like lasagna to fettuccine Alfredo.
But is Fran the gourmet of the family? "Nah, not really," her daughter Mary Ann whispers. "But it's kinda like a secret. We try not to make a big deal out of it."
No matter. As both Valentes are fond of saying, "When people tell us they can't cook, we just say, `Well, you can boil water, can't you?' "
Fran Valente can definitely boil water. And she can definitely mix up a batch of silky smooth pasta in flavors that will send your carbohydrate cravings into overdrive: red pepper, black pepper, garlic-parsley and lemon.
Since 1982, when everyone still called it spaghetti, she's been peddling her homemade pasta - first at the local farmers' market, then in a Charlottesville gourmet shop, and then big-time: Kroger.
Now, Pasta By Valente is sold in dozens of restaurants and grocery stores from New York to Texas. In this area, it's available at the Roanoke Natural Foods Co-op and in Blacksburg at the Old Man of the Sea seafood and gourmet shop. (Retail price runs from $2.50 to $3 per 12-ounce package.)
The Valentes will tell you - in a very direct, very Italian way - why you should eat their pasta. "All of our pasta is salt free . . . because you don't need salt," Mary Ann says, wiping flour-dusted hands on her white apron. "And our vegetable pasta is cholesterol-free . . . because you don't need cholesterol."
And they will tell you - no, force you to believe - that Pasta by Valente out-tastes them all.
"This stuff's a lot like cocaine - you get addicted, it's expensive, you have to have it," Mary Ann deadpans.
"Yeah, it's habit-forming," says Fran. "Once it's in your diet, it stays there."
How did this family run-mini-factory come to be? Depends on which family member you ask.
Mary Ann tells the story this way: "It was her idea," she says, motioning her head toward the next room where her mother is busy with paper work. "I tried to talk her out of it.
"See, she was in a car accident about eight years ago 4 1 PASTA Pasta and broke her foot." With limited mobility, Fran hand-cranked her table-top pasta-maker into a full-fledged hobby, and then a full-time business. But the family was skeptical at first.
"She'd been into stained-glass windows for a while," Mary Ann says. "And then she had a book store. You know the type. We just thought it was another one of her big projects."
Fran's husband, Tony, tells the story like this: "As my mother used to say, `Seven daughters, and my Irish daughter-in-law has to make the pasta.'
"She learned pasta from my mother," he says of the recipe Fran adapted to create rotini, fettucine and linguine in almost every color of the rainbow. "It was supposed to be a small mom-and-pop business."
Fran puts the story in a more . . . let's see . . . reflective light.
"It hit the fan," she says of the business that started out in the sewing room of her three-bedroom house.
"People just kept calling and asking us to send more pasta. The orders were creeping up the stairs of the house. I was considering annexing the living room."
When the grocery chains beckoned, the Valentes knew it was time to move out of the house and into some industrial space. Loans to pay for things like 40-gallon dough-extruder machines came next.
And then heavy-duty multiplication. Recipes went from a few pounds of semolina flour and some eggs, to 100 pounds of flour and 16 dozen eggs. The Valentes figured that vegetable pastas should measure out to one part pureed vegetable (using beets, carrots and spinach - and any other veggie that's pureeable) to three parts flour.
At last count, the Valentes and their half-dozen employees were churning out 2,000 pounds of the stuff a week. During a recent afternoon visit, scores of drying racks were full of hanging pasta. Low-tech box fans were placed inches away to facilitate overnight drying.
Most weekdays, Fran comes in at 7 a.m. to get the production process rolling, grabbing 40-pound buckets of pureed garlic and 25-pound bags of flour. While one crew is busy operating the machines that mix, roll and cut the dough, another group packages the dried pasta from yesterday's batch.
A few hours later, Mary Ann comes in to oversee the operation, while Fran deals with clients and distributors. "We work very well together," Fran says. "When we're working, we're Mary Ann and Fran; I'm not Mom. Whatever she says goes."
Even if it means letting Mary Ann flaunt her cooking skills. A former sous-chef in several restaurants here, Mary Ann has created a batch of recipes, a sample of which is included with each outgoing package of Pasta by Valente.
Here are a few of her works:
Ham and Peas with Creamy Vinaigrette
1 10-ounce package frozen peas, defrosted
2 cups chopped ham
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/4 pound chopped Muenster cheese
12 ounces pasta
For the creamy vinaigrette:
1 cup vegetable oil or 1 cup olive oil
1 egg
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon each of salt, pepper and garlic
1 tablespoon dried parsley or 2 tablespoons fresh parsley
In a bowl crack egg and beat in oil slowly until creamy. Add vinegar gradually and spices. Cook pasta in salted boiling water. Rinse in cold water. Mix with vinaigrette and toss in remaining ingredients. Serves 6.
Red Pepper Fettuccine with Smoked Trout
12 ounces red pepper pasta
1 1/2 cups whipping cream
2 teaspoons horseradish
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 whole smoked trout
Cook pasta in salted boiling water, rinse and reserve. Bone and skin trout, discarding the head, skin, fins and bones. In a non-stick saute pan, reduce cream, cooking on medium heat for 5 minutes. Stir in horseradish and pepper. Flake in trout meat and toss with pasta. Serve immediately. Serves 6.
Pasta with Shrimp Marinara
12 ounces pasta
3/4 pound medium shrimp
1 24-ounce can of tomatoes
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon parsley
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 medium onion chopped
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
Cook and peel shrimp (reserve in refrigerator). Saute chopped onions until clear, add tomatoes, seasoning, salt and pepper to taste. Cover and cook for 25 minutes. Cook pasta as directed on package. Add shrimp to sauce and cook 5 minutes more. To serve, pour sauce over pasta and garnish with Parmesan. Serves 4.
Greek Pasta Salad
12 ounces pasta
1/2 pound crumbled feta cheese
3/4 pound peeled, deveined and cooked shrimp
2 large tomatoes, chopped, or 28-ounce can whole tomatoes, chopped
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 clove garlic minced or 1 teaspoon garlic powder
2 tablespoons dried basil and oregano
Salt and pepper to taste
Cook pasta according to directions on package and rinse thoroughly with cold water. Toss with shrimp, feat and tomatoes. Combine oil and vinegar and season with herbs, garlic and salt and pepper. Add to pasta mixture and toss well. Refrigerate and serve.
Lemon Vinaigrette for Pasta
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon vinegar
3 tablespoons salad oil
Juice of one lemon
In a small bowl, mix the salt, pepper, mustard and vinegar. Then blend in the oil and the lemon.
Cook 12 ounces of pasta, and after it's chilled, add in the vinaigrette. The Valentes recommend tossing in some cubed, cooked ham and cheddar cheese, along with some chopped broccoli.
by CNB