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The Cook Up with Adam Liaw - Season 9 - Episode 26: My Fastest Pasta
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00:22Hello, I'm Adam Liao and welcome to The Cook Up. Have you ever wondered what to do with that room
00:25in your house that's filled with pots and pans? Well, we'll show you. Tonight we are making
00:29carbonara alla panna, cavatelli with Italian pork sausage and broad beans and creamy chicken
00:33fennel and dill pasta. Let's meet our guests. Aaron Ward is the executive chef of Bathers Pavilion
00:38Restaurant. Under his direction, the iconic Balmoral Beach eatery has earned two chef hats
00:43and that is a tip of the hat to you. Aaron, welcome here. Thanks for having me, Adam.
00:47Shea Graham is a librarian by day, para-sport athlete by night and pasta fiend 24-7. She has
00:52captained Australia in wheelchair rugby, played in the Paralympic Games twice and won a world
00:56championship. Hi, Shea. Hello. So, Shea, by day, you're a librarian. And then you leave
01:03work and you go and play a sport that is known as murderball. Yep, I do. How do you reconcile
01:09those two things? I mean, I think they fit together perfectly in that I've got like a really calm
01:16outlet. I spend my time around books and then, you know, at the end of the day, I can go
01:22let
01:22all my frustrations out and smash into people and... Human beings need balance, right?
01:26Yeah, correct. Yeah. Aaron, Bathers Pavilion held one hat for 16 years and then you turn
01:33up and it gets two. How does that feel? Yeah, it's pretty exciting. Yeah. I mean, in that
01:39first year, you must be thinking, well, if we go down to zero, then that's probably not
01:42going to be great for me. Certainly. But, you know, it must be such a validation of your work,
01:46I guess. Yeah. Bathers have got such a big culinary history. You know, everyone's worked
01:51there throughout the industry. So, to be able to bring it back to two hat level, yeah, it's
01:56pretty incredible. Yeah, congratulations. Well, when my macaroni broke the four-minute mile,
02:00I said, wow, that's my fastest pasta. Shea, you're a pasta lover. Why do you love it?
02:07What's not to love? It's delicious. So much variety. You can put whatever you want in
02:13there. And as an athlete, it provides you with the energy that you need to murder people
02:19on a court. On a court, yeah. Yeah, it's great. It's dietitian approved, athlete approved and
02:29delicious. Aaron, how important is speed when it comes to cooking? Like, in the restaurant,
02:34you're making dishes that you can prep and then finish very quickly. For home cooking,
02:40it's kind of like it's the prep and the finishing all has to happen very quickly.
02:43Yeah. I think everyone's, everyone seems to be a little bit time poor these days. So,
02:48I think, yeah, having something that's fast, you know, it's, it's, it's easy.
02:52Absolutely. It certainly is easy.
02:54Everyone likes fast and easy. And that's why I'm making carbonara ala pan.
03:03I feel like I have to explain myself because carbonara ala pan is carbonara with cream. And
03:11that is the thing like everyone gets up and down. You put cream in the carbonara. Why are
03:14you trying to destroy Italy? The reason I'm doing it is because I think it's better and
03:19not necessarily better in terms of taste. But one of the things that I think this kind
03:24of slightly overdoing of having to make every dish completely traditionally does, it means that
03:31people don't make them. So carbonara is a really simple dish to make, really fast dish to make,
03:36really tasty dish to make. And I think sometimes people get a bit nervous because if you're making
03:43it without cream, it can be slightly harder to get that right emulsion of the eggs in with the fat
03:48from the cheese and everything. And so then people are like, oh, I don't want to screw up my
03:51carbonara, so I won't make it. Do you like a carbonara, Shea? Do you put cream in it?
03:57Yes, because I cheat.
04:00Aaron, where are you standing? I'm just trying to get the temperature of the room here.
04:03Yeah, I'm for it. I think if you're just adding the egg to emulsify it, I think it's one of
04:09those
04:09things that you have to eat it then and there. You know, like you've only got a short window to
04:15eat it, otherwise it becomes gluggy. It becomes almost gluey. Basically, when eggs set, they'll
04:21set at roughly, you know, your custard temperature is like 82 degrees-ish. And if it's just the
04:28proteins of the eggs bumping around into each other and setting, that's when you get scrambled
04:32eggs. And so if you're making, say, a creme brulee, for example, you put milk and cream
04:37and all those things in there. And what happens is the milk gets in the way, all those eggs
04:41proteins hitting together. And so the slower they come together, the smoother your custard
04:47is. So with your carbonara, the more things you can put in the way of the eggs coming
04:53together too quickly, which is what traditionally the parmesan would do, the creamier your carbonara
05:00is going to be. So I'm just trying to give people a little bit of help by adding some cream
05:03to it so that there's just more stuff to get in the way of the eggs scrambling. Olive oil
05:10into the pot and in with the bacon. Some people don't put oil in there because the bacon's
05:15going to render out some fat, but I think adding a bit of oil actually helps the evenness
05:19of the heat so that it renders out a bit more evenly. Definitely.
05:24Aaron, you grew up in country New South Wales?
05:27Correct, yeah, from Taree. So a small little country town up on the mid-north coast, probably
05:32known for its dairy farming more than culinary side of things.
05:36And what was it that made you want to become a chef?
05:40I loved food. I just loved cooking. I loved cooking shows. I loved eating. That pretty
05:47much just put two and two together. I wasn't the brightest at school. I liked certain things.
05:53I liked the art side of things. I liked the hospitality side of things. I was quite good
05:58at maths. So putting all those three together, yeah, it was pretty close to working in a kitchen,
06:04I think. Shae, you probably do a lot of interviews about Will J. Rudd.
06:10A lot, yeah.
06:11So I want to ask you first about being a librarian, because I reckon there's a lot of people that
06:14go,
06:15oh, librarian at a museum, that is the ideal job for me. Like that is the ideal job.
06:20For sure, yeah. It is my dream job and I am very lucky to have it. We have like a
06:27quite rich
06:28rare book collection. So, you know, there's times where I spend my day in a rare book collection
06:33working with books from like the 1700s, which is awesome. Honestly, the Paralympics, the wheelchair
06:39rugby, world championships, that's great. But I think kids need more books. I think so too. But
06:45unfortunately, they're very interested in the crashing of the chairs aspect than a really old book.
06:53All right, Luke, that's looking good, the bacon here. So I'm going to turn the heat off because
06:58this is a heavier cast iron pot. So it's going to retain a lot of heat. So I don't want
07:03the heat
07:03to be too high because that's going to be what causes the eggs to scramble a bit too early. So
07:14I'm
07:14going to put a bit of the pasta water in first just to honestly take some of the heat out
07:18of the pan
07:19and then we can put our pasta straight from here in here.
07:26Do you do pasta at bathers, Aaron?
07:29Yeah, we usually have a pasta on the menu or we'll do a pasta special, I guess.
07:35How do you make sure that that pasta is a special one for your clientele?
07:40Lobster.
07:41Fair enough.
07:42Adding lobster definitely helps.
07:45Yeah, usually being by the beach and being so close to the ocean, tend to use a seafood
07:52element, generally lobster. I don't think a lot of people at home would cook a pasta with
07:57lobster in it.
07:58Shay, that brings me to another point. You're a weirdo.
08:02I am very weird, yeah.
08:04And I mean that in the nicest possible way.
08:08But you have some of the strangest food likes. It's not actually the dislikes that are weird.
08:15It's the fact that you like things that are related. So you don't like lobster.
08:19No.
08:20But you do like...
08:21I love prawns.
08:23See, that's weird.
08:24Yeah, I don't know. I think it's something about the way a lobster looks.
08:29But also at the same time, like prawns look weird anyway.
08:33I'd really... I don't know. I can't help you. I can't answer that question. I'm sorry.
08:38Just strange.
08:40So if you'll indulge me, just look at how creamy this becomes.
08:45And it's actually not the cream that's making it creamy. It's the cream helping the emulsification
08:51of everything else that goes into it. So you end up with, you know, the platonic ideal of
08:56carbonara without all the stress. And that's what I like about it. I did not forget the black
09:01pepper. I just like to put it on the top so you can see it. And also because I have
09:05children,
09:05I don't put pepper into stuff until the end. So that they like it. And that is carbonara.
09:13I'm not going to call it traditional carbonara ala pana.
09:20It's just stress-free when you use the cream. Like you're not there worrying, oh my goodness,
09:24is it going to scramble? Am I going to ruin it? Like you're not going to ruin it because
09:27the cream's there. That's why I do it.
09:29It's delicious.
09:30It's really good.
09:31It doesn't taste like a creamy sauce.
09:34No, it doesn't. It just sort of, it just helps the emulsion. I like it.
09:38When we return, Aaron and Shay's fastest pastas.
09:52Welcome back to The Cook-Up. I've made my fastest pasta and now I'm asking my guest,
09:55Hattest Chef Aaron Ward and wheelchair rugby champ Shay Graham to make theirs.
09:59Shay, what is your fastest pasta?
10:01I've got a creamy chicken, fennel and dill pasta.
10:06Lovely. And Aaron, what are you making?
10:08We're making cavatelli with Italian pork sausage and broad beans.
10:11Oh, sounds great.
10:20All right, Aaron, what are you making?
10:22So, cavatelli, so a chewy Italian pasta. It's with the Italian pork sausage and broad beans.
10:29So cavatelli, it's like, I don't know, I always think it looks like, I don't know how to say it,
10:33but little worms or like grubs or kind of thing because it's got those, the ridged kind of edge on
10:38it and they're kind of grub size, but it's got a wonderful texture.
10:42A great texture.
10:43Yeah.
10:43It's made from semolina, water, a little bit of olive oil and just retains that little chewy texture to it.
10:49So it's very hard to overcook, I find.
10:51I love that you're using just the sausages out of their casing. I think that is, I mean, it's not
10:58a secret. Everybody knows it. But sometimes people feel, I guess, I don't know, guilty about it in some way.
11:03Like, they're cheating. They should be making things from scratch all the time, but I just don't think that's the
11:07case.
11:07No, not at all. I think easy to eat as well, I find. It has that texture there of the
11:13skin. I think it gets a little bit tough. Where this, I just sort of just break it up.
11:16Yeah, so you've taken the sausages out of the skin and just sort of mashed them into a pan.
11:19Just mashed it. It's almost like making, I don't know, mixed-matched meatballs, almost.
11:25When you're at home, is this the kind of thing that you like to make?
11:27Yeah, definitely. With two kids, it's got to be something quick, fast, you know, and kids love sausages, you know,
11:34anything like that, whether it's a bolognese or, you know, also trying to get vegetables in there as well as
11:40wherever you can.
11:41Yeah.
11:42But yeah, they love it.
11:43And this has got, you've got kale going in and also some potted broad beans?
11:47Some broad beans, yeah.
11:48Those are great.
11:49You know, beautiful in the middle of spring, these beautiful broad beans.
11:52And then, so yeah, just mix that through. Get a little bit of colour on the pork.
11:56Look, would you say that good quality sausages is the key to this?
11:59100%.
11:59Yeah.
12:00You know, I think all cooking, good quality ingredients makes cooking so much easier, you know, and the final product
12:06at the end.
12:07But even coming down to the seasons, when you're getting it.
12:10You know, I think with Australia, that's the beauty of Australia.
12:13You can get something 365 days a year, but is it going to be in season?
12:17Is it going to be at the best quality?
12:19That's where I think you've got to look for it.
12:20Fabulous.
12:21Put some white wine in this.
12:27Where do you stand on, like, wine in cooking?
12:30Do you have to use good quality wine for cooking?
12:33I think it needs to be at a certain quality, for sure.
12:37With this instance, we use the white wine, we reduce it right down.
12:40You just want to add that little bit of acidity to it.
12:43And that's what we're using the white wine for in this one.
12:45So you want it to be a good quality.
12:48It doesn't have to be your top shelf.
12:49But, yeah, you don't want it to be that as long.
12:53Fair enough.
12:54All right.
12:56Shay, I like the sound of this.
12:58Chicken, fennel, asparagus, all of my favourite things.
13:00Yeah, and sometimes I switch out the chicken and use salmon as well.
13:05Oh, nice.
13:06But I was feeling chicken today.
13:08What are we doing?
13:10We'll just start by chucking in the garlic and the fennel
13:14and fry that up for a little bit.
13:16Great.
13:16And, actually, I will get you to chuck the pasta in for me.
13:21Yes, ma'am.
13:22That's possible.
13:28All right.
13:29Ooh, the garlic smells nice already.
13:31That's what we want.
13:33And I'll chuck the fennel in.
13:37Level with me entirely, honestly.
13:39Yeah.
13:40In a seven-day week, how many of those days are you cooking at home?
13:44Well, I live with my brother, so we kind of share.
13:48So I'll cook one night, he'll cook the other.
13:50That's really good, because I think these days there's a lot of pressure on people.
13:54Like, it's so hard to cook, I can't cook, and I never cook.
13:57And it's actually quite simple,
13:58particularly when you're making fast dishes like these ones.
14:01100%.
14:01And it's nice to know that you're coming home to a home-cooked meal too,
14:06instead of, like, working out what you want to eat,
14:08like, ordering.
14:10Also, like, Monday nights is, like, a local comp rugby thing.
14:14Yeah, right.
14:14So that's normally the night that we eat all the leftovers.
14:18So, you know, trying not to have so much food waste at home.
14:21Well, I'm impressed.
14:23Like, genuinely impressed.
14:25That's the approach that I would love more people to take.
14:29Same.
14:30And I also need to be a lot better at it too.
14:33No, you don't.
14:34Honestly, like, I have a lot of people in this kitchen,
14:37and I talk to them about how they cook,
14:38and I think you're doing just fine.
14:40So chicken breast, thinly sliced going in.
14:43Yeah.
14:43I just put a little bit of salt and pepper on it as well,
14:46just to season it up before it went in.
14:49You know, like...
14:50Let this cook for a little bit and move on to the next step.
14:52One of the things I really like about my job
14:54is that I get to see how a lot of different people cook,
14:56and I can already tell that you're a good cook.
14:59Oh, that's lovely, because I definitely don't think that.
15:02I don't say that definitely, but definitely, I think that you are.
15:08I learn from the best when I watch you guys on TV.
15:12Well, I think this is going to turn out great.
15:16Okay, Aaron.
15:17All right.
15:17Oh, you cook in the...
15:19Is that cavallonero?
15:20Cavallonero, broad beans, and the cavatelli.
15:22In with the cavatelli, that's cool.
15:23Yeah.
15:24So the cavatelli has been cooking for about four minutes.
15:27Yeah.
15:28Literally, cavallonero, 30 seconds, broad beans, 30 seconds.
15:32And then straight in.
15:33Okay.
15:35And are they frozen broad beans, or...?
15:37No, these are fresh.
15:38Fresh, double-potted.
15:39Double-potted.
15:41So the broad bean comes in a big bean.
15:43You take out the pot.
15:44It's got another kind of, like, leathery kind of shell around it.
15:49You take that out and you get these lovely skinny ones in the middle.
15:53A bit labour-intensive, but worth it in the end, I think.
15:55Worth it.
15:55Definitely worth it.
15:57And then a little bit of the pasta water.
16:02Does semolina pasta water thicken in the same way that, I guess, a flour pasta water does?
16:09Yeah, exactly the same way.
16:10Yeah, okay.
16:11Yeah, so you've got those, all the, I guess, the carbohydrates in there that help it thicken
16:16it.
16:17And then we just cook that out.
16:19And then what we'll do, just add a little bit of butter.
16:22Oh, nice.
16:23Always butter.
16:25A little bit of butter to help it emulsify.
16:27A little bit of salt.
16:30Oh, look at that.
16:31That's looking great in there, isn't it?
16:32You can see that.
16:34Oh, that's cool.
16:35I reckon the cavatelli is emulsifying better in there than it would if it was, say, spaghetti
16:43or fettuccine or something.
16:44Well, I think if you cook the cavatelli in there to about 90% and then you finish the
16:48cooking in the actual pot, it sort of sucks up those juices, you know, it sucks up all
16:52the flavours.
16:53The little bit of fat from the pork sausage, you know, that little bit of garlic, you know,
16:57all that sort of stuff goes into the actual cavatelli itself.
17:01Oh, this is happening quickly.
17:02I'm going to see if we can get Shea finished up.
17:05Sounds good.
17:07All right, Shea.
17:09You added some wine to this?
17:11Yes.
17:11Got some white wine in there.
17:13And now the rest of the bits.
17:14Yes.
17:14So I will throw in the asparagus and give that a little bit of mix.
17:21I love asparagus and pasta.
17:22Me too.
17:23I think when it gets to, like, springtime, it's kind of mandatory.
17:27You've got to make yourself an asparagus, pasta or a risotto or something like that.
17:30Yeah.
17:30You need that little bit of a crunch.
17:32And then I'm just going to add in the cream as well.
17:36Lovely.
17:37Oh, that smells great.
17:39Yeah.
17:39It's a really good mix.
17:41And then I will also just sprinkle in some of the dill.
17:48Oh, awesome.
17:49To get that to mix in with the cream.
17:54And then the rest we'll throw on top when we're serving it.
17:58I like this.
17:58When does the pasta go in?
17:59Well, we're going to get you to throw that in for me, if that's okay.
18:07Who's the better cook out of you and your brother?
18:09Is it competitive?
18:10Like, you strike me as a competitive person.
18:12I'm very competitive.
18:15I, we excel at different things.
18:20I like experimenting with my pasta.
18:23Yeah.
18:24And he makes a really good spaghetti bolognese.
18:29Like, I wouldn't even bother these days.
18:32Well, that's what I'm saying.
18:33Like, the faster pastas are the ones that people are cooking more and more
18:36when it used to be really about all the, the slow and slow braised ones.
18:41Yeah.
18:41I, I like to visit Italy a lot.
18:44And every time I come back, I come back trying to make or perfect a different pasta recipe.
18:50Oh, nice.
18:51So, yeah, I'm always experimenting with the pasta.
18:55He's the spaghetti guy.
18:57He makes a great chicken curry.
18:58And then I like to do noodle stir fries and stuff as well.
19:02After the break, can Aaron and Shay cook any faster?
19:05Because I want some pasta.
19:06And is it faster to boil water on the stove or in the kettle when you're making pasta?
19:10We will put that to the test.
19:23Welcome back to The Cook Up.
19:24Time is flying by as Aaron Ward and Shay Graham make their fastest pastas.
19:29Shay, how's it looking?
19:30Yeah, good.
19:30Nearly done.
19:31Nice.
19:32And Aaron, this is looking delicious.
19:34Almost there.
19:35Yeah, just plating up and ready to go.
19:37I love how kind of emulsified it comes together.
19:41Yeah.
19:42By using that water from the pasta, certainly helps to emulsify it.
19:46I've had a little bit of pecorino cheese in there as well.
19:48Gosh, the aromas are brilliant.
19:50And then the aroma that I'm really getting is kind of sausage and butter.
19:55I think they're two key components.
19:59Doesn't get much better than that, I don't think.
20:04Then on top, let's finish it with a little bit of extra pecorino.
20:10Oh, lovely.
20:11Some fresh mint.
20:12Mint?
20:12Right.
20:13Yeah.
20:13Oh, cool.
20:14You know, beautiful spring, you know, just to freshen things up a little bit.
20:19And then always finish pasta.
20:22A little bit of olive oil over the top.
20:24Oh, I love that.
20:25I cannot wait to eat it.
20:29That looks great.
20:31Shay.
20:32And it smells great too.
20:33Like the dill, like we've got some mint going over there and we've got dill over here.
20:37This is lovely and fresh and fast.
20:39Yeah, it is.
20:41And fingers crossed, delicious.
20:44I have no doubt.
20:45Creamy chicken, fennel and dill pasta and cavatelli with Italian pork sausage and broad beans.
20:58I love the aroma of the dill and the fennel in this, Shay.
21:01I really do.
21:02Yeah.
21:02It's the smells that make it, really.
21:04Mmm.
21:06That fennel was delicious.
21:07It's delicious.
21:08It's an aniseed-y flavour.
21:09Mmm.
21:10It's really delicious.
21:11The asparagus is nice.
21:12Really spring.
21:13A little, real fresh.
21:15Yeah.
21:15Amazing.
21:16Okay, Aaron.
21:17Ready to go?
21:17I've had versions of this many times before, but never with mint.
21:22Nice little freshener.
21:25Beautiful time of the year.
21:27That tastes so good.
21:29Like I say, that pasta has that chewy texture, so it's very hard to overcook.
21:33It's a capital, you see it a lot in restaurants.
21:34You don't see people cook it at home as often.
21:37I reckon they should, because it's such an easy one.
21:39It's fast.
21:40Tastes delicious.
21:41It's got a great texture, too.
21:42And the beans.
21:43So good.
21:45We will have time to finish our pastas, because I want to test something.
21:49I've been cooking a very long time, and I actually don't know the answer to this question.
21:52Is it faster to boil the water for your pasta on an induction stove, a gas stove, or in the
21:59kettle?
21:59Shay, what do you think?
22:00Who's going to win?
22:01I think the kettle's going to win.
22:04I think the induction, if you can put it.
22:06Yeah, my money's kind of on the induction as well.
22:10So I've got exactly one litre of water here in the kettle, and so this is slightly a cheat,
22:15because one litre of water is not enough to boil your pasta, and that's kind of the problem with the
22:19kettle, I think, sometimes.
22:20One litre in each of these two.
22:22So I'm going to start them all roughly at the same time.
22:25Let's start the gas first, give them a bit of a head start.
22:28We'll get the induction on.
22:30Time the difference.
22:31Exactly.
22:32And then hit the button on the kettle and start that.
22:35So now, waiting for water to boil is not exactly the most riveting television you've ever seen,
22:39so let's just jump through that.
22:4197.
22:4398.
22:4399.
22:44100.
22:44We have a winner at 2 minutes 53 seconds on the kettle.
22:48Yes.
22:49How are our guys doing over here?
22:50Oh, the induction is close.
22:54Actually, the gas is surprisingly more close.
22:57This is actually...
22:59I didn't think this was going to be right.
23:02We're off.
23:03We're off the money.
23:03So we have the induction...
23:05I just want to see who wins, who gets second place out of the induction or the gas.
23:09But the kettle has been dramatically faster than 2.
23:12The real problem for me is that the kettle is not enough water to boil.
23:17So I reckon your best scenario is to boil in the kettle and then use one of these two methods
23:22to make up the remainder.
23:23And I think, actually...
23:25Yeah.
23:26Well, I'm going to call it the gas.
23:29That's really weird to me.
23:30This is a very strong burner, though, so maybe that explains it.
23:33But the gas was about a minute slower than the kettle, and the induction still is not quite there.
23:41There you go.
23:42But we can't talk about this without talking about energy efficiency as well.
23:46And surprisingly, the kettle is actually also the most energy efficient of the three.
23:49The gas is the least energy efficient, and the induction is obviously in the middle there.
23:54So in terms of your overall best approach, I still think the kettle kind of wins out, which I was
24:02not expecting.
24:03Shea, congratulations.
24:05So smug.
24:06But I'd still prefer to go, because the difference between the induction and the gas was so little,
24:13I'd prefer to go for, I think, the induction.
24:16Well, that's my tip for you guys.
24:19Shea, Erin, thank you so much for joining me.
24:20This has been fantastic and absolutely delicious.
24:22Thanks for having us.
24:23When time is of the essence, why not let my fastest pasta or Erin's fastest pasta or Shea's fastest pasta
24:29become your fastest pasta?
24:30Your time starts now.
24:32If you want more of The Cook Up and more delicious food ideas, follow SBS Food on TikTok, Instagram, YouTube
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24:36We're everywhere.
24:37I'm Adam Lear.
24:38Thanks for watching The Cook Up.
24:54You are swell.
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