Executive chef George Dyer highlights a frequent error in selecting pasta, favoring dried over fresh for hearty dishes. He recommends the De Cecco brand from UK supermarkets for its quality. Dyer also provides a simple homemade pasta recipe for superior results.
Executive chef George Dyer, who oversees catering at Lapland Famille, points out that many shoppers mistakenly believe fresh pasta is superior to dried. In reality, dried pasta performs better with robust sauces.
"Dried pasta is often the better choice - especially with a ragù, a tomato sauce, nduja, anything with real body to it. It can take the heat, it holds the sauce, it doesn't fall apart on you," Dyer explains.
For fresh pasta, he advises pairing it with lighter options. "Fresh is wonderful, but it's delicate. It suits lighter, silkier dishes - brown butter and sage, a simple cream sauce. It's more of a treat. You wouldn't throw it into a Sunday ragù," he adds.
When shopping in UK supermarkets, Dyer consistently chooses De Cecco. "If I'm grabbing pasta off a shelf in the UK, it's De Cecco - full stop. It holds its bite, it doesn't turn to mush, and it behaves properly when you're finishing it in the sauce," he says. A 400g packet of spaghetti costs £2.
This preference stems from De Cecco's production methods. "They've stuck with slow drying and proper durum wheat for a long time, and you can taste the difference. There's a slightly wheaty, nutty flavour that a lot of cheaper dried pastas just don't have," Dyer notes.
Dyer rarely buys store pasta, opting to make his own for special occasions. "When I want it to taste like something special, I just make it myself. It's not as intimidating as people think, and the difference is immediately obvious the moment you taste it," he states.
His basic recipe uses 300g of 00 flour or 250g of 00 flour with 50g extra fine semolina, two whole eggs, three egg yolks, and a pinch of salt. To prepare, form a well in the flour on a board, add eggs and salt, mix into dough, rest for 30 minutes, then roll and cut to shape.