Chefs are adding another layer of artisan flavour to their menus with hand rolled and stuffed pasta shapes of all kinds, inspired by the nonnas of Italy and updated with local ingredients.
By CINDA CHAVICH
End Dive is a cool, buzzy restaurant with an open kitchen and cocktail bar but there’s another side to this locovore haunt, or shall I say another layer.
For while the chefs and bartenders are busy putting on the show upstairs, down below, in the basement, Kara Martyn and Lisa Maas are doing something delightful — they’re artfully crafting an amazing array of handmade, artisan pastas.
Like so many chefs these days, Martyn and Maas have taken a deep dive into the world of fresh pasta, following the Italian Instagram nonnas (with their pastagrannies YouTube channel) and celebrity chefs, to learn how to make traditional shapes you might expect to see in Rome or Bologna.
And they’re very, very good at it.
EDIBLE ORIGAMI
In their underground pasta and bread kitchen, the space is simple but functional — dominated by a massive wooden baking table where dough of all kinds can be kneaded and shaped. There are a variety of special rolling and cutting tools on the shelf, but what’s really impressive to see is their unhurried and exacting skill — rolling, cutting, filling and forming each individual piece of pasta while we chat, like perfect little pieces of edible origami.
While Martyn attaches her Torchio B to the table (an Italian made contraption for extruding fresh spaghetti and other shapes through bronze dies), Maas is busy cranking a piece of golden egg dough through a rolling machine, until it’s thin enough to see the wood grain of her work table.
With an expandable, five-headed stainless steel pastry cutter, she quickly glides along its length to cut perfect strips, then perfect squares. Each is then rolled around a wooden dowel, over a ridged paddle, to create a tiny hollow garganelli.
And then she repeats it, dozens of times, preparing enough noodles for tonight's diners.
It’s the same with the squares that she dabs with nettle filling for every tortelli — pull up a corner, roll and pinch shut — forming perfect little pockets with “bat wings”, or the many other shapes that quickly emerge as she deftly rolls and folds each piece.
Every day the pair makes enough pasta for the restaurant — the menu always has three fresh pasta choices, with seasonal ingredients, says Martyn, including “a strand pasta, a shaped pasta and a stuffed pasta” with a source of seasonal sauces created by Chef Mat Clarke. It might be tortellini, cappelletti or ravioli, agnolotti or anything else the pair discovers in books or from social media pasta makers.
The work is an exercise in smooth, elegant repetition, a dance that’s both precise and meditative. And they never tire of it.
FROM ITALY WITH LOVE
The aging grandmothers (nonnas) of Italy have long made their unique and regional pasta shapes by hand, and they have become the rock stars among handmade pasta aficionados in the culinary world.
With chefs like celebrity Evan Funke (of Felix and Mother Wolf in Los Angeles, and Tre Dita in Chicago) traveling to Italian villages to suss out these knowledge keepers and share their skills, more cooks are taking the time to explore the intricacies of making artisan pasta.
On his quest to document and ultimately save old world pasta making traditions, Funke makes his way into the kitchens of elderly women to work alongside them and perfect these disappearing techniques. His book, American Sfoglino, and documentary series, The Shape of Pasta, on the topic, dig into rare pasta shapes and the women still making them.
But Funke wasn’t the first to tap into this traditional skill set — in his Jamie Cooks Italy tome of 2018 and TV series, the British celebrity chef offers a similar look at these skilled women cooks, from “the orecchiette nonnas” who make fresh pasta every day in the Itria Valley of Puglia to those making cavatelli, ravioli, gnocchi and agnolotti from scratch in cities and towns across Italy.
HOW THEY ROLL
Downtown at The Courtney Room Chef Brian Tesolin is channelling his Italian roots with that kind of purist mentality, too. He’s set out a corner of his small kitchen for rolling pasta by hand, using a massive 44-inch mattarello, created by woodworker and chef Daniel Ewart of Nonna’s Wood Shop in Mission, BC.
Once sous chef at Vancouver’s famed Italian restaurant Savio Volpe, Ewart has expanded his woodworking hobby into a new business, now supplying a variety of stunning, handmade pasta-making tools to the growing cadre of professional and amateur cooks who are diving deep into the world of traditional Italian pasta.
Whether his hand turned hard maple, walnut and cherry mattarello or smaller rolling pins, pasta shaping boards, cutters and intricate ravioli molds, or custom-made corzetti, to stamp your pasta rounds with a custom design, this is the place to geek out on beautiful tools.
Tesolin uses his big mahogany pin to roll a slab of goldne pasta dough into a thin oval sheet, with the same strong, rhythmic motion Funke demonstrates in his YouTube tutorials. Soon he has created a large round, rolling it back onto the mattarello to further stretch it into a paper thin sheet.
Tidy strands of are made by pressing the pasta over his chitarra, a box that’s tightly strung with metal strings like a guitar. Tesolin's tool kit includes a variety of wooden dowels, metal skewers and bronze cutters, designed roll, press and cut his favourite shapes.
Tonight it might be tiny tortellini or agnolotti, stuffed with creamy potato and crab, or a giant rotolo, a spiral of pasta rolled around a ricotta and green pea filling.
Funke claims that hand rolled pasta is superior to that rolled in a hand-cranked pasta machine (another Italian invention) as it preserves tiny air bubbles in the dough, making it especially light.
But the classic manual machine, with its multiple settings, creates a elongated piece of thin, even pasta, perfect to cut into ribbons or squares for filling, and even celebrity chefs (think the UK’s Mateo Zielonka, author of The Pasta Man) recommend it, too.
Like a pasta granny in a tiny Italian village, you don’t need much — beyond flour, time and practiced technique — to make perfect pasta. But a rolling pin, some dowels or brass rods (ferretto) for rolling your garganelli or cavalroli across a ridged board, and a sharp brass cutting wheel are useful, as is a big piping bag for fillings (though a zipped bag with the corner snipped off works, too).
DOING THE DOUGH
Making pasta dough is a pretty simple proposition, just a few ingredients combined and kneaded into a stretchy mass that can be rolled thin and shaped. It might be silky, smooth and yellow from fresh eggs, or rustic flour-and-water dough flecked with whole wheat, for chewy little orecchiette or extruded shapes. You can colour the dough with vegetables, from fuchsia pasta made with beets to green strands of spinach or herb-flavoured fettucine, but the technique is the same.
Suffice to say, if you start with the best quality flour and fresh eggs from free range chickens, you’ll have the best pasta.
All of the mixing can be done in the food processor. But traditionally, the flour (usually fine-ground “00” or all-purpose flour) is piled on the work surface, with a deep well pressed into the centre where you’ll corral the beaten eggs (or egg yolks or water), then slowly bring in the flour from the edges with your fingers (or a fork), until you have a crumbly mass that can be kneaded into a smooth ball. Wrap it and rest it, for at least half an hour to let the gluten relax, and you’re ready to roll.
Some pasta makers add salt and a splash of water to their egg dough. Some use only egg yolks while others whole eggs. Some stick to the Italian 00 flour, while some start with a mix of 00, all-purpose and semolina (even whole grain wheat flour that’s freshly ground), so it’s fine to experiment.
Kara Martyn uses Anita’s organic 00 flour with whole eggs for her basic egg dough recipe and freshly milled Nootka Rose wheat flour from Metchosin, with water and a bit of olive oil, when she needs a firmer dough for making orecchiette or extruded pasta.
Fillings for ravioli, tortelli and tortellini start with ricotta and/or pureed vegetables, she says. A simple one would be ricotta and lemon zest for tortelli, though today Maas is piping a deep green puree of cheese with wild nettles.
“We don't really have a "recipe" but usually saute onions, garlic and food process it with anything (ricotta, sweet potato, squash) as long as the filling is a good consistency and not too wet,” she says, “and then you can just season it to taste.”
EATING ARTISAN PASTA AROUND TOWN
Other city chefs are big into the world of handmade pasta, too.
At Hank’s you might find your pasta stuffed with foie gras, duck sausage or nduja, and sauced with fresh herbs, local Venturi Shulze legacy balsamic vinegar or scattered with gorgonzola and mint.
Whether its house made pasta and salad for lunch or homemade lasagna and Quadrato Puttanesca with Albacore Tuna for dinner, Zambri’s is the place for classic Italian fare.
Lot 1 Pasta Bar has a variety of house made shapes on the menu, from Creamy Chicken Chipotle Radiatori, to Butternut Squash Campelle with ricotta and sage brown butter.
At La Pasta La Pizza in the Victoria Public Market there’s frozen or dried pasta and sauces, lasagana, spaghetti with meatballs, seafood fettuccine and butternut squash gnocchi to go.
And you’ll find dried handmade pasta, made with freshly milled organic durum, from chef Massimo Buggini at La Pasta Triestina, from hand cut herb pappardelle to bronze die extruded shapes, sold in their kitchen shop in Saanich or at local farmer’s markets.
You can choose a myriad of classic sauces for pasta, but when made fresh, the pasta is the star, Just boil your fresh pasta and drizzle it with butter or olive oil, add a bit of pepper or Parmesan, and maybe a dab of seasonal pesto.
There's a world of pasta to master — some 300 different shapes, whether long, short, shaped or stuffed — and only lots of practice makes perfect when you’re committed to learning the old ways, perfected by generations of Italian grandmothers. Mangia!
RECIPES:
KARA’S PERFECT PASTA DOUGH
Kara Martyn of End Dive offers her basic egg pasta recipe, made with finely milled “00” wheat flour and whole eggs.
1 pound 00 flour (from Anita’s Organic Mill in BC)
5 whole free-range eggs
Pinch of salt
Martyn says you can mix the dough by hand or in the food processor. Combine the flour, salt and beaten eggs in food processor and pulse, just until mixture “clumps together.” Otherwise, dump the flour and salt on your work surface, make a well in the centre (with a high rimmed edge to hold the eggs), then break the eggs in the middle, beat with a fork, and use the fork to gradually draw the flour into the middle, until it’s all incorporated.
If dough is sticky, add flour, a teaspoon at a time, and, if dry, spritz it lightly with water.
Knead dough by hand for 10 minutes. Use traditional kneading motion — pressing and stretching the dough away with the heel of your hand, turning and pressing away again, until you have a nice, smooth dough. When properly kneaded, if you push your finger into the dough slightly, it should spring back slowly.
Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and let rest for 30 to 60 minutes.
Once rested, the dough is ready to roll, by hand or machine, until thin and translucent.
Using a pastry cutter (or an attachment on a pasta rolling machine, cut pasta into strands or squares to make any number of formed or filled shapes.
There are literally hundreds of shapes to choose from, so have fun experimenting.
Once it's rolled and cut, dust the pasta lightly with semolina flour so it doesn’t stick together and cover with a cloth so it doesn’t dry out. You can also loosely gather longer noodles into nests or hang them on a drying rack.
To cook fresh pasta: Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat, then add the pasta. Stir it gently so the pasta doesn’t stick together and cook to al dente — this may only take a minute or two as fresh pasta cooks much faster than dried.
Drain, toss with the sauce of your choice and serve immediately.
Serve 4 to 6.
GREEN RICOTTA RAVIOLI
There are dozens of different types of filled pasta shapes, but one of the easiest to master is ravioli or tortelli, the earliest known stuffed Italian pasta. Ravioli may be round or square, bite-sized or larger, and there are many ways to form and fill it. A filling made with ricotta and Parmesan, or one that starts with mashed potato or squash, is typical, as is one that leans on green vegetables and herbs. See below for alternative filling ideas.
Filling:
1 lb mixed fresh greens (spinach, chard, arugula, nettles, etc.)
2 to 3 Tbsp chopped fresh herbs (basil, mint, parsley)
2 cups ricotta cheese
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup grated Parmesan
2 tsp salt
Pinch of nutmeg or white pepper
Assembly:
Fresh pasta dough (see previous recipe)
Salt and water as needed
Olive oil or browned butter, to serve
Grated Parmesan, to serve
To make the filling: Place the greens in a large pot of boiling, salted water and cook for 5 minutes. Drain and quickly cool in ice water, then drain again, and squeeze out excess moisture. Combine greens with remaining ingredients in food processor and pulse to create a coarse purée. Taste and add additional Parmesan if desired. (See below for alternative fillings if you want to experiment.)
Place filling in a piping bag or use a teaspoon to portion filling when making ravioli.
Make the pasta dough: Roll the dough into long, thin sheets, about 4 inches wide. Cut into 3- to 4-inch squares (or circles) and pipe filling into the centre of each. Spritz pasta lightly with water, top with a second square (or round) of pasta and seal the edges, squeezing out any air pockets and pressing tightly. Repeat as needed.
Alternatively, dot the length of the sheet with mounds of filling, an inch or two apart (and an inch from the edge). Spritz lightly with water, then top with a second sheet of pasta. Press around the filling to remove air and seal the ravioli, then cut into squares with a pasta wheel or into rounds with a stamp or cookie cutter.
Make sure the edges are well sealed, pressing again with fingers or a fork. Set ravioli on a floured board and keep covered with a clean cloth as they are filled.
Cook ravioli in a large pot of salted boiling water until tender, 2 to 3 minutes, then drain. Place ravioli on individual plates and drizzle with olive oil or browned butter and sprinkle with Parmesan to serve. Makes 24 to 30 ravioli, enough for 4 people.
Optional fillings:
Cheese: 2 cups ricotta, 2 eggs, 1 cup shredded Parmesan, 2 Tbsp chopped herbs, salt and pepper to taste.
Spinach: 2 cups ricotta, 2 eggs, 1 cup shredded Parmesan, 2 Tbsp chopped herbs, salt and pepper to taste, mixed with 1 lb spinach, nettles or other greens, blanched and chopped.
Gorgonzola: 1 cup ricotta, 1 cup gorgonzola, 2 eggs, ½ cup shredded Parmesan, salt, pepper and a pinch of nutmeg.
Potato: Start with 2 cups of very smooth mashed potatoes flavoured with salt, butter and cream. Then add anything else you like: shredded Parmesan and chopped herbs; cooked crab meat with lemon zest; minced prosciutto; sautéed minced mushrooms with caramelized onion; roasted garlic and leek.
©CindaChavich2024
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