5 artisan pasta places in Wisconsin to help flavor a summer meal

Jennifer Rude Klett Special to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

In Bay View, find handcrafted dried and fresh pasta at Semolina MKE.

For now, Semolina’s pasta is sold only at its shop at 2474 S. Kinnickinnic Ave., and at the South Shore Farmers Market for the summer, according to owner and pasta maker Petra Orlowski. Eventually, she hopes to sell some products online.

“Bucatini is definitely our bestselling extruded dry pasta,” she said, of the thick, long, tube-like pasta. “And then our colored culurgiones are a big seller, that’s the pasta that’s stuffed with mashed potatoes, cheesy garlic mashed potatoes.”

Semolina MKE sources fresh, local ingredients to capture the best aspects of Old World pasta tradition, according to Orlowski.

“I do use stone-ground wheat from Meadowlark Mills from Ridgeway, Wisconsin. That’s an organic wheat,” she added.

Her personal favorite pasta is pappardelle. “I like the wide noodles. I like how it feels when you’re eating it, and it’s great with so many different types of sauces,” Orlowski said.

Semolina MKE does have a few openings for its popular cooking classes in May for ravioli, hand-shaped pasta and classic egg dough, check semolinamke.com for dates. No classes are scheduled for summer.