The art of pasta

Monique Deschaine, Al Dente Pasta
Monique Deschaine, Al Dente Pasta

If you live in Michigan, you may already know the story behind Al Dente Pasta, a local treasure. Monique Deschaine was just a regular pasta lover back in 1981 when she read an article about an artisanal pasta business and was inspired to start one herself. She traveled to New York City to study under Italian cooking legend Marcella Hazan, and then headed back to Michigan to give birth to her very own hand-rolled pasta business.

Thirty years later, Al Dente Pasta is the perfect marriage of traditional methods and modern taste. While other handmade pastas are extruded, Al Dente makes its pasta according to the northern Italian tradition of rolling sheets of dough. This yields pasta with an exceptional texture - tender but firm - that cooks in just three minutes.

Some of Monique's pastas are available at fine food stores throughout the U.S., but many of

Al Dente Pasta's whole wheat pasta, low carb pasta or organic pasta.
Al Dente Pasta's whole wheat pasta, low carb pasta or organic pasta.

her most innovative recipes aren't sold in stores. We're featuring four different samplers that showcase her knack for putting a modern twist on age-old recipes. If you love pasta but you're watching carbs, the combination of whole wheat and Carba-Nada (low carb) pasta in the Pasta with Benefits sampler might hit the spot. Prefer organics and complex flavors? You'll want the Organic Duets sampler (which includes egg-and-mushroom, egg-and-squid ink, and egg-and-spinach fettuccine). The Classic Sampler includes egg, spinach, whole wheat, basil, garlic parsley, and wild mushroom fettuccine, and the Al Dente sampler features whole wheat fettuccine, an egg-and-spinach fettuccine duet, and classic roasted garlic linguine.

Another Michigan entrepreneur, Elizabeth Colburn, gets the credit for turning us on to these incredible pastas.

Elizabeth Colburn
Elizabeth Colburn

Monique was getting a makeover from Elizabeth, a beauty pro whose skincare products we featured early last year. Elizabeth encourage Monique to reach out to us at Daily Grommet, and we're so glad she did. Al Dente's artisanal pastas may have ruined us for plain old dry pasta, but they're so delicious we don't mind.


Buy Al Dente Pasta's whole wheat pasta, low carb pasta or organic pasta here.

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