I bought bought a shiny pasta maker a decade ago on a trip to Florence, Italy, determined to channel my inner Italian grandmother or nonna and create fresh pasta with romantic names like cavatelli and orecchiette when I returned home. The shiny hand-cranked Marcato never made it out of the kitchen cupboard. But I clung to it, refusing to chuck it out and my dreams of becoming a pastaia along with it.
Fast forward to the pandemic. While I also fell for the sourdough mania and named my starter Florence, what resonated most was pasta making. I hauled out my now less-shiny pasta maker, stocked up on 00 flour and began the tactile pleasure of “fatto a mano” or handmade pasta making. With a nice glass of Valpolicella in hand and a curated Italian playlist on rotation in the background, the simple, meditative act of kneading dough is a beautiful way to spend time that rewards you with a delicious meal afterwards.
It turns out I’m not alone.
The humbly delicious mixture of eggs and flour passed down from the Etruscans has increased in popularity during and since the pandemic. It’s hard to miss a cursory scroll through Instagram without seeing creations of colourful artistic pasta, awash with hashtags #choosepasta #pastamania and #girlswithgluten. The fascination has also spawned a range of recently published cookbooks like Flour + Water by Thomas McNaughton, Kaura Goodman’s Carbs, and The Pasta Codex by Vincenzo Buonassisi, featuring 1,001 pasta recipes.
What’s behind the renewed interest?
“The pandemic taught many of us how important it is to stay healthy. So, home-cooked meals with fewer industrial and more local products garnered attention. People started looking for nutritious and delicious foods and a way to get them from our local stores and markets. And what’s better than pasta? It’s just happiness in a dish,” says Roberta Mesquita, owner of Paolucci Pasta.
Roberta learned how to make pasta with her Italian grandmother 20 years ago. Paolucci is her maiden name, and as with most Italian families, food is at the centre of every gathering and event.
“I come from a long line of excellent cooks, and I’ve always loved to cook as a hobby, but never thought I would work in the food industry,” says Mesquita. “I have a bachelor’s in communications and had my social media business in Brazil for almost a decade before I moved to Canada. But life brings many surprises our way, and I had the opportunity to become a vendor at the Halifax Brewery Market about eight months ago. I couldn’t think of a better thing to sell than handmade pasta. And that’s how Paolucci Pasta was created.”
There is nothing not to love about Paolucci Pasta. The menu alone will have you drooling: handmade fettuccine smothered in rose sauce or enrobed with vibrant pistachio pesto, parcels of ravioli stuffed with asiago and walnuts, or buttercup squash and rosemary.
“The most important element in any food-making process is to have fresh and local products; pasta is no different. I look for local eggs and local suppliers for most of my ingredients, making a world of difference in the finished product,” explains Mesquita. “Making pasta is time-consuming, so take it slow, use fresh eggs and talk to me about a pasta lesson.”
Pasta aficionado and foodie Natalia Gartley, who lives in Granville Ferry, N.S., with her husband and six chickens, offers private, hands-on pasta-making experiences for small groups of two to six people. “There is an absolute joy in learning a new skill, which has the added benefit of being delicious. It’s also a lifetime skill that the entire family can participate in,” says Gartley, who moved to Nova Scotia from British Columbia shortly before the pandemic hit. “Making pasta helped me to stay busy. My freezer was full of pasta, my friends were given pasta, and I couldn’t stop making it because it is so addictive, in a good way. Then my friends wanted to learn how to make pasta, and bingo, my business, Hands on Fresh Pasta, was born,” says Gartley, who offers private, hands-on pasta-making experiences for small groups from two to six people, “where people know each other and feel comfortable being around each other. There is a real joy in learning a new skill, which has the added benefit of being delicious. It’s also a lifetime skill that the entire family can participate in.”
Chef and owner Michael Dolente opened the artisan pasta bar Maria’s Pantry right as the pandemic hit in 2020. Paying tribute to his Italian nonna, Maria, Dolente makes all pasta by hand. The popularity and word-of-mouth interest in this tiny spot in downtown Dartmouth affirms the interest in handmade, authentic pasta. “Because we opened during the pandemic, we focused on making fresh pasta that people could purchase and cook at home. It became successful because everyone was staying home. We’ve continued to shift more into this in this direction, rather than in-house dining, because people still want to cook fresh pasta at home.”
On opening days, Friday and Saturday lunch, it is difficult to get a table at Maria’s as diners turn to fresh campanelli with pesto cream and silky layers of classic carbonara. “The carbonara is probably our most popular dish. And while you can find many versions around, ours never diverts from the classic, which consists of homemade guanciale, pecorino and parmesan cheese, and fresh homemade bucatini.”
You don’t need to be an Italian nonna, a pasta aficionado, or a chef to make fresh, simple pasta. In less than an hour, you can whip up delicious farfalle with only your hands, a rolling pin, and essential ingredients like eggs, flour, salt, and olive oil. However, there are some basic tips worth noting.
Fresh pasta can be made with eggs, known as Pasta Fresca all'Uovo or without, known as Pasta Fresca di Semolina (fresh durum wheat semolina pasta).
The pasta rule of thumb is one egg for every 100 grams of flour. But the exact proportions may vary depending upon the room’s humidity, the flour’s age, and the time of year, so you must pay attention to the dough and let your instincts guide you. “I like to use half semolina and half all-purpose flour for a firmer texture for noodles like fettuccine,” says Dolente. “If you’re making a filled pasta, you may want to use all all-purpose or 00 flour instead of the semolina for a softer bite.”
“Italian pasta is all about texture,” explains Gartley. “It is never too soft and has a bite to it because Italian flour is higher in protein than regular all-purpose flour. Flour 00 is soft; semolina, or durum wheat flour, is hard. Vegan pasta is always made with durum flour because it is made without eggs but can still deliver the perfect texture.”
Use the traditional method of creating a well in the flour’s centre and add the eggs and salt. Use your fingers to draw the flour slowly into the liquid, ensuring the right amount of liquid is incorporated into the flour before forming and kneading the dough.
“Practise a lot. You will get better every time,” says Chef Dolente. “Fresh, high-quality ingredients and tools help. Use local free-range eggs and durum semolina flour. A good quality pasta machine and bronze cutters are great for texture. Use a good recipe that works, but always be able to adapt it as humidity changes all the time within the flour, and you need to recognise when to use more flour and water. Try new things, and always be eager to try different shapes, flavour combinations, and ingredients.”
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