It became clear early on that Fazio’s needed to stand out from other Italian restaurants on Cape Cod in order to be successful. Quality homemade pasta was something that no other restaurant was bothering to do. After much research, we developed a line of pasta to encorporate into our menu. Keeping with the basic theme of our restaurant, we wanted to produce a hearty and tooth-some pasta that we could flavor and cut into various widths. We only use 4 ingredients in our pasta: the finest durum wheat and semolina, fresh eggs, and water. The dough is mixed, and spices such as black and red pepper, spinach, basil, and rosemary can be added. The pasta machine we use presses the dry, sawdust-like dough between two rollers to create long pasta sheets. These sheets are cut and fed through dies, cutting the pasta into different widths such as angel hair, linguini, tagliatelle, and fettucine. The end result is a dense pasta that cooks up al dente and holds that texture all the way to the table. Small hand-crank home machines produce bubble-gum texture pasta that ends up cooking up like egg noodles. They do not apply enough pressure to mix the semolina.

Restaurants that bring in fresh pasta use products that contain long lists of ingredients consisting of preservatives and inferior-grade flours. There are a few brands of dried pasta on the market that I would recommend, Dececco being one of them. Most restaurants refuse to spend the money to afford them. Pasta should be served al dente which is tough to the bite. Inexpensive dry pasta will not produce an al dente product. If you have to use dry pasta, buy the best. Imported for certain.

Correct cooking of pasta is essential. Rapidly boiling water of course. Salt, salt, salt, don’t forget the salt. I once worked for an Italian chef in San Francisco who claimed to have cooked pasta in salt water from the mediteranian sea. The pasta will absorb the salted waster and give it flavor. If you miss this step the pasta will be bland.

Many cookbooks include oil. I have never seen the reason for this as the oil and water will seperate. Perhaps to keep the pasta from sticking during the cooking process. My method is much simpler “stir the pasta and it wont stick”. Cooking time is most important. Taste the pasta. Use your teeth to test for that texture that is slightly tough and not crunchy or soft. Bite a noodle in half

during the cooking process. You will see a white ring of uncooked pasta in the center. The pasta is cooked as soon as that ring turns opaque. If the ring is gone you have overcooked your pasta. Remember the pasta will keep cooking all the way to the table so under cook if possible. Cooling and reusing is not recomended but possible. Strain and cool by submerging in cold water to stop the cooking as soon as possible.

Enjoy one of our homemade pasta dishes such as tagliatelle pepe nero salsiccia e melanzane, which is black pepper tagliatelle in a tomato sauce served with diced eggplant and sausage. Become a pasta connesieur. The next time you are out for pasta examine the bite and the consistancy of the pasta you are eating and don’t settle for less than a quality product.  Dine with us at Fazio’s Trattoria and experience pasta at it’s finest. You will surely taste the difference.

- Chef Tomasso