Tuesday, May 5, 2015

Cappello's

For several years, I wanted to try Cappello's pasta, but I could not buy it anywhere in Orlando (Update - Their store locator is saying Cappello's products are available at Earth Origins in Lake Mary, and I have heard they have been seen at Lucky's Market on East Colonial Drive).  I first purchased Cappello's gnocchi and chocolate chip cookie dough from Earth Fare, when visiting my parents in Greenville, South Carolina.  I have also bought Cappello's pasta several times from Grassroots Natural Market in Jacksonville.  If you are lucky enough to live in my hometown of Pittsburgh, Cappello's is sold at Ali's Marketplace by Gluten Free Zone and Naturally Soergel's.  


Cappello's gnocchi  are gluten free, grain free, dairy free, soy free and non-GMO.  They contain organic potato flakes, almond flour, cage-free eggs, tapioca flour and sea salt.  The directions say to cook the gnocchi in boiling water for 3 to 5 minutes, until they float, but when cooking them right out of the freezer, I find that it takes at least 10 minutes.  I am used to heavily salting my pasta water, but I only use a pinch of salt when cooking Cappello's gnocchi.  While the gnocchi are cooking, I saute fresh chopped sage, 1/2 teaspoon of minced garlic, and 5 to 6 tablespoons of butter in a saute pan over medium heat.  As the gnocchi begin to float, I put them in the pan with the butter, sage, and garlic.  I like to garnish them with some freshly grated asiago cheese before serving.  We make two packages of gnocchi for our family of four.  The portion size will appear small, but the gnocchi are very filling.  


Cappello's gnocchi are a little heavier than the DeLallo gluten free gnocchi I buy locally, but taste-wise, they might be the best gluten free gnocchi we have ever made at home.  If I could buy them in Orlando, we would probably eat them a couple of times a month.  


We were also really impressed by Cappello's fettuccine, which contains almond flour, cage-free eggs, tapioca flour, xanthan gum, and sea salt.  


I was inspired to make my beef ravioli with Cappello's lasagna sheets after seeing a post on The Domestic Man's blog.  The lasagna sheets contain almond flour, cage-free eggs, tapioca flour, xanthan gum, and sea salt.  I defrosted two packages of Cappello's lasagna sheets, and made the filling I use for my deconstructed beef ravioli recipe.  


We put four lumps of the cooled filling, one tablespoon each, on a lasagna sheet, brushed it with water with our fingers or a pastry brush everywhere the ravioli would be sealed, then put another lasagna sheet brushed with water on top, before cutting them into circles with a ravioli cutter wheel.


We boiled the ravioli for three minutes in small batches in unsalted water as we made them.  They would have been great with my quick cook tomato sauce, but sometimes I am in the mood to eat ravioli with butter and Romano cheese.  At the end, we cooked all the pasta scraps and ate them with the leftover filling, butter, and cheese.  They were by far the best ravioli we have made since my celiac diagnosis, and they were pretty easy to make.


We have also used Cappello's lasagna sheets to make mafalda noodles.  We defrosted them, then cut the lasagna sheets into thirds lengthwise with our ravioli cutter.  I added a pinch of salt to my pot of boiling water, and cooked the noodles for three minutes.


We added heavy cream to our quick cook tomato sauce recipe, tossed the noodles with some sauce in a serving bowl, plated them, then topped them with more sauce, and an Italian shaved three cheese blend of Romano, Parmesan, and Asiago.  They tasted exactly like the gluten-filled mafalda noodles we used to eat at Lucchesi's, our favorite Italian restaurant in Pittsburgh.  You can view the sauce recipe I used here.


Cappello's teamed up with Primal Palate, Paleo bloggers from my hometown of Pittsburgh, to create a gluten free, grain free chocolate chip cookie dough.  It is also dairy free, soy free, peanut free, vegan and non-GMO.  


The cookie dough contains almond flour, chocolate morsels (evaporated cane juice, natural non-alcoholic chocolate liquor, non-dairy cocoa butter), organic Grade B Vermont maple syrup, arrowroot flour, organic unrefined coconut oil, organic sea salt, organic vanilla extract, and baking soda.  


The dough can be eaten raw, or sliced to make 13 cookies, which are 130 calories each.  


When I took the dough out of the package, I smelled coconut right away, and could taste it when I sampled the raw dough.  When I tasted the cookies warm, right out of the oven, and when they cooled down, I could still taste coconut.  For most people, this would not be an issue, but coconut might top my list of most disliked foods.


My mother, brother and daughters liked the cookies, but I would not buy them again, because unrefined coconut oil has too strong of a coconut taste for me.  


I hope some of our local stores will start carrying Cappello's pasta soon.  It is sold in Whole Foods in other areas of the country, so if this is a product you are interested in seeing in Orlando, please ask our local Whole Foods stores to carry it.  You can read more about Cappello's, view their store locator, and order their products on their website here.

January 5, 2016 Update

Cappello's recently started selling cheese pizza, pepperoni pizza, naked pizza crust, and sheep's milk cheese pizza.  They have also changed the prices on their website to include overnight shipping.  Cappello's pasta is sold in packs of eight.  The lasagna sheets cost $140, which is pricey, but for us, that is $35 per dinner spent on pasta, which is still less than the cost of going out to eat at one of our favorite Italian restaurants.  My lasagna sheets arrived today in a custom reusable eco-cooler, and they were still frozen.  I will be curious to see how they do when our temperatures reach 90 degrees again.  I will keep you posted.

What are your favorite Cappello's products?  


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