Pasta is the perfect quick and easy comfort food. You can whip up a bowl in less time than it takes for the pizza delivery to arrive. Short or long, dried or fresh, saucy or not, stuffed, layered, baked – the possibilities are endless with this simple, delicious food.
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 […]
Potato Gnocchi I love potato gnocchi and when I asked restaurateur Lucio Galletto if they’re popular in Liguria he replied “On special occasions, we say: ‘Come home Mamma’s making gnocchi.’” Gnocchi are so versatile, they’re delicious dressed with just about any pasta sauce including pesto, easy gnocchi Sorrentina from the Amalfi coast, or the simplest […]
Trofie al Pesto Genovese I love this classic way of serving pesto – with the beans and potatoes cooked in the same water as the pasta it’s more like a main meal than an entrée. This is done with various pasta shapes in Liguria, but the most typical are trenette (a thin flat pasta similar […]
Cicciones with Pork Ragu I love the chewy texture of this rustic Sardinian pasta – and the name which means ‘little fat ones’! This is the same pasta dough used to make lombrichi, the ‘worm-shaped’ Sardinian pasta you’ll see on the video below. The full-flavoured Serra Lori rosato, made from a blend of indigenous Sardinian […]
This is the best way I’ve found to cook leftover pasta that has a relatively dry sauce, such as orecchiette with broccoli, spaghetti aglio e olio, and pesto tagliatelle. The photo here was made with leftover Orecchiette with Salsiccia & Mushrooms, one of the dishes from the Month of Traditional Italian Inspired by Lucio Galletto, […]
I’m not sure why I hadn’t made this classic pasta sauce before … I love tomato, cheese and all things quick and easy. Perhaps it’s because guanciale (cured pork cheek) can be tricky to find … so when I discovered Salumi Australia’s guanciale in my local Harris Farm, I had no excuse. Amatrice, for which […]
Gorgonzola Walnut Sauce with Lumache I first had this sauce many years ago in an Italian restaurant in Glebe. I remember writing (no email back then) and asking the chef for the recipe, but he ignored my request. He served it with the little shell-shaped pasta called conchiglie, but I’ve used ‘snail shells’, lumache; it […]
My cooking’s often inspired by what happens to be on hand, like some delicious Vannella ricotta leftover from a cooking class (thanks Giovanni) and a huge bunch of chives from a herb patch gone berserk … that’s how this dish came about. Giant pasta shells, called conchiglioni, are simple to fill and look impressive; they’re […]
‘Nduja Strozzapreti This very versatile recipe is built around Calabria’s fiery, spreadable salami called ‘nduja; available from most delis, my favourite version is from Salumi Australia. I’ve made this dish without the chicory (just eggs) and without the eggs (just chicory), but I like it best with both. The name chicory is sometimes used for […]
Tagliatelle 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 pasta, like tagliatelle and fettuccine, is more typical. There are […]
