I
am a big fan of fresh pasta, and even though I have a pasta machine I
don't use it as often as I should. My enthusiasm was renewed after
attending an enjoyable pasta workshop given by a lovely Italian chef at
the Millennium Hotel London Mayfair.
My
problem with making fresh pasta is that it always seems so
time-consuming and messy, but this demonstration was neither! We were
shown how to make fresh pasta from scratch and, after making the pasta,
turned it into noodles, spaghetti and ravioli.
As
I couldn't bring the chef home, I dug out the pasta machine and made my
own. I tried to remember his recipe, which I believe to be 50g of egg
for every 100g of double '00' flour (found in most supermarkets). Add a
splash of olive oil, a couple of pinches of salt and, with a little
mixing and kneading, you have the perfect pasta dough.
My pasta, tortellini with ricotta, Parmesan and spinach filling.
The
Millennium Hotel London Mayfair is a fabulous 18th century London
mansion, which was originally built as a stately townhouse, and
overlooks Grosvenor Square Gardens in the heart of fashionable Mayfair.
After the workshop, we were treated to dinner at the hotel's Italian
restaurant, AVISTA,
which has been awarded two rosettes from the prestigious AA Food Guide.
The head chef is Michele Granziera, who won the award for his wonderful
mix of rustic and refined regional Italian cooking.
I started with marinated salmon cerviche, which was served with a lovely
sauce and crisp red onions. As we had been making pasta, I chose a
pasta main course of penne arrabiata, which is penne with a sauce of
tomatoes, chillies and garlic. This dish was good but rather mild, I
would personally have preferred a bit more heat! I chose a tiramisu for dessert
(one of my all-time favourite desserts) and it was gorgeous;
the mascarpone cream was soft and the coffee flavour perfectly
balanced.
I had a great evening and hope to get my pasta machine out a little more often!
Salmon cerviche
Penne arrabiata
Tiramisu
Some of the other dishes on the menu were salmon with spinach, ice cream selection, passion fruit brulee and we finished with coffee and Italian dolce.
Disclaimer: I was invited to this event but was not paid to attend or write this post, all views are my own.
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This content belongs to Nic at Cherrapeno.
All writing and photography copyright N Fowers
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3 comments:
i've never made fresh pasta, but i sure do like to eat it. :)
Great article! There is nothing like fresh and self made pasta (and bread btw.)! Making your own pasta is a quick thing once you get used to it (I do it once or twice every week).
This pasta is a real treat because you can create variations of tastes and with some quick changes or additionals you top most restaurants anyway and you won't go out eating normal pasta anymore! As a foodie I like traditionally cooking baking and preparing my food from high quality ingredients.
reminds me I don't make fresh pasta often enough! It's so easy as long as you use the right ingredients.. Flour very important! Nice pictures, too
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