No need to venture to a sit-down restaurant for a plate of fresh pasta – or to book a plane ticket in order to try pasta from Italy. Local markets make it possible to source handmade pasta or dried noodles imported from The Boot, so you can prep easy, at-home dinners that still feel elevated. Mix and match varieties and flavors, experimenting with how the textures of different shapes and sauces cling to each other.

Pam Cannatella stocks Cannatella Grocery on Government Street with both dried, imported Italian pasta and fresh strands made in the back of the family-owned shop. Fresh pasta is stored in the fridges next to the sauces and pre-made dinners her husband, Grant, prepares.

“Fresh pasta is just so much better,” she says. “Everybody that has had it agrees. I mean I didn’t know any different till I (started making it).”

Cannatella’s fresh pasta is crafted with semolina flour and water. The dough is extruded through bronze dies, molding it into shapes that will better stick to sauces. Fresh pasta has a quicker cooking time than dried.

Cannatella ensures the dried selection is just as curated and special. Of course, she keeps the classic shapes and brands but also has fun with red chili linguinis and rainbow-striped bow tie noodles, which she says are big sellers.

“I use an online marketplace where I can purchase (pasta) imported from Italy,” she says. “I just go through, and look at the quality of it and what I think looks nice and will sell well. We’ve been open almost five years, so I’ve kind of picked up on what’s going to sell and what’s not going to sell.”

Local businesses like Cannatella Grocery provide the tasty tools that help transform weeknight mundane meals into memorable dishes. And, all you have to do is boil the water, simmer the sauce, grate the Parm, light some candles and get that fork twirling. cannatellagrocery.com

Click on the numbers to read more about the pasta.

This article was originally published in the February 2024 issue of 225 magazine.