This is Mike "agnolotti" Angeloni. He's probably the best looking of the kitchen bunch with his italian boyish looks and he's also the hoofs baker, pastry chef and pasta maker. He's spent the last few years at Splendido working under David Lee and although he's only in his early 20's, he is sure to make an impact on toronto's food scene one day soon. Like most italians, his food approach is to keep it simple and traditional. He has a tendency to sleep through his alarm clock and show up several minutes late in a cab outside the hoof cafe.
This is Guy "GingerHead" Rawlings. Guy just returned from Beijing where he spent the last 4 months discovering the food and culture and most recently was heading up the kitchen at Delux, before that he was the Chef de Cuisine at Cowbell, and has also spent time cooking in the UK. Guy is the craziest of the bunch and is generally always "outside the box" rather then within. He is currently seeking someone to fund his own restaurant but for now is cooking some badass brunch.
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I know this seems a little off topic but since you are talking about Mike "the pasta maker" i had a quick question. Do you freeze your stuffed pasta? and if so what is the process you use? I make a lot of stuffed pasta and have been experimenting with freezing it but sometimes the integrity of the pasta is compromised when you boil it . . . should you dry it before you freeze it or does it matter? thanks in advance
Colin,
We rarely have pastas for longer then two days before they are sold , but pasta of any kind will degrade in the freezer over time. For home use I have pasta for a month frozzen before I eat. Obviously I'm not picky at my home. For restaurant use it's completely different. Stuffed pasta isn't dried before we freeze it. We just dust it with fine cornmeal on a tray into the freezer uncovered and bagged up in thick freezer ziplock bags as soon as it's frozen enough that it won't stick. Pasta dough and filling portioned and frozen then pulled as you need it then rolled out and stuffed might be a better alternative depending on your situation. Noodles we lightly dry out after being bundled into portions then frozen, but we generally just lay it on a tray and use it fresh for two services then make it again.
I absolutely love these profiles. Somehow it makes eating at the Hoof more...personable.
one thing I learned for stuffed pasta you should try is to steam it. I learned this from an amazing chef in italy. you need a combi oven though. after you make your ravioli (torts whatever) sheet them up on parchment and give them four minutes in a combi oven on steam just enough for the starch to gelatinize and get a good sheen, then rail em up in the freezer. worked great when we brought them to the line.
Thanks for the help. Much appreciated and keep up the good work!
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