Back to School with Etto
Even more than kids longingly ache for the end of the school year and the start of summer break - parents with the same or more passion can't wait for the new school year to begin. Come on, you can admit it, and lately many of you have. I've commiserated with more than a few of you over the last couple of weeks. Sure, we all love our little rugrats but consider how many hours a day we get back when they return to school.
Back to school has taken on special significance for us at Etto. About a month ago our machines started whizzing away making more pasta than we'd ever made before to help feed your kids during their new school adventures. Napa Valley, Laguna Beach, Porterville are all new districts that have added our pasta to their lunch roster so far this year. What began as an experiment and pasta day for our kids' montessori school in Atascadero has started to become an avalanche of interest across the entire state of California. We are now providing pasta to nearly every public school within a hundred mile radius and even many more beyond like the aforementioned districts.
I've spent the last year visiting school food administrators, chefs, and cooks to understand how they prepare our pasta and what we can do to help them succeed. Along with Pasta Bar Chef Marc LeDuc, I've also helped cook school pasta recipes that are not only delicious but also very good for the kids. A recent example was a mac and cheese dish where carrot puree was used to give the cheese sauce a vibrant orange color and improve kids' vision simultaneously (not sure if that really works, but hey it sure tasted good).
If you have at least a six-minute attention span watch the video below to see how our own Paso Robles School District prepares our pasta for up to 3,000 kids. Even though I don't like seeing myself on video, I still found the shoot interesting. We are creating a series of videos to help other schools successfully cook Etto pasta, but some of you might like it too.
Since many of your kids can't get enough of our pasta we created a bundle with all the Etto shapes to keep your kids intrigued for a while. I found that when I cooked pasta for my kids when they were younger, rotating among different shapes was fun to alleviate a little palate fatigue. My girls even came up with their own names for different shapes like waterslides for casarecce and caterpillars for radiatore among others (anything to make dinner more fun, right?). Even though my girls are 20 now we still use these names.
The Complete Etto Pasta Collection — All 12 Shapes in One Box
$85.00
Etto is Hiring
It's that time of year where we look toward our busy Fall and Holiday season at Etto (Wow, that came quick). We are hiring some part time and seasonal folks to help us both in the market and our packing and shipping department. We offer competitive pay, great employee discounts from the market and Pasta Bar and a nice work environment.
We are looking for candidates with a good deal of flexibility and interest in working 1/2 days a few days per week. If this is you please respond to this email or email orders@ettopastificio.com.
Sometimes part-time positions can become full-time positions depending on fit. The ability to lift 25 pounds is helpful too.
Please join us in Fresno for our annual Paso tasting. Click the link HERE and use the code ETTO to save.
For the tomato lovers out there we brought back the classic pappa al pomodoro with fresh San Marzano tomatoes from Surfside Farm. This simple dish is bursting with flavor.
Also, see the Pasta Bar's fearless leader chef Marc cooking with the team from Paso and Slo schools on Monday and helping them dial in some recipes. School is so back.
