It is not often you get to cook with one of the city’s most renowned chefs.
A year ago I learned how to make pizza with Chef David Hawksworth of the restaurant Hawksworth (bearing his name), and Nightingale. Today I was back at the latter to learn how to make pasta with him.
Known for their pastas, Nightingale has a dedicated chef assigned to the pasta station, so that they can serve only handmade, fresh pastas, daily. And we would get a mere glimpse of the operation as we were invited to dawn aprons and head into the back kitchen, following the lead of Chef Hawksworth himself.
The pasta station is a small corridor of a space, making this workshop all the more intimate. It would have be nice to have a window. Not only to make it less claustrophobic, but so that guests could get a glimpse of this operation during their visit. Sort of like how Chinese restaurants hand pulling noodles and hand folding dumplings have a glass window for you to witness this, and know that what you are getting takes skill. Plus it is a draw-in for those like me, who love watching their food being made.
Today we would learn how to make a raviolo. This is a giant stuffed ravioli, so large that you only need one to make a full meal. This dish and recipe is near and dear to our Chef, as he recalled the story of how he first learned to make this when he was 19 years old, feeling the pressure from his Chef that made his hands shake.
The dough and filling was already premade for us, we would be learning how it all gets assembled, with the ability to do it ourselves.
We did get a crash course in making the prefect pasta dough. The secret is to use more egg yolks, double than what you think you would need. This and more water ensures that your pasta stays hydrated with a silky smooth texture. You want to give your dough at least 30 minutes rest time, if not overnight. Enough time to allow the dough to relax as the mixing process has it going through a lot.
If you don’t have the appliance to roll out your dough, like they have here in a commercial kitchen, you can always use a rolling pin and do it traditionally by hand.
We watched the dough get flattened and thinner out through the pasta machine. Then pipped with a generous dollop of a ricotta and spinach mix. This is made into a well so that a mix or mushrooms can be scooped into it. Then an egg wash gets brushed around each filling round, that will be used to sandwich two sheets of pasta dough together. But before that a whole egg yolk gets separated from the white and placed gingerly atop of your filling pile.
You flatten the sheets together ensuring that everything is sealed, using a mould to help round off the edges. Next the edges are trimmed with a cookie cutter for the perfect round dome-shaped pasta package.
Chef Hawksworth then boiled all the raviolo and plated each for us to all sit down together and enjoy. If done correctly, when you slice into it your yolk should run. This was topped with more seasoned mushrooms in a butter sauce mix.
This is not part of their regular menu, so don’t come in trying to order it until September. With its seasonal sautéed mushrooms, rich butter, egg yolk, and pasta; this is the perfect comfort fall dish that that puts you to sleep. So to lighten things up lemon and fresh herbs are used in the sauce.
Hot tip from Chef Hawksworth is to store fresh sliced truffle with your eggs and butter to have the flavour infuse in fridge over night. He also recommends topping the ravioli with a couple of truffle gratings, if you have it. He highly recommends using fresh truffle or none at all, saying no to oil.
This was so decadent that one ravioli was plenty. Thankfully we were able to enjoy it with a couple of small share plates so that we could balance it out with some fresh vegetables the likes of salad and tomatoes.
The Mixed green salad had mandarin orange, dates, and crispy chickpea in maple dijon dressing. And their Heirloom tomatoes were topped with burrata, and a garlic bread crumb in a saba vinaigrette. Both spoke well to the quality and clean ingredients that they use.
A couple of the others in attendance had never been to Nightingale before so I insisted that they try their famous fried chicken, and lucky us, the kitchen obliged. This is one of the healthiest fried chicken dishes I have ever had. It is everything you love about friend chicken: it’s textured buttermilk breading for crunch and its juicy centre of tender meat. Not greasy, this sits in a pool of spiced maple syrup with sumac. It is best enjoyed with a slice of pickle for a sweet and tangy bite. My own gripe is that there just isn’t enough pickles for an even 1:1 ratio.
And for dessert our small group shared a meringue pie, served as a slice with a towering tuft of torched meringue atop a tart of vanilla, kalamansi, and lemon curd. This was a refreshing way to cleanse the palate and end on a sweet note.
Nightingale Restaurant
1017 W Hastings St, Vancouver, BC V6C 2G6
(604) 695-9500
hawknightingale.com
