Fresh pasta | Pasta for life

Italian-style fresh pasta is a real refuge food in times of uncertainty. In recent years, many restaurant workers have decided to devote themselves to it. Why is that ? Because everyone loves pasta, believe the duo of Pasta Pooks and the couple behind Paradiso.

Victor-Alex Petrenko, the exuberant half of the Pasta Pooks tandem, argues that our attachment to Italian pasta, in the cultures that have integrated it, comes from the fact that it is one of the first things we eat in the world. ‘childhood. Even the pickiest of toddlers won’t turn down a bowl of buttery pasta. Besides, don’t restaurant menus “for children” systematically contain spaghetti? And we know that the dishes of childhood will later become the comfort foods of a lifetime.

Path

For Victor’s partner (aka “Coach Vic”), also a long-time friend, this is all the more true since he was born into an Italian family. Luca Labelle Vinci (aka “Pooks”) grew up watching his mother and grandmother make ravioli and tagliatelle by hand. And eating it of course! He got his hands dirty himself while working in a bar in Quebec. His employer bought the small production he made with his dear mom.

Once in Montreal, he felt like quitting room service and bartending to work in the kitchen. He studied BarBara, Impasto and Mano Cornuto, to finally return to Impasto a few months ago. The co-owners, Michele Forgione and Stefano Faita, then chef Charles Lacroix, opened wide the doors of traditional Italian cuisine to him.

In addition to arriving at the restaurant at 7 a.m. to prepare at least four kinds of fresh pasta, he does the lunch service behind the stove, which allows him to put his precious gnocchi, tortellini and other balanzonis in sauce. Impasto’s gluten-heavy Instagram account is one of the most salivating in Montreal restaurants.

But Pasta Pooks isn’t just for the palate. It’s also an entertainment company that uses great food as an excuse to party.

Victor-Alex Petrenko and Luca Vinci held several events in restaurants in the metropolis, such as Boxermans, Air Conditioned Room and Floating Island. They sold packets of fresh pasta at the very merry Christmas market at Gia Restaurant, where Coach Vic worked indoors until recently. They even traveled to Brooklyn, to the Leo pizzeria, to feast around the divine polpette and tortelli.

This winter, Luca Vinci is focusing on his development in the kitchen and on exploring the great classics. He is inspired, among other things, by the books Encyclopedia of Pasta (Vita’s Oretta Zanini) And Mastering Pasta (Marc Vetri) and Instagram accounts of those he calls his “pasta influencers”: @famiglia_baldassarre, @dan.falconi, @lucacappuccinodonofrio, @evanfunke, among others.

But it is her aunt Anna Maria Vinci who is her biggest influence, with her deep knowledge of the cuisine of Sardinia, the island where her mother’s family comes from. Victor considers this outstanding cook as his adoptive mother. He ate many meals at his table as a teenager, after the death of his own mother.

In spaghettoni heaven

Kira German and Will Weston don’t have Italian blood, but tomato sauce still runs through their veins. Kira German worked in the kitchens of Nora Gray for four years, ending up as a chef. Will Weston rolled dough at the Monkland Tavern and handled pans at Joe Beef.

The couple opened Paradiso last spring on Victoria Avenue in Westmount. He decided to focus on one specialty – sacred fresh dough – and do it exceptionally well.

“I love pasta, its versatility. It’s a staple, but it can also be grand,” says Kira German. “It’s the great unifier, continues Will Weston. I don’t know anyone who hates pasta. »

In its chic religious-themed location, Paradiso offers several forms of fresh pasta to cook at home, as well as a different filled pasta every day, from Tuesday to Saturday, to eat on site (there are only two tables ) or to take away. It is also possible to be served pasta shells or bucatinis at Bar St-Denis, Joe Beef and Taverne Monkland, among others.

At this scale of production, even if it remains modest and artisanal, it is not possible to produce certain more complicated “models”, such as orecchiete and pici. “We love making tortellini, but it takes so long. Also mafalde, spaghettoni, rigatoni and papardelle are more common.

To taste Pooks’ pasta this winter, you have to have a meal at Impasto or wait for the opening of the bar on which his partner Victor-Alex Petrenko is currently working. The festive pasta parties will resume with the arrival of good weather.

Sardinian gnocchetti, sausage sauce (Gnocchetti alla campidanese)

Prepared by Luca Labelle Vinci, of Pasta Pooks

Ingredients for the sauce

680 ml tomato coulis (passata)
550 g fresh strong sausage flavored with fennel (strong Italian sausage)
1 finely chopped Spanish onion
3 tbsp. olive oil
250 g pecorino sardo or grated romano cheese
Salt and pepper
Basil leaves (optional)

Preparation

1. Remove the sausages from their casings and crumble them. To book.

2. Gently sauté the onion in olive oil until it becomes translucent.

3. Stir in sausage meat and sauté for about 15 minutes or until meat is no longer pink, stirring occasionally.

4. Add the tomato coulis, season with salt and pepper and simmer over low heat for 30 to 40 minutes.

5. Add a few basil leaves and adjust the seasoning.

Ingredients for the gnocchetti

400 g reground durum wheat semolina flour (semola rimacinata)¹ 220 g lukewarm water 2 pinches of crushed saffron

Preparation

1. Dilute the saffron in lukewarm water.

2. On a work surface, form a well with the semolina.

3. Pour half of the saffron flavored water into the center of the well.

4. Gradually add the semolina to the water and start mixing.

5. Gradually add the rest of the water. You can use a scraper-chopper (see photo) to facilitate incorporation. If the dough seems too dry, spray it with water. If it is too wet, add a little semolina. Work until you get a smooth paste.

6. Knead the dough until it becomes soft and homogeneous, for about ten minutes.

7. Let the dough rest covered with plastic wrap for about an hour.

8. Knead the dough a little, flatten it, then divide it into strips. Take one and put the rest back in the plastic wrap.

9. Using a back and forth motion with your hands, roll each strip of dough into a thin cylinder the thickness of your finger.

10. Cut each cylinder into 1 cm pieces.

11. Roll each small piece on a grooved baking sheet or on the back of a fork and place on a floured baking sheet.

For the service

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.

2. Add the gnocchetti and cook for about 5 minutes or until desired tenderness.

3. Drain and arrange on a large serving platter. Stir sausage stew and sprinkle with pecorino. Bon appetite!