Meet The Maker: Gaia Enria The Fresh Pasta Maker

In Italy, fresh pasta shops, known as pastificio, specialise in selling different types of pasta to cook at home. Now London’s getting in on the act; Gaia Enria, 44, opened Burro e Salvia on Redchurch Street, Shoreditch, in 2013. The name is Italian for ‘butter and sage’ – a simple, common accompaniment to fresh pasta.

Gaia opened her shop as she felt that there wasn’t anywhere where she could get great, artisan-made fresh pasta. Each type of pasta has a backstory; strozzapreti for instance, translates as ‘priest-strangler’, while orecchiette means ‘little ears’. As well as shaped pastas, Gaia specialises in handmade, filled types of pasta such as cappelletti and agnolotti.

‘Orecchiette are the most time-consuming to make’ Gaia says. There’s a real technique to pulling a knife over the small ball of dough at just the right pressure to get the resulting oval, ear-like shape. ‘They’re very small, they weigh almost nothing, but they’re very rewarding.’

Cooking fresh pasta is easy, and Gaia tells us the three simple tips you need in this short video. If you’re interesting in learning more about how to make fresh pasta, including filled versions, Gaia’s also running a series of workshops and demonstrations in store, check her website for details.