We asked Davide Oldani the secret to savor the best of wheat and how to rediscover pasta in its classic formats, those to which we are linked by an Italian instinct
What is hidden in the new Barilla packaging blue like the Italian sky? The classic pasta that we have always known, but which has been renewed since 100% Italian wheat. Four varieties of Italian durum wheat selected to give life to an excellent raw material, even more full-bodied and capable of telling the authentic flavor of wheat, but also capable of satisfying our desire to pasta al dente. The new, even more tenacious pasta is offered in 10 classic formats: Spaghetti N.5, Spaghetti Grossi N.7 and Spaghettoni N.8, which increase their diameter; Penne N. 73, Mezze Penne N.70, Tortiglioni N.83, Mezze Maniche N.84, Rigatoni N.89 and Linguine N.13, which increase in thickness; finally the Fusilli N.98, redesigned in the form.
An excellent reason for rediscover the charm of classic formats that have always accompanied our home recipes, our most intimate memories, but also pleasant discoveries in the fine dining world, such as Davide Oldani's lying spaghetti that he told us in this interview. We indeed asked the chef of the D'O and Brand Ambassador Barilla, to guide us on a journey, through his instinct as a star chef, discovering the most authentic perfumes and forms of durum wheat to discover, once again, that pasta has not yet been imagined. For example: would you ever have thought of eating it with a knife and fork as if it were a piece of meat? And to toast it?
Dear Davide, before moving on to serious questions, let's play a game. Close your eyes, clear your mind and imagine being in your kitchen. If we tell you pasta, what image do you see? Are they spaghetti, penne or particular formats to which you feel attached?
“I instinctively see a spaghetti, then immediately followed by the half sleeve. If I close my eyes, opening them I look for something that will give me security, like spaghetti. But then the hand finds the half sleeve, which for me is fleshy in a metaphorical sense .
SWe started from here because pasta is a matter of instinct for us. We use a format because it reminds us of mom's tomato pasta or to break with tradition to reproduce a dish tasted at home in a restaurant, at a friend's house or during a trip. But what role do pasta shapes play in your POP kitchen? Are they an instrument of creativity, experimentation or inspiration?
«For me, the pasta format has a sense of Italianness in the culinary project. For me, the pasta must be made from durum wheat and it is precisely the dry pasta that leads the game in an Italian menu where maybe even fresh pasta appears. Based on the shapes of the pasta and based on the other shapes that I have on the menu I decide whether to propose a short pasta or a different format. Dry pasta for me is also paddy rice. Each pasta made with durum wheat and water represents a staple of my menu .
You talked about the fleshiness of the pasta which is a very interesting way to define its consistency. What is important for you to find in this sense?
"It is important that it is understood in Italy that we have an excellent product such as pasta that can be handled in a very fine dining way, in the same way in which they decide to serve you a piece of meat abroad. When serving a piece of meat such as loin or breast, the desired cooking is always requested: I spoke of the fleshiness of the pasta because I would like something similar to be proposed with this raw material. That people, thinking about pasta, had in mind the consistency they expect from that dish. For example, I like violin string spaghetti, as they do in Naples, very al dente, almost raw, but it is my taste. I really like the idea of serving a pasta as the customer likes it according to his cooking requests. And it is for this reason that in the next paper we will propose a pasta that will be cut with a knife and a fork, as if it were a piece of animal protein .
Speaking of spaghetti, it is impossible not to think of your impeccable tomato n 5 spaghetti or your legendary lemon-flavored spaghetti cacio e pepe salad. Two very different preparations, which reveal the multifaceted soul of this format to which you are so attached. What are you working on now?
«We have designed a pot in which the spaghetti remains lying in direct contact with the surface of the pot. I toast it raw and then slowly add a drop of water at a time. In this way it releases an intense aroma of wheat thanks to the roasting and then it is cooked by adding a little water and creating a succulent part of the dish by recovering the starch from the cooking water, not draining it. So we have both the smell of wheat and the organoleptic part enhanced by the starch of the pasta that is not dispersed. In this way we have an already very thick sauce that helps complete the dish and that allows us to add less fat. Such a toasted cooking is done for example in Africa with some types of wheat: from there comes the idea of a journey in which I applied this method to a product that is dear to me like pasta ".
Thinking about short pasta instead, we move on to two formats a little 90s or fusilli or farfalle. What advice would you give us about it? Is it just a matter of taste or do we have to consider more technical variants?
Surely the fusillo is the most captivating format because it brings me back to a more enveloping format with the sauce as well as for example the Celentani. The butterfly instead is part of a family culture and is less suitable for the fine dining world, while in the fusillo it has a little more appeal in both fields.
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