Vegetable-based dyes deliver Technicolor pasta.
Image: Amber Fouts
Meteorologists know that rainbows happen when sunlight strikes water droplets at a precise angle. Linda Miller Nicholson knows they also happen when you want your kid to eat more veggies. Years ago, the Eastside resident started making pasta in bright colors made with herb and vegetable dyes to engage her nutrient-averse young son. It proved a gateway to a life as a pasta influencer (yes, she made that a thing) known as Salty Seattle.
Over the years, Nicholson has used her edible rainbow sensibilities to make political statements, celebrity portraits, and whimsical tableaus—all out of pasta. She’s written a book; she’s done a pasta installation for Gigi Hadid’s custom kitchen cabinets. What she hasn’t done is make actual food that’s available via retail, until recently. Now boxes of her rainbow ricotta gnocchi have hit the freezer aisle at PCC (they’re also available online).
Linda Miller Nicholson’s gnoccchi comes in frozen packages with your choice of sauce—or on their own.
Image: Courtesy Salty Seattle
The croissant-shaped gnocchi come in six colors, achieved with ingredients like beet, butterfly pea flower, turmeric, and wheatgrass. After three minutes in boiling water, the pasta emerges with impressive texture. Boxes include easy instructions for versions that come with a packet of sauce (pomodoro, an asiago sauce that’s a take on mac and cheese, or basil pesto butter). The $23.50-per-box price tag reflects the handmade nature of it all. It’s less expensive at PCC but still, this isn’t a last resort for haphazard weeknight dinners. It’s a moment of joy—something already inherent to a bowl of good pasta.
Published in the The Seafood Issue issue of Seattle Met.
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