Pasta by The Smiling Cook is perfectly al dente cooked, which is a major advantage for preparing salads. Discover how, as a chef, you can save time and effort by using frozen fresh pasta.
Time is often a challenge in the professional kitchen. A horeca entrepreneur who finds the right balance between ready-made convenience products and fresh ingredients has a competitive edge. Let’s take you back to summer and show you how to quickly make a fresh pasta salad.
FROZEN FRESH PASTA ADVANTAGES
Frozen fresh pasta is ideal for preparing cold pasta salads. Our pasta is already perfectly al dente cooked, saving time and effort. Simply warm the pasta briefly, let it cool, and you have fresh, ready-to-use pasta for your salads.
“We still often see our customers pre-cooking dry pasta in the morning and storing it in water in the fridge for later service,” says Jules Selvais, culinary advisor at The Smiling Cook. “This is not only labor-intensive, but the pasta absorbs a lot of moisture, loses flavor, and becomes mushy. Additionally, it’s hard to predict how many dishes will be sold that day. Leftovers are either discarded or kept for the next day. The result is unfortunate in both cases: loss of revenue or mushy pasta.”
“Using this pasta saves a lot of time and effort.”
The solution is simple. The pasta from The Smiling Cook is made from fresh pasta dough and is immediately frozen individually after cooking using a ‘shock’ freezing process. This Individual Quick Frozen (IQF) method has many advantages: flavor, color, aroma, and nutrients are optimally preserved, each pasta is frozen separately, making it easy to portion. Always with consistent quality.
Flexible to Use
“With pasta from The Smiling Cook, I save a lot of time,” says Henk Janssens, owner of Culinary Catering Food@Home in Wondelgem. “Usually, I place the frozen pasta in the steamer for 2 minutes. This is super fast. I don’t waste time cooking, draining, and cooling. The pasta can be used straight from the steamer for a cold dish,” Henk continues. “Making pasta à la minute is also very easy and quick with this method.”
“But one of the most important advantages of frozen fresh pasta is that it absorbs little to no sauce,” says Henk. “You can store the pasta with sauce in the refrigerator for a few days, and the product retains its quality. If you do that with cooked dry pasta, you’ll need to add a liter of sauce after just one day,” Henk laughs. “These costs are often overlooked when choosing between fresh and dry pasta.”
“Frozen fresh pasta absorbs very little sauce. A cost often forgotten with dry pasta.”
COMBINE WITH READY-TO-USE SAUCES
Combine a short pasta with one of our sauces, like a neutral Napolitana tomato sauce or an oriental variant like Thai Curry, and instantly elevate your pasta salad. All sauces from The Smiling Cook are ready to use and can be mixed directly with the pasta without heating. With a long shelf life of 18 or 24 months at room temperature, you always have a quality sauce at hand. This reduces food waste and again saves costs for the horeca entrepreneur.
FRESH AND HOMEMADE
By smartly combining and experimenting, you can, as a chef, create dishes that are quick and efficient, yet delicious and healthy. You showcase your craftsmanship, offer a varied menu, and save time. Your guests have more choices and are satisfied. Everyone wins.
Not convinced yet? Contact us and we’ll let you taste for yourself.
Try this recipe: https://smilingcook.eu/recept/zomerse-conchigliette-salade/