The Pure Joy of Saturday Night Pasta, With Elizabeth Hewson-Chapman
Plus her favourite pasta recipes of all time.
Morning, everyone!
Are you looking for “the food version of punching a boxing bag”? You’re in the right place.
This week, we're leaning in to the pure joy of pasta with Elizabeth Hewson-Chapman - author, restaurant marketing whiz and instigator of the fast-growing #saturdaynightpasta movement. In fact, she's fresh off the plane from Rome, where she spent a week immersed in the stuff.
Lizzie talks McComas (SoRo sends her love from Europe - let’s hope she brings back all her eating tips) through treating pasta-making as a form of self care, her favourite pasta restaurants and all her little tricks to making dough from scratch. She talks about this practice so beautifully, a listener (thanks, Alex!) actually described it as “poetry”. Wowza.
Full list of Lizzie's recommendations below!
Follow the conversation on Instagram @highlyenthused, or email us by simply replying to this email. We love hearing from you guys.
EAT:
Italian Pork Sausages, Romeo’s Fine Food (available at Carriageworks Farmers’ Market)
OTTO Ristorante, Woolloomooloo
Sagra Restaurant, Darlinghurst
Tipo 00, Melbourne
Templo Restaurant, Hobart
DO:
Throw caution to the wind and sign up for Pasta School in Rome, Grano & Farina
READ:
Geometry of Pasta, by Jacob Kenedy and Caz Hildebrand, Booktopia
Encyclopaedia of Pasta, by Oretta Zanini De Vita, Booktopia
BUY
Marcato Atlas Pasta Machine, Victoria’s Basement
Dough Scraper, Kitchen Warehouse
Fluted Pasta/Pastry Cutter, Williams Sonoma
WATCH
Pasta Grannies, YouTube (in particular, the episodes on orecchiette, and agnolotti dal plin)
THE FAST FIVE
Caputo “00” Flour, Harris Farm
Use farm-fresh eggs. Try the Gunning Bum Nuts brand from Harris Farm, or seek out fresh-as-possible eggs at your local farmers’ market.
Use a spray bottle of water to moisten your dough evenly, rather than wet hands.
Use tongs to bring your pasta straight out of your cooking water directly into your pan of sauce, to perfectly emulsify (don’t forget to add a knob of butter to make it aaaall glossy ✨)
Roald Dahl on being an enthusiast.
LIZZIE’S FAVOURITE PASTA RECIPES
Marcella Hazan’s Tomato Sauce, New York Times (paywall)
Tipo 00's casarecce with pork and fennel sausage ragù, Gourmet Traveller
Matt Breen's Mum's lasagne, Gourmet Traveller
Spaghetti vongole, Jamie Oliver
Don Peppino's Rigatoni with rabbit ragù, Gourmet Traveller
Rigatoni all'Amatriciana, Gourmet Traveller
Timpano alla ‘Big Night’, New York Times (paywall)
See you next week!