If you call Pensi Pasta and ask for Mrs. Pensi, you'll more than likely get Evette Lecce on the phone. The owner and head pasta-maker will then explain that pensi is Italian for "think." And when you "think pasta," she''ll tell you, "The pasta-bilities are endless."

Embracing possibilities has lead this family-run business from fledgling start-up to full-time production facility in just over a year''s time, a growing enterprise that can measure its success in pounds. About 2,000 pounds of fresh pasta are made each week during the peak season, when area restaurants keep the phone ringing for deliveries of Pensi''s unique line of specialty, vegetable, and herb pasta varieties. Now with a deli-case that''s filled with a complement of homemade sauces (spicy eggplant and roasted garlic, sun-dried tomato with basil and Brie), and heat-and-eat entrees (vegetarian and meat lasagnas, stuffed shells, polenta specialties), retail shoppers may also help themselves.

Having a penchant for pasta is something that Evette, her sister Alicia, and brother Paul, all come by honestly. "Ever since I was a little girl I remember watching both my grandmother and great-grandmother sitting around the table with their lady friends, making pasta, gnocchi, ravioli--and drinking wine, having a great time!" Evette smiles. "I still use some of those same recipes today; on some of the cards, they''ve even drawn the pasta, to show how thick it should be cut. I still have my great grandma''s table, where you can see the lines in the wood from years of cutting out pasta dough."

After playing around with her mom''s pasta machine and experimenting with new varieties, she decided to go for it. With her father''s help, and later, the rest of the family pitching in (Paul''s Carmel wholesale company, Mia Products, also carries the Pensi brand name), the investment in heavy-duty Italian-made equipment paid off. Coming up with unique flavors like orange-ginger-black sesame, merlot tarragon, and the curry flavor that she blends herself is the fun part, attests Evette. And with eight styles--spaghetti, linguine, capellini, fettucine and pasta sheets, as well as rigatoni and penne, pastas that are unusual to find fresh--response has been overwhelmingly positive.

"To make quality pasta, you have to use semolina flour," she explains. "It''s a hard wheat, high-gluten flour that binds well and yields an al dente product." And whether it''s being made at home, the old-fashioned way, by mounding up flour and scooping a well in the middle to hold the wet ingredients, or by using a machine, the rules stay the same. "The dough has to be wet enough to stick together and not crumble, but not too wet. I use about 33 percent liquid, made up of water and eggs. You get used to how it should feel," she continues. "That can vary with the weather--you have to adjust the recipe by using less water when the humidity is high--and it can vary with the flour. Sometimes it''s more coarse, sometimes finer." More fine-tuning is necessary when utilizing herbs or vegetables. And when making a dough where tender finished product is desired, as for ravioli, Evette uses a 50 percent mix of white flour and semolina.

Other tricks of the trade? "Don''t try to make pasta when you''re tired," she laughs. "It''s a lot of work! And freeze your fresh pasta, if not eaten after four or five days."

Along with being at the Old Monterey Farmer''s Market on Tuesdays, Monterey Peninsula College on Thursdays, and the Sunday Salinas farmer''s market, look for a full array of Pensi Pasta products at the newest open-air venue, hosted at The Barnyard in Carmel beginning on May 20.

Pensi Pasta

3116B Del Monte Blvd., Marina, 883-9631

Hours: 10am-5pm, Tuesday-Friday. Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday at area farmer''s markets.