How To Use An Italian Kitchen
One of the most delightful things about authentic Italian food is its simplicity. Dishes are rarely composed of more than a handful of ingredients, and the interventions and cooking techniques applied to those ingredients are minimal.
Likewise, authentic Italian kitchens themselves are very simple, and usually surprisingly small.
Of course, this varies from household to household, but in general you can find far fewer appliances and gadgets in an Italian kitchen than you would expect elsewhere.
Italian kitchens will rarely include any of the following items, which I would have previously classified as bare minimum essentials:
An electric kettle
A toaster
A microwave
A blender of some kind
To say nothing of the more fanciful items found in Australian kitchens:
Coffee machine (Nespresso or similar)
Slow cooker
Breadmaker
Juice machine
Sandwich press
Stand mixer
Air fryer
And I question whether Italian customs officials would even allow a Thermomix into the country.
High tech Italian kitchens might contain a pasta maker. But many home cooks only need a rolling pin and a kind of oversized wooden board to work the dough on.
Should the day come that you ever do find yourself attempting to prepare even the most simple meal in an Italian kitchen, you would do well to familiarise yourself with how to replace all of the above electric equipment with a pot or pan on the stove.
Because you certainly can. Occasionally you'll need the oven, but not that often.
Almost nothing in an Italian kitchen needs to be plugged into a power outlet, except for the fridge and the small television which perches precariously on top of a pile of old magazines in the corner of the room and is always, always on.
There's a reason why the classic cartoon depiction of an Italian nonna is a sturdy woman in an apron, with Popeye-like forearms. She has literally been hand whisking, mixing, mashing, chopping, and grating ingredients three times a day for the past 60+ years. Her strength is fearsome. She can whip up a four course lunch to feed a small army with just two pots, a pan, and a wooden spoon.
And a moka, of course. She is, after all, powered by coffee.
So, to succeed in an Italian kitchen, remember that the stove is your friend. Your whole world.
It’s not a stretch to say that probably around two thirds of all meals prepared in an Italian kitchen involve pasta. The other third being breakfast. Obviously, pasta is a job for the stove.
Find the biggest pot you can find. Ideally one that could be mistaken for a decent-sized rubbish bin, such is its volume.
It doesn't actually matter how many people you're cooking for, it is impossible to make a pasta dish that could serve less than six hungry adults. Even if you measured out precisely enough pasta ahead of adding it to the boiling water, you will inevitably second guess yourself at the last moment and dump the rest of the packet in.
Which is why you need the biggest pot. There's nothing sadder than a pasta boil-over and the resulting need to clean the stove afterwards.
Alongside the pasta, sort out your sauce. Again, stove. Congratulations if you have a plan, or a recipe. But here’s a secret - it’s not necessary.
If you’re up for some improvisation, start with a hot pan and add olive oil. Then soffritto, that magical mix of finely chopped onion, carrot and celery. The smell of these frying together will make you weep with overwhelming Italian emotion.
Now, add basically whatever you have to hand. Tomatoes, sausage meat, pancetta, chopped vegetables, wine etc. If you have started with soffritto, you pretty much can't go wrong.
Once the pasta is al dente, drain it and toss it in the pan with the sauce. Serve, grate cheese on top, and enjoy. Buon appetito!
Or, if you're feeling particularly nonna-inspired, just bellow "Mangia, mangia!" at everyone at the table until they finish.
