First Course: Fidelari
First Course is a series on Pasghetti & Momatoes dedicated to the newbies, filled with early looks at recently launched restaurants, bars and delivery services. Currently that means the folk who were brave enough (or mad enough) to open up during a pandemic, and could really do with your support.
Thirteen has got some stiff competition these days. I wonder if, before the century is out, the number “2020” will also get its very own phobia, routinely signal mathematical doom in horror movies or be omitted from the room rosters of superstitious hotels.
You don’t need me to explain to you why this year has been so crap. Even if you and your loved ones have been lucky enough to be in good health this year, you’ve probably been dealt the shit end of the stick in some form or another.
And yet, despite it being perfectly acceptable for us all to have done nothing but sulk for the last nine months, so many people have turned aspects of this horrid year into something really quite amazing.
Personally, I have been bowled over again and again by the incredible resilience, creativity and generosity of the UK’s hospitality industry. Bars – arguably the hardest hit subsector – turned their businesses into bottle shops and drinks delivery services. Patron-less hotels donated overnight stays to NHS workers. Restaurants that had every right to focus on their own survival went out of their way to distribute free school meals to children.
And then there are the people who chose this time (knowingly or otherwise) to start something brand new. Puglian-born duo Vanessa Mosca and Valentina Nigro have done just that. The pair met while working as restaurant manager and head pasta chef respectively at Theo Randall at the Intercontinental, before leaving their roles during the spring lockdown.
Mosca and Nigro have since co-founded Fidelari, a dedicated fresh pasta delivery service. They are certainly not alone. If 2019 was the year of the fresh pasta restaurant, then 2020 is the one for pappardelle-in-the-post. The likes of Pasta Evangelists have done so well that they can now afford tube adverts, and every Italian restaurant in London that knows what’s good for them has learnt how to vacuum pack ravioli.
Fidelari’s USP is its ideological resistance to fads: a commitment to showcasing authentic Italian recipes, championing hometown favourites and sharing little-known traditions. Valentina makes the pasta by hand herself, having learnt from her nonna as a child. As my grandmother’s culinary talents didn’t get much further than boiling cabbage into oblivion, I’ve shamelessly bought into the romance of it all before my Fidelari pack even arrives.
When it does, I see the instructions are via video only, which makes the tech-resistant part of me whimper. Portions are petite too – more “small plates in a restaurant” in size than “clandestine carbs on the sofa” – but there were good things to be found in these small packages.
Delicate nuggets of grooved gnocchi bounce from pan to plate happily, retaining that essential morsel of resistant chew. Under orders, I smother them in the paired rocket pesto – peppery and zesty – before bejewelling the pile with punch-packing confit Datterini tomatoes, bursting with tangy umami.
Next, ribbons of flour-dusted, zigzag-cut pappardelle arrive perhaps too thoughtfully folded. I chuck them all in without a thought, and discover they require a bit of separating halfway through. Luckily, they do this without fuss, before clinging wonderfully to the warmed beef ragu, drinking up gravy like a champion and seamlessly assimilating their silkiness with the rustic, unctuous mess of meat. A slender side of focaccia Pugliese, topped with sun-blushed tomatoes and black olives, doesn’t quite hit the mark, lacking in the crackle-and-squidge of fatter, bubblier portions.
But perhaps most importantly, Fidelari feels personal. Hand-rolled gnocchi comes with the asymmetrical charm, while the low-and-slow, brothy depths of the ragu smack of a nonna attempting to get some winter fat on you. Home cooking is great, but it’s even better when someone does it for you.
This DIY pasta kit was supplied as a complimentary press sample.
For more information, visit fidelari.com
