Pasta inclusions abound as chefs continue to experiment with contemporary flavours
/When it comes to pasta, most chefs will tell you “fresh is best” – and that’s certainly the point of view of Mark Normoyle, the longtime Executive Chef for Anchor Food Professionals and a keen pasta proponent who featured it extensively on the menu at his most recent restaurant, Luna’s Food and Wine Bar in St Kilda.
“I think beautiful fresh pasta is an amazing thing – it’s not something most people will make at home, so it’s the perfect choice for a chef to put on the menu. It doesn’t matter what style of cuisine you’re offering or even what kind of venue it is – these days pasta is popular enough to fit in anywhere.
Mark says one of the best things about pasta is that you can tweak recipes for every season of the year. “In the cooler months you might have slow cooked lamb neck with roasted parsnips or braised beef cheek served with pappardelle; in the summer you can tweak it out with beautiful fresh tomatoes, seasonal broad beans and shaved parmesan and olive oil. A great pasta like pappardelle will work all year round – essentially you’re just changing the garnish to suit the season. And not only can it be both an entrée and a main, it can also be a component of a larger dish – for example, rather than serve potatoes with a chicken breast, you can serve a small amount of pasta as the starch component.”
Much of pasta’s appeal stems from its cost-effectiveness: “Fresh pasta is quite cheap to make – essentially you’ve got flour, water and a little bit of salt. It doesn’t take long and you can easily avail yourself of a good quality pastamaking machine.”
“I think these days diners can tell the difference between fresh and dried pasta; the quality is so much better”
He emphasises that fresh is the way to go: “I think these days diners can tell the difference between fresh and dried pasta; the quality is so much better. It may be OK to use dried for a pasta bake in a buffet presentation or something that is going out as an Uber takeaway, but for every restaurant, club and bar, a decent fresh pasta is a must-have.
“Having said that, if you don’t want to make your own, there are some suppliers making great fresh pasta that presents as from scratch. We all know labour saving is important right now, so if you have a great supplier who does fresh pasta it can be a terrific choice. If you’re buying a large ravioli, you’ll know exactly how much it will cost per piece, because a good supplier will ensure the pasta is extremely consistent. And it’s so quick to prepare – cooking fresh pasta takes from a minute to a minute and a half, then add your sauce and away you go.”
In recent years we’ve seen some innovations on the pasta presentation front, including coloured pastas such as spinach, pumpkin and saffron pasta. “Coloured pasta is more about look than taste,” Mark points out. “Essentially they’ll taste the same as regular but the vibrancy of the colour can look great – really it’s just a question of colouring the dough, but it can certainly be an Instagrammable talking point.
“This approach can also help in making sure the sauce and pasta complement each other. If you make a creamy mushroom sauce, a nice green parsley or spinach flavoured pasta looks amazing with that beautiful cream sauce. Another consideration is the use of gluten free pasta – gluten free flours have really improved in recent years and the quality of gluten free pasta is getting better by the week. For a lot of people eating gluten free has become a lifestyle choice – it’s no longer just for coeliacs – so I think that has encouraged chefs as well as product suppliers to get better at what they’re producing, and that includes pasta.”
“The key point is that any lovely sounding pasta on the menu will sell”
Asked to nominate his favourite style of pasta, Mark cites a beautiful homestyle potato gnocchi – “It tastes amazing and again, it’s quite cheap to produce – essentially it’s potato with egg and a little flour to bind it together. Ravioli and tortellini are also very much on trend – you can go crazy with the flavours of your inclusions, from a spinach-ricotta mix to Asian inspired slow cooked duck, which is becoming popular. That’s a little more work, but once again there are some great suppliers out there. The key point is that any lovely sounding pasta on the menu will sell.”
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Exotic ingredients coming to the fore
Chef Peter Wright says pasta is taken more seriously today by chefs than ever before – “we’re seeing some really unique fillings and exotic ingredients coming to the fore at the high end. Of course you can also find pasta on all menus right down to the staff canteen or in a mining camp – and that’s because it works across the board. There’s even a growing trend to using sweetened pastas as desserts – all of which makes it a very versatile ingredient.”
Peter says a classic pasta dish with some contemporary Aussie ingredients like beautiful Queensland prawns, garlic and a little chilli will give your diners a delicious, high quality dining experience – “or you could just do some slow roasted tomatoes in basil and again you’ll have a tasty sauce. Pasta doesn’t necessarily need expensive ingredients added to it.”
On the pre-made pasta front, Peter says some manufacturers are now pasteurising fresh pasta to extend its shelflife – “it goes through almost a blanching process followed by chilling in the same line; it’s lightly steamed, then chilled and packaged which adds several days to the shelflife. This is a great innovation if you’re working in a busy a la carte kitchen or a pub or club with 25 mains – it’s a really good way to preserve high quality, because the short shelflife of fresh pasta has always been an issue.
“Some of the bigger manufacturers are also making preblanched frozen pasta for high end users, like stadia, airports and mining camps. People ask me whether fresh or frozen is best and I think they both have a place – you have to find what suits your business.”
“The great thing about pasta is it offers you the opportunity to create a natural plant-based recipe”
Peter also cites pasta as a key ingredient for plant-based meals. “The great thing about pasta is it offers you the opportunity to create a natural plant-based recipe using tomatoes, vegies, fresh herbs, fruits, lemons, truffles, all those sorts of ingredients. It’s a simple solution to balance your vegetarian end of the menu.”
While acknowledging the improvement in gluten free pastas, Peter emphasises the need to use separate cooking utensils from regular pasta to prevent cross-contamination. “The problem with that is needs to be cooked to order, and if you’re a busy restaurant it can be a pain, but it’s important because there’s such demand for it.”
He says experimentation with filled pastas is becoming the norm at higher end restaurants and pubs – “Chefs love to experiment with fillings and when it comes to pasta, it’s something you need to practise but once you get it right it’s like riding a bike – it’s not a difficult skill to learn. We’re seeing a lot of herbs and other inclusions being pressed into the dough – that can give a pleasing appearance and in fact you can infuse pastas with all sorts of things. Some chefs are using beetroot powders and herb powders to impart colour – a deep purple beetroot pasta filled with a tasty ricotta or goat’s cheese with cracked pepper is definitely something that’s not difficult to make.
“When it comes to pasta, we say the flavour is in the filling, but you also need to make sure there’s enough moisture in the sauce”
“Fresh herbs and pastes are great to use as inclusions, and you need to make sure you’re using good oil too. Olive oil might be a lot more expensive these days – the price doubled last year due to a worldwide shortage – but don’t skimp on a good oil, and be sure to use a good butter as well. You don’t need to add too much to get a beautiful flavour.
Peter also offers some advice in preparing your pasta sauces: “When it comes to pasta, we say the flavour is in the filling, but you also need to make sure there’s enough moisture in the sauce. When you’re putting the sauce over your pasta, there has to be enough to coat the pasta right down to the last forkful. You should be wiping the bowl with the last bit of sauce – the pasta doesn’t need to be drenched in it, but you shouldn’t skimp on it either. So when you’re developing your recipes, be sure to sit there and eat the whole portion – pasta can be very filling, and you want to make sure you’re not serving too much, but not too little either!”
