February 2013

Snow, glorious snow! Finding Nemo was to be my headline this week but look, SKI Magazine beat me to the Disney movie allusion. Oh well, great minds think alike!

Great news: skiing in the east is powder-fluffy and abundant. Just last week Hunter Mountain was resorting to using snow-making gear 24 hours a day! Enjoy February and March skiing, I know I will. And that brings me to the kitchen and chia and what it has to do with skiing.

My name is Shije, and it rhymes with chia, so when I saw chia pasta, I had to try it. Plus, I always think of pasta at ski season, because I have this dumb rhyme, a chant, really, “Pasta! Pasta! Makes ya ski fasta!” It’s a nutritional rhyme I remember from kiddie ski school…I guess “carb loading” was too hard to rhyme.

Bona Chia Pasta, by Al Dente® is artisanal pasta. It is available in many gourmet stores and specialty markets. It comes from www.aldentepasta.com which has a store locator or online ordering links. Aside from being a fine, handmade, tasty pasta, it is made with durum wheat and chia, said to be a superfood that contains many nutrients to power your day on the slopes. We tried the Bona Chia Linguini with a very mild spicy marinara sauce. It was quickly made in one pot with fresh garlic, olive oil, (my secret!) canned Muir Glenn Organic Crushed Tomatoes with Basil (but any high quality crushed red plum tomatoes will do – best to look for imported Italian or Organic Domestic) and a sprinkle of crushed red pepperoncini.

The flavor is just like regular pasta. The texture, silky, is more like homemade pasta. I would for sure have this again.

Cooking note, I left the pasta on a rolling boil 40 seconds past the  3 minute mark, and I think I should have heeded the instructions for perfect al dente. When they say 3 minute pasta, they mean it!

Ingredients: 

Enriched Durum Flour (Durum Wheat, Niacin, Reduced Iron, Thiamin Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid), Water, Chia Seed Flour

So what is chia? Will it make me a superskier? What makes chia so special? Is chia made of Chia Pets? Is it really all the same thing?

Chia, or Salvia Hispanica, is a member of the mint family, and Chia Seeds, an ancient source of nutrition, are now making the rounds as the new popular superfood. You may have seen chia as floating seeds suspended in some specialty drinks.

Chia seeds are full of omega-3 fatty acids, antioxidants and proteins – the same kind of nutrition you would get from a piece of wild salmon, but it’s sure easier to  take along Bona Chia Pasta for Omega-3 fatty acids – and much more sustainable. And bonus it is vegan! Now we all can have it. Pasta travels easy for a car trip up to Hunter, Sugarloaf, Stowe, Sugarbush, Mount Tremblant, and all our other nearby eastern skiing faves. Happy skiing and eating! Now get ready to go skiing tomorrow!

Bonus recipe: http://aldentepasta.com/recipe/linguine-with-roasted-vegetables/

My favorite food photo on their well-done website is this recipe http://aldentepasta.com/2012/05/annarbor-com-discovers-bonachia-pasta/

Editors Note: In addition to skiing & writing for SkiRaves.com, Shije is a singer/songwriter. Shije’s new single, Piece of the Blue Sky and Album are out on iTunes – for more info visit shije.com.