Dan's Pasta Delivery

Dan's pasta is a fresh pasta delivery service where you can order pasta kits straight to your door all across Sydney. They offer pasta made on the day of delivery with a choice of 6 sauces. All pasta and sauces are preservative and additive free and made using Australian ingredients and there are plenty of vegan options.

The Dan behind Dan's Pasta is Dan Esfahani who is based in Neutral Bay on Sydney's lower north shore. "I was actually a late bloomer to the culinary world and first studied Finance and Accounting at the University of New South Wales. I worked at Ernst and Young as well as being an Investment Analyst before realising I wanted to pursue food and cooking," says Dan. After an apprenticeship at Ultimo Tafe in Sydney he worked in Sydney and London. It was during a short trip home that the lockdown occurred and that is when he started Dan's Pasta. "I noticed that at the start of the first Sydney lockdown, supermarket shelves were missing pasta so I thought to begin a home delivery service of fresh pasta," says Dan. He wanted to bring restaurant quality pasta to homes.

"I first started it off my personal instagram to friends and family and then made a Dan's Pasta instagram. The first few weeks I only delivered on Saturday in local areas but soon after I made a schedule delivering twice a week covering most of Sydney. This has gradually increased and we now deliver to most of Sydney from Tuesday to Friday," says Dan.

For his pasta he uses a combination of plain wheat flour and a refined semolina. "We aim to use locally sourced produce in all of our products and as everything is made fresh and delivered fresh, we are making produce orders daily particularly all of the vegetables used in our products," says Dan, "We roll our pasta fresh on the morning starting at around 4.30am to ensure it's fresh when it hits your boiling water that night!"

Delivery is a flat rate of $5 across Sydney with a minimum order of $25 with free delivery for orders of $50 and above. Delivery takes place from Tuesday to Friday between 10am and 6pm and the delivery radius includes Sydney metro, eastern suburbs, the northern beaches, north shore, southern suburbs including the shire and most of western Sydney including the Penrith region. You can order plain or filled pastas from classic spaghetti and fettuccine to beetroot and spinach pastas and filled pastas like pumpkin and sage ravioli. There are six sauces to choose from basil pesto, creamy carbonara, creamy mushroom to tomato sauce. His recommends going with the pack with 4 pastas and 2 sauces starting at $25. It all arrives boxed with with an ice pack. The pastas have a 5 day shelf life and the sauces a few days longer (although tip: it's best to make them straight away). Dan also provides recipes for cooking with pasta on his website which is where people place their orders.

It's very easy to cook and within 10 minutes you'll have dinner ready. The fettuccine is a little thicker than I'm used to and it does clump a bit but this is probably because I didn't get to cook everything until the day before its final date so I recommend cooking them on the day of delivery. I had the fettuccine with the creamy carbonara sauce with pieces of bacon. This carbonara is made using cream rather than eggs. "The traditional carbonara is made only with eggs however I prefer the combination of both for that added richness," says Dan

My favourite combination is the gnocchi with tomato sauce. It can either be boiled in water or pan fried and I like the idea of the pan fried gnocchi. I cook these in a pan with butter and oil to crisp them up. The gnocchi and tomato sauce is a great combination especially with the rosemary gnocchi which adds flavour and aroma. This is also Dan's favourite combination.

Business has been growing with the lockdowns and word spreads. "I have a couple of helpers now. Last year I pretty much did everything but it's been growing," says Dan.

So tell me Dear Reader, do you have a favourite fresh pasta shape? Do you tend to eat more dried or fresh pasta?

NQN received this package from Love NSW but all opinions remain her own.

Dan's Pasta

https://danspasta.com.au/