SMORGASBORD: Pasta contest winners . . . "Tea & crumpets" "Pappardelle per te" "Kozy Shack pudding

Pasta contest winners

Here are the winners of the “Use Your Noodle” crossword puzzle contest, sponsored by the North Dakota Wheat Commission, Dakota Growers Pasta Co., Philadelphia Macaroni Co., the U.S. Durum Growers Assn. and the Herald.

From Minnesota: Larae Kaushagen, Thief River Falls; Tara Copp, Warren; and Martina Barrett, Roseau. From North Dakota: Rosemary Holweger, Grand Forks; Marion Hove, Fairdale; Helen Welte, Larimore; Pat Melland, Thompson; Carol Wigen, Lakota; Brenda Hartsough, Grand Forks; and Emma Koshney, Cando.

The winners were chosen by drawing from more than 100 contestants who successfully completed the crossword.

‘Tea & Crumpets’

We have the seventh duchess of Bedford, Anna Maria, to thank for feeling a bit hungry one afternoon in the summer of 1840 and ordering up a tray of tea and bread-and-butter sandwiches at Woburn Abbey in the English countryside.

So delicious did the duchess find this “taking of tea,” which her maid dutifully brought to her, that she started inviting all her friends.

And, well, thus was born the custom of afternoon tea.

Or so writes Margaret Johnson, a cookbook author well-traveled in the United Kingdom, where tea, high and low, flows freely, in “Tea & Crumpets: Recipes & Rituals from European Tearooms and Cafes” (Chronicle Books, $19.95).

Among the tidbits strained from this cookery book, where you’ll find out how to whip up truffled wild mushroom tartlets and a shortbread so good you’ll clear your calendar every day at 4 o’clock, we were charmed by the fact that rock stars Bono and the Edge of U2 fame actually own a proper tearoom — the Tea Room at the Clarence in Dublin.

Pappardelle per te

Throw a bag of Garofalo oversize noodles — pappardelle — into your pot, and you’re halfway to a hearty yet sophisticated pasta plate. Pair the thick strands with an indulgent cream sauce or a chunky marinara, something substantial for the pasta’s fluted edges to grab hold of.

A 1-pound package is about $8 at amazon.com, gourmet food stores and some supermarkets.

Kozy Shack pudding

Every once in a while, Kozy Shack adds something interesting to its assortment of refrigerated prepared pudding. The newest is a line of Simply Well naturally flavored pudding in four-packs of 4-ounce cups. The Kozy Shack Web site lists five varieties: French vanilla, dark chocolate, lemon ginger, green tea chai and — trendiness alert — pear mangosteen.

A pack of four retails for $3.59 at many Sam’s Club, Wal-Mart Supercenters and SuperTarget stores.

Tags: features, food, smorgasbord