Italian families gather together around the table; cooking and eating mark the passing of time, the rhythm of the seasons and the affirmation of tradition. Our identity, our origins, our food culture are shaped by what we grow, cook and eat. The simple gestures that define our cuisine carry an immense legacy. Through these gestures, recipes shift from region to region, from city to town, from town to neighbourhood. This deeply local, parochial nature of our cuisine is what makes it so rich, so rooted in local produce and so connected to the land, to its grains, herbs, fruit and vegetables, poultry, cattle and fish.
These gestures are sacred. We watch our mothers and grandmothers knead bread, stir soup, season food with herbs and spices, dress a plate of pasta with a drizzle of olive oil, and religiously transform leftovers into new dishes. These everyday actions may seem ordinary, yet they hold memory, identity and care. Cooking is an act of love. Each gesture is meaningful and shapes our food heritage, becoming fundamental precisely because it is simple.
A plate of rice or pasta is a blank canvas to be dressed with local ingredients that carry an endless story. This is why we are so protective of our traditional recipes. Travel through Italy and you will discover countless pasta shapes – none of them random, none of them reducible to the vague notion of “a plate of pasta.” The simplicity of “pasta al pomodoro” is disarming, yet it is one of the most delicious dishes in the world when prepared correctly, using the right ingredients and honouring its essential simplicity.
For example, during a masterclass, at Dublin Cookery School curated by ALMA, The School of Italian Culinary Arts, the ALMA experts explained the difference between tortelli and agnolotti, their identity and terroir defined by the filling, shape and size. Take “tortelli con le erbette” (tortelli with wild herbs) – it’s popular along the Via Emilia from Piacenza to Rimini, passing through Parma, Reggio Emilia, Modena and Bologna. Piacenza is only 65km from Parma, yet the recipe changes. In Piacenza, the filling is roughly 80 per cent ricotta and 20 per cent wild herbs; in Parma it becomes a balanced 50–50; in Reggio Emilia the ratio flips to 80 per cent herbs and 20 per cent ricotta. These differences stem from the availability of milk and whey, more abundant from Piacenza and across the Po Valley down towards Reggio Emilia. Nothing is left to chance and simple gestures become transformative.
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Thus, a simple plate of pasta with tomato sauce becomes special because the sauce is made from local tomatoes, gently cooked in their pure simplicity, passed through a hand-cranked “passapomodoro” to remove the seeds and peel, then simmered with just a pinch of salt and a few basil leaves. These actions may appear ordinary, but they carry invaluable memory, identity and respect for the land. Every gesture, even the simplest, tells a story.
Ten simple gestures to make your Italian food more authentic
Risotto
- Chop the onions very finely so that when you sweat them, they gently melt and “disappear” into the rice without leaving any visible pieces.
- You do not need butter to toast the rice. Place the rice in a non-stick pan over a moderate heat and let the grains dry slowly without taking on any colour. You’ll know you’re doing it correctly when the rice stays pale and you don’t catch the smell of toasted cereal.
- Before creaming the risotto, lay a cloth over the pot, cover with a lid, and let it rest for one minute. This allows the starch to settle and helps the risotto achieve its perfect, velvety texture.
- To cream a risotto (mantecatura) make sure the butter is cold from the fridge. This shock of cold helps the rice tighten and emulsify.
- For a flavourful, sustainable broth, use leftover vegetable trimmings – a simple gesture that reduces waste while enriching your risotto.
Fresh pasta
- The classic ratio for fresh pasta is 100g of 00 flour (finely milled flour) to one egg, widely used in Italian kitchens.
- A useful trick to check whether your pasta sheet is rolled to the correct thickness: place the dough over a newspaper page, if you can read the print through it, the pasta is ready to be shaped.
- For best results, make the dough the day before, wrap it tightly in cling film, and refrigerate it. Remove it from the fridge one hour before using so it returns to room temperature.
- To achieve a beautifully golden dough without adding extra eggs, simply mix a little saffron into the mixture.
- For a zero-waste broth full of flavour, simmer parmesan rinds, an old Italian household trick that enriches broths with depth and umami.
[ Pasta the Italian nonna way: ‘Spaghetti alla bolognese does not exist’Opens in new window ]
The 10th edition of the Week of Italian Cuisine in the World has just concluded, with this year’s theme, Italian Cooking: Health, Culture and Innovation. It was promoted by the Embassy of Italy in Ireland, the Italian Trade Agency and the ENIT Office in London, the Italian-Irish Chamber of Commerce and the Italian Institute of Culture.
