A Glasgow restaurateur is leading a call to encourage more Scots to make their own pasta from scratch.
Speaking ahead of World Pasta Day this Friday (25 October), Giovanna Eusebi, owner of Eusebi Deli in the city’s West End, has championed authentic handmade pasta as a healthy, cheap and sustainable ingredient.
Giovanna’s aim is to demystify the art of pasta-making and inspire more people to try their hand at creating their own fresh pasta this autumn.
Eusebi’s is home to Glasgow’s only pasta lab, where fresh pasta is hand-rolled daily, using just two ingredients: flour and eggs, with no preservatives or chemicals.
The Eusebi’s team creates more than 200 plates of pasta daily, with some of the deli and restaurant’s most popular dishes including black truffle fettucine and papparedelle with gorgonzola and red onion.
Giovanna, whose parents opened the original Eusebi Deli in Shettleston more than 40 years ago, is now encouraging home cooks to experiment not only with seasonal recipes, but with alternative ways of making pasta itself.
Since opening Eusebi’s in Glasgow’s West End four years ago, Giovanna and her team have continually adapted their staple pasta recipe with alternative flours, such as chestnut, pea and kamut, an ancient grain related to modern wheat – as well as using squid ink, beetroot, peppers and a range of other vegetables to organically colour the dough.
As well as providing a naturally sweet, autumnal flavouring, chestnut flour is a popular gluten free alternative to traditional wheat flour.
Giovanna said: ‘The premise of making fresh pasta daily in the restaurant came straight from my Nonna’s table in Italy. In the original Shettleston deli, we hand-rolled pasta every single day, to a simple recipe which has been passed down through the generations.
‘At Eusebi’s, we value genuine, honest cooking and make everything from scratch. The whole team here is dedicated to fresh, authentic, simple pasta, made by hand every day, as my grandmothers and their grandmothers did.
‘Pasta-making is something which many people can find daunting, but it really is so easy. It’s a myth that you have to own a pasta machine – the only piece of kit you need is a rolling pin. My top tip is to make sure you use the very best flour and eggs; the quality of your ingredients is so important. Make sure to let the dough rest before rolling it out, and remember that practice makes perfect, so don’t give up!’
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