How the Salt & Straw Owners Do Pasta Night

Cousins Kim and Tyler Malek run the Salt & Straw ice cream company in Portland, Oregon, but during their hands-on family suppers, Kim's kids run the kitchen.

Author:: Alyse Whitney
Publish date:: Apr 16, 2020

salt and straw table setting with food — Photography by Erin Kunkel

To be a member of the Salt & Straw family, you have to love to play with your food. The Portland, Oregon-based small-batch ice cream company is known for its crazy combos—like Goat Cheese Marionberry Habanero or Peanut Butter Stout with Chocolate Chicharrón.

Head ice cream maker and flavor mastermind Tyler Malek is in charge of recipe creation, and his cousin Kim Malek runs the business side. Kim’s kids, whose palates range from adventurous to uh-uh no way, are unofficial taste-testers. Kim’s daughter, Dee, 10, is the most daring, happily digging into a pint of matcha ice cream studded with chocolate-covered crickets (not kidding), while sons JJ, 11, and Izzy, 6, stick with the classics, like mint chip.

Kim and Tyler with kids making pasta — The kids—Dee (left), Izzy (center), and JJ (right)—show their mom, Kim, and their cousin Tyler how they roll.
Photography by Erin Kunkel

But when it comes to dinner, all the kids are on the same page: They’ll eat pretty much anything. That open-mindedness made Tyler suspect that they might like to play around in the kitchen, so for the past few years he’s been teaching the kids how to cook. “At first, it was just brownies. Now it’s sushi and fresh pasta,” he says.

kids making ravioli — The kids take turns cutting out the ravioli. Izzy is in the zone while Dee waits on deck.
Photography by Erin Kunkel

Tonight’s project is lamb-stuffed ravioli. Tyler and the kids get started by cracking eggs and mixing up the dough. JJ and Dee make another batch on their own, while Izzy and Tyler start rolling. Everyone comes together for assembly: laying out pasta sheets, adding dollops of filling, and punching out the ravioli with cookie cutters.“They’ll all jump into anything they can. Well, maybe except cleaning up,” Kim adds with a laugh.

For dessert, it’s homemade almond brittle with ice cream. As kids, Kim and Tyler used to make the candy when they’d visit their grandma. “That rhythm in the kitchen and how it brings everyone together really stuck with me,” Tyler says. He hopes that these cooking sessions will have the same effect on the next generation of the Salt & Straw family.