Making home-made pasta at Ida

Tucked on the corner of Kilburn Lane at then end of a long row of red-brick terraced cottages, typical of the Queen's Park estate in west London, is a pocket of rustic Italian charm, a cosy family restaurant that has been delighting locals since it opened two and a half years ago.

Ida is run by husband and wife team, Avi and Simonetta Reichenbach and is named after Avi's mother, who taught him to cook. It is Avi who greets me as I arrive on a bright, sunny Saturday morning to take part in the first of Ida's new four hour pasta making courses, which will focus on primi from different regions, covering tagliatelle, risotti, gnocchi, cannelloni and other favourites.

HOME-MADE PASTA

It is rare to find restaurants that make home-made pasta these days, says Avi, as he leans against the muted green exterior of Ida before the rest of the class arrives. Even in Italy, everyone buys machine-made, but, he tells me, the taste and texture of real pasta is "completely different." I'm looking forward to finding out. Inside Ida, the cream walls are covered in a higgledy-piggledy assortment of Italian prints and paintings, and tables have been pushed together to form a series of work-tops, on which a number of ingredients are laid out.

There are six of us in the class and we are put in pairs. Giacomo Matera, the head chef, is our teacher for the day. He's from Puglia in Italy and his grandmother used to get up at 5am every morning to make home-made pasta for the day's meals. He doesn't speak a word of English so Avi translates as we start chopping carrots, celery, garlic, onion and meat for Brodo di Manzo (beef broth) and Ragu di Manzo (classic beef and tomato sauce), which will simmer away while we prepare our pasta.

FRIENDLY, INFORMAL ATMOSPHERE

We are making two types of pasta today: the first is Tagliatelle di Semola, which is made with semolina flour, water and eggs; the second is Strichetti, for which we're just using flour and eggs. It is tough work kneading and rolling out the dough, and watching Giacomo, it's clear there's a real knack to it, which I'm not sure I've mastered yet. All the pasta is cut by hand using special techniques to help you keep the pieces even sized, though watch your fingers with Ida's razor sharp knives (I nearly lost a thumb).

The class has a friendly, informal atmosphere with music playing in the background and proper Italian coffee offered around mid-morning. It's fun being put in a pair as you can chat away while you work, and at the end of the session sit down with a carafe of wine to eat the meal that you have prepared together.

My partner and I both preferred our Strichetti pasta (made without water) to the Tagliatelle, which tasted quite tough and floury and agreed that we had a long way to go before our home-made pasta making skills were up to dinner party standards. The broth was delicious however, as was the ragu, which, made with hand-diced meat, was one of the best I've ever tasted.

RECIPE SHEET & CERTIFICATE

At the end of the class Avi presented each of us with a recipe sheet and a certificate commemorating our new found skills. It was a nice touch at the end of a happy four hours, and the most productive Saturday morning I've had for some time.

CONTACT

Classes cost £45 per person and take place between 10am and 2pm every Saturday. To find out more, visit www.idarestaurant.co.uk

IDA Restaurant, 167 Fifth Avenue, London, W10 4DT; 020 8969 9853; mail@idarestaurant.co.uk

Emily Jenkinson

Picture credit: @JamesMorris

30 November 09