In a relatively short space of time, pasta has gone from an exotic dish served by ambitious British cooks in the 1960s to a staple in nearly every single household. It’s a relatively quick thing to cook that’s simple to prepare and can be paired with all sorts of delicious sauces. However, some things were lost in translation during the journey pasta made to our shores. Back in Italy, certain pasta shapes go with certain sauces and dried pasta isn’t just boiled in salted water until soft – it’s cooked in quite a specific way.
That’s why we invited Giuseppe D’Aquino, head chef of the Michelin-starred Ristorante Oseleta in the hills of Lake Garda, to come and show us how it’s done. His cooking draws inspiration from all the different regions of Italy, and he knows how to get the best out of something as simple as dried pasta. It was at the Underground Cookery School in London, in association with Barilla, that he shared his knowledge and expertise with a group of bloggers and journalists.
Giuseppe began by preparing something out of the ordinary for everyone at the event to try – Fusilli with parsley extract, clam cream and sea urchin. The vivid green sauce was intense, fresh and salty, but what was surprising was how al dente the pasta was. While we’re all familiar with this term and know pasta is ready when it still has a little bite to it and doesn’t go fully soft, this was taken off the boil a minute or two before that – something Giuseppe said was very important so as to retain the texture of the pasta.
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Cook school confidential: cooking with pasta