For reliability and consistency it’s hard to go past Barilla pasta, Italy’s #1 selling pasta. After all those Italians know a thing or two about pasta.
Spaghetti alle Vongole al Cartoccio Spaghetti alle vongole is the classic Italian clam dish. Vongole means ‘clam’ in Italian and I use the small South Australian vongole that are closest to Italy’s vongole veraci, but you can use any clams or other bivalve for this dish, including mussels. I first had spaghetti alle vongole al […]
Bottarga & Lemon Pappardelle I love pasta! I also love lemon and bottarga, so I created this simple recipe combining all three. It’s inspired by my friend and co-author, Giovanni Pilu who introduced me to the joys of bottarga along with many other Sardinian ingredients (you can order his Aussie-made bottarga online and scroll to […]
Pasta Frittata This is the best way I’ve found to cook leftover pasta that has a relatively dry sauce, such as tagliatelle Bolognese, orecchiette with broccoli and spaghetti aglio e olio. The photo here was made with leftover orecchiette with salsiccia & mushrooms (see video below), and was perfect with a glass of Truffle Hill […]
Bucatini all’Amatriciana I love tomato, cheese and all things quick and easy, so I’m not sure why it took me so long to try my hand at bucatini all’Amatriciana, one of Italy’s classic pasta dishes. Perhaps it’s because guanciale (cured pork cheek) can be tricky to find – so when I discovered Salumi Australia’s guanciale […]
‘Nduja Strozzapreti This very versatile recipe is built around Calabria’s fiery, spreadable salami called ‘nduja (see FAQ below); it’s available from most delis and my favourite is from Salumi Australia. I’ve made this dish without the chicory (just eggs) and without the eggs (just chicory), but like it best with both. The name chicory is […]
Fettuccine Bolognese Slow-cooked meat sauces, called ragùs, are made all over Italy, though the best known comes from Bologna in Emilia-Romagna and is the ancestor of Australia’s beloved ‘spag bol’. Not that it would ever be served with dried spaghetti in Emilia-Romagna where fresh egg pastas, like tagliatelle and fettuccine, are more typical. There are […]
Zucchini Carbonara Carbonara sauce traditionally contains guanciale (cured pork cheek), but I had a delicious vegetarian version with zucchini at Fratelli Paradiso in Potts Point, and couldn’t resist trying to recreate it at home. You need female zucchini flowers for this recipe, they’re the ones with the baby zucchini attached. It’s important to use authentic […]
Spaghetti Carbonara Spaghetti carbonara is a simple Roman pasta with a sauce made creamy by combining egg yolks and hard cheese – it doesn’t contain cream, despite the profusion of recipes using it. The origin of the name is a bit more of a mystery, ‘carbone’ is Italian for coal, and it’s been suggested that […]
Spaghetti Cacio e Pepe Cacio e pepe, cheese and pepper – one of the simplest pasta sauces, this Roman classic can also be one of the trickiest to get just right. The idea is to emulsify the cheese with the starchy pasta cooking water to create a creamy sauce. A few things ensure success: quality […]
Mushroom Pappardelle I love mushrooms. ‘Meat for vegetarians’ one advertising campaign called them, and I’d suggest that this super quick mushroom pappardelle is so tasty that even die-hard carnivores won’t miss the meat. In autumn, when wild mushrooms appear in farmers’ markets and good greengrocers, use gorgeous orange pine mushrooms or meaty slippery jacks instead […]
