What to eat today?

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Babà al rumRum-soaked yeast cakes

Naples took the babà from French and Polish pastry cooks in the nineteenth century and made it its own: small mushroom-shaped yeast cakes so light and airy that they drink up a warm, rum-laced syrup and still hold their shape. Neapolitans pick them up from the pastry counter after Sunday mass, and they are often served with whipped cream or custard. The traditional syrup contains rum; for an alcohol-free version, use the orange and vanilla syrup given in the ingredient notes, which is just as soaking and fragrant. Chef's tip: let the baked babà dry out for a few hours, or overnight; a slightly stale cake soaks up syrup evenly without collapsing.

180 min

Italian Desserts

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Spaghetti alla NeranoSpaghetti with courgettes and provolone

Nerano is a tiny fishing bay on the Sorrento peninsula, and its seaside trattorias have served this pasta since the 1950s to summer visitors arriving by boat. Courgette rounds are fried slowly in olive oil until golden and soft, then tossed with spaghetti, basil and grated provolone del Monaco, a semi-hard cow's milk cheese from the hills above, until everything melts into a creamy, sweet and savoury sauce. It is a dish for July and August, when courgettes are cheap and full of flavour. Chef's tip: fry the courgettes ahead and let them sit for an hour if you can; they soften further and give the sauce a deeper flavour.

30 min

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Gnocchi alla sorrentinaGnocchi baked with tomato and mozzarella

Sorrento families make gnocchi alla sorrentina for Sunday lunch: soft potato gnocchi folded into a basil-scented tomato sauce, layered with cubes of fior di latte mozzarella and baked in individual terracotta dishes until the cheese bubbles and stretches. It is comfort food, pillowy and creamy with a golden, slightly crisp top, and children love pulling the strings of cheese. This recipe takes you from the potatoes to the oven. Chef's tip: bake the potatoes in their skins rather than boiling them; drier potatoes need less flour and make lighter gnocchi.

90 min

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Puntarelle alla romanaChicory shoots with garlic dressing

From November to February, Rome's markets at Campo de' Fiori and Testaccio sell puntarelle: the pale, hollow shoots from the heart of a Catalogna chicory, sold already split into curls by the stallholders. Soaked in iced water, they turn crunchy and curl up, and they are dressed with crushed garlic, oil and something sharp. The Roman dressing is pounded with anchovy; this vegetarian version uses capers and lemon for the same salty, tangy punch. Serve it as a side next to cacio e pepe or a plate of artichokes. Chef's tip: slice the shoots as thinly as you can, lengthways; thin strips curl tighter in the ice water and hold the dressing better.

25 min

Italian Salads

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Pallotte cace e oveCheese and egg tomato balls

Abruzzo's shepherds and farm families invented pallotte cace e ove as "meatballs" with no meat: stale bread, eggs and plenty of sharp local cheese, shaped into balls, fried golden and then simmered in tomato sauce until soft and fluffy inside. They turn up at village festivals (sagre) in the mountains around L'Aquila and Chieti, and at home as a Friday or Sunday second course with crusty bread to mop the sauce. Chef's tip: wet your hands before shaping; the mixture is soft and the balls stay round and smooth without extra breadcrumbs.

50 min

Italian Vegetarian

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Bocconotti abruzzesiChocolate almond tartlets

Bocconotti are the small, domed pastries that Abruzzo bakers pile up for Christmas, weddings and christenings, especially along the coast around Chieti and Lanciano. Crumbly lemon-scented shortcrust hides a dense, fudgy filling of toasted almonds, dark chocolate and cinnamon, and the tops are dusted thick with icing sugar. Many families stir a spoonful of sweet liqueur into the filling; it is optional here, with orange juice as the alcohol-free swap. They keep for days in a tin and taste even better on the second. Chef's tip: chill the dough before rolling; warm shortcrust tears in the small moulds and shrinks in the oven.

75 min

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Cavatelli molisani con broccoliCavatelli with broccoli

In the hill villages around Campobasso, cavatelli are still made by hand on Sunday mornings: a plain dough of durum wheat semolina and water, cut into little nuggets and dragged under two fingers so each one curls into a hollow shell. In winter they are cooked in the same pot as broccoli until the florets collapse into a green, garlicky sauce flecked with chilli; in summer the same pasta gets a simple tomato sauce. The pasta is chewy and rustic, the sauce soft and peppery. Chef's tip: keep the dough firm and a touch dry, so the cavatelli curl neatly instead of sticking to the board.

60 min

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Spaghetti alla puttanesca

Few pastas come together so fast from a cupboard: tomatoes, black olives, capers, garlic and chilli simmered for ten minutes into a sauce that is briny, sharp and a little fiery. Naples claims the olive-and-caper version, often made with Gaeta olives, while in Rome cooks melt a few anchovy fillets into the oil first; this recipe follows the Neapolitan line and leaves the fish out, so it is fully vegan. Romans and Neapolitans alike treat it as a late-night or end-of-the-week plate, made when the fridge is bare. Chef's tip: rinse the capers well and add the olives only at the end, so the sauce stays bright and salty rather than bitter.

25 min

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Maritozzi con la pannaCream-filled sweet buns

In Roman bars the maritozzo is breakfast: a glossy, oval brioche bun scented with orange zest, slit open and packed with so much lightly sweetened whipped cream that it bulges past the crust. Once a Lenten treat that young men gave to their future wives (the name comes from marito, husband), it is now eaten all year with a cappuccino, especially on Sunday mornings. The bun is feathery and light, the cream cold and barely sweet. Chef's tip: give the shaped buns their full second rise until they look puffy and wobble when you nudge the tray; underproved buns bake tight and dense.

180 min

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Scrippelle 'mbussePecorino crêpes in broth

In Teramo, in northern Abruzzo, scrippelle 'mbusse ("wet crêpes") open the meal on cold winter evenings and at Christmas. Thin, eggy crêpes are sprinkled with grated pecorino and parmesan, rolled into tight cigars and drowned in boiling broth at the table, so they soften into silky, cheesy spirals. Families normally pour over a clear chicken or capon broth; this recipe uses a well-flavoured vegetable stock instead. Chef's tip: let the batter rest for half an hour before cooking, so the crêpes come out thin and supple enough to roll without cracking.

60 min

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Fettuccine al burro (original Alfredo)Fettuccine with butter and Parmesan

Long before cream-heavy versions spread abroad, Roman cooks made fettuccine al burro with nothing but fresh egg ribbons, sweet butter and young Parmigiano, beaten together into a soft, pale sauce. A restaurateur on Via della Scrofa made it famous in the early twentieth century by tossing it at the table for visitors, and in Roman homes it is still the dish for a child home from school or anyone feeling under the weather. The result is mild, silky and nutty with cheese. Chef's tip: soften the butter to room temperature and grate the cheese like snow; cold butter and coarse cheese will not melt into a cream in the short tossing time.

20 min

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Torciglione umbroAlmond paste serpent cake

Around Lake Trasimeno and in Perugia, the Christmas sweet table is watched over by a coiled serpent made of almond paste, its back armoured with pine-nut scales, two coffee beans for eyes and a sliver of candied cherry for a tongue. Torciglione is said to recall the eels of the lake, or the snake as a symbol of renewal, and it is eaten in thin slices through the holidays. Inside it is soft and chewy like a marzipan biscuit, with a crisp, golden shell, and it is naturally free of flour. Chef's tip: wet your hands to roll the paste into the rope; it shapes smoothly and won't crack as it bakes.

60 min

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Acquacotta maremmanaVegetable soup with poached egg

Acquacotta, literally 'cooked water', is what the butteri, the cattle herders of the Tuscan Maremma, and charcoal burners made from whatever they carried: onions, a few vegetables, stale bread and, on a good day, an egg. Around Grosseto and the hills of Monte Amiata it is still a family supper in autumn and spring, ladled over toasted bread with an egg poached right in the soup. Slow-cooked onion makes it sweet and deep, the egg yolk runs into the broth and the bread turns soft and spoonable. Chef's tip: give the onions a full 20 minutes; the soup is only as good as their sweetness.

55 min

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Zuppa di lenticchie di CastelluccioMountain lentil soup

High on the Piano Grande above Norcia, the plateau around Castelluccio turns into a carpet of flowers each June, and among them grow the tiny, speckled lentils the village is known for. They are so small and thin-skinned that they cook in under half an hour without soaking and hold their shape, which is why Umbrian cooks keep this soup simple: a soffritto of garlic, celery and onion, a little tomato, the lentils and good olive oil poured on at the end. It is a cold-weather supper, brothy and earthy, often served with toasted bread. Chef's tip: salt only at the end; salting early can toughen the skins of mountain lentils.

50 min

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CastagnaccioChestnut flour cake

When the new season's chestnut flour comes down from the Garfagnana, the Casentino and Monte Amiata in late October, Tuscan kitchens bake castagnaccio. It is a thin, dense, unleavened cake with no eggs, butter or sugar: just sweet chestnut flour, water and olive oil, studded with raisins, pine nuts and walnuts and scented with rosemary needles. The top cracks as it bakes, the middle stays moist and fudgy, and the flavour is earthy and gently sweet. Older Tuscans eat it with a glass of something; a spoon of ricotta alongside is lovely too. Chef's tip: sift the chestnut flour; it clumps easily, and lumps stay floury after baking.

55 min

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Torta al testo con verdureGriddle bread stuffed with greens

Torta al testo takes its name from the testo, a heavy round of stone or cast iron that Umbrian families heat over the fire; around Perugia, Gubbio and Foligno it's cooked for village festivals and quick weekday dinners alike. Unlike the thin, pliable piadina of Romagna, it is a thick disc, around 2 cm, raised with a little bicarbonate, with a crisp, freckled crust and a soft, bready middle that is split open like a pitta and stuffed. The favourite filling is wilted greens with garlic and chilli; sausage is common at sagre but has no place here. Chef's tip: prick the disc all over with a fork before cooking, so it rises evenly and doesn't balloon.

45 min

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Crescia sfogliata di UrbinoLayered spiral flatbread

In Urbino and the hills of the Montefeltro, crescia sfogliata is the street food sold from small kiosks and served in every trattoria, folded round fillings like a sandwich. What sets it apart from Romagna's piadina is the lamination: an egg and pepper dough is rolled paper-thin, spread with fat, rolled up into a cord and coiled into a snail, then flattened again, so it cooks into crisp, buttery, flaking layers. Lard is traditional; this version uses butter. Fill it with rocket and soft cheese, sautéed greens or grilled vegetables. Chef's tip: rest the coiled snails for 20 minutes before the final rolling; relaxed dough rolls out without the layers fusing.

70 min

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Fagioli all'uccellettoCannellini beans with sage and tomato

Florentines are nicknamed mangiafagioli, bean-eaters, and this is the dish that earned it: creamy cannellini simmered in olive oil with whole sage leaves, crushed garlic and a little tomato. The name, 'little-bird style', comes from the sage and garlic once used to cook small game birds, though there has never been a bird in the pot. In trattorie it sits next to grilled meat as a side; served with crusty bread and greens it makes a full vegetarian supper. The beans should be soft and glossy in a thick, rust-coloured sauce. Chef's tip: let the sage and garlic sizzle gently in the oil before the tomato goes in; that scented oil is the whole flavour of the dish.

40 min

Italian Sides

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FrustingoFig, nut and cocoa cake

In the Marche, from Ancona down to Ascoli Piceno, frustingo is the dark, dense Christmas cake every family makes its own way, born as a thrifty sweet of dried figs, nuts and stale bread. Chopped figs are soaked and simmered, then mixed with walnuts, almonds, raisins, candied peel, cocoa and coffee, and bound with sapa, the thick cooked grape must of the region. Many recipes also add mistrà, a local aniseed liqueur; this one uses ground anise seed for an alcohol-free cake. It bakes into a fudgy, almost black slab, rich with spice and not too sweet. Chef's tip: let it mature for two days in foil before cutting; it slices cleanly and the flavours come together.

90 min

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Strangozzi al tartufo neroEggless pasta with black truffle

Strangozzi are the rough-cut strips of flour-and-water pasta made around Spoleto and Norcia, in Umbria; the name is said to echo the leather laces once used to tie shoes, or, in a darker story, to strangle papal tax collectors. Norcia is famous for its black winter truffles, and here the dressing is nothing more than olive oil gently warmed with garlic and plenty of grated truffle, a dish served from December to March. The pasta is chewy and square-edged, and the sauce earthy and perfumed. Chef's tip: grate the truffle into warm, not hot, oil; truffle aroma fades fast with heat.

60 min

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Schiacciata all'uvaGrape flatbread

Each September, when the grape harvest comes in, Florentine bakeries fill their windows with schiacciata all'uva, a thin, oily bread dough layered and topped with small black wine grapes and baked until the juice bubbles purple. It is sold by the slice from big trays and eaten at breakfast or as a mid-afternoon snack for just a few weeks. The traditional Canaiolo grapes have crunchy seeds, which are part of the texture; seedless black grapes work at home. The result is sticky, jammy, crisp at the edges and not too sweet. Chef's tip: squash the grapes slightly as you press them in so the juice runs into the dough and caramelises with the sugar.

145 min

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Panforte di SienaSpiced honey and nut cake

Siena has been making panforte since the Middle Ages, when spices arriving along the pilgrim road made it a luxury of apothecaries and convents; today the city's pastry shops stack it in paper-wrapped discs, especially for Christmas. It is more confection than cake: toasted almonds and hazelnuts, candied orange and citron, a little flour and cocoa, all bound with hot honey and sugar syrup and fragrant with cinnamon, coriander, clove and pepper. The texture is chewy and nutty, cut in thin wedges with coffee. Chef's tip: work fast once the syrup is in; the mixture stiffens in a minute or two, so have the tin lined and your hands wet.

70 min

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Pansoti con salsa di nociHerb ravioli in walnut sauce

In Genoa and the hills behind it, pansoti are the pasta of the spring greens: plump triangles stuffed with a bundle of wild and garden leaves the Ligurians call preboggion, bound with soft cheese. Instead of pesto they wear salsa di noci, a pale, nutty sauce pounded from walnuts, garlic and milk-soaked bread. The dough is lean, just flour and water, often with a splash of white wine; this version gives a water-only option for an alcohol-free plate. Expect a soft bite, a grassy filling and a sauce that tastes of autumn. Chef's tip: blanch the walnuts for a minute and rub off the papery skins; the sauce turns sweeter and stays cream-coloured instead of grey.

90 min

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Gnocco frittoPuffed fried dough

Walk into a trattoria around Modena or Reggio Emilia and a basket of gnocco fritto lands on the table before you have ordered: diamonds of dough that balloon in hot fat into hollow, blistered pillows. They are torn open and filled with whatever comes with them, traditionally cured meats; here they go with soft cheeses, Parmigiano shards, grilled vegetables and pickles. The dough was always made with lard; this version uses butter, which keeps the crust tender and golden. Children adore them for breakfast dipped in milky coffee too. Chef's tip: roll the dough really thin, about 3 mm; thick gnocco stays bready and won't puff.

90 min

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Garganelli con piselli e pannaEgg pasta with peas and cream

Garganelli come from the farmhouses between Imola and Lugo in Romagna, where egg-pasta squares are rolled around a thin stick on a little comb called a pettine, leaving ridged quills with a seam down one side. Their ridges grip sauce well, and the classic spring dressing is sweet peas in cream; the trattoria version adds prosciutto, which this one leaves out, with a little shallot and Parmigiano instead. The dish is silky and mild, a Sunday-lunch first course. Chef's tip: a clean gnocchi board and a pencil-thin wooden dowel make perfectly good garganelli if you don't own a pettine.

60 min

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Tortelli di erbettaRicotta and chard tortelli

On the night of 23 June, the feast of San Giovanni, Parma eats tortelli d'erbetta outdoors, at long tables in courtyards and on terraces, and the custom says the evening dew blesses the meal. The filling is the young chard the city calls erbetta, mixed with ricotta and a lot of Parmigiano; the pasta is egg-rich and thin, and the only sauce is melted butter and more cheese. Each one is soft, creamy and gently green. Chef's tip: cut the tortelli as large rectangles, about 6 × 8 cm, as they do in Parma; bigger parcels hold more filling and cook evenly.

85 min

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TigelleSmall griddle breads

In the Apennine hills above Modena these small, round breads were once baked between hot terracotta discs called tigelle, which gave them their common name; locals often insist the bread itself is the crescentina. Today a cast-iron tigelliera or a heavy frying pan does the work, giving each one a toasted, speckled face and a soft, steamy inside. They are split while hot and filled at the table, a lively Saturday-night supper with friends. The filling was classically lard pounded with rosemary and garlic; this vegetarian spread uses butter, rosemary and Parmigiano, alongside soft cheeses and grilled vegetables. Chef's tip: cut them with a 7 cm cutter and keep them 1 cm thick; any thinner and there's nothing to split.

120 min

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Zuppa ingleseCustard and sponge trifle

Zuppa inglese is a spoon dessert from Emilia, served at Sunday lunches and family parties in Bologna, Modena and Ferrara: sponge fingers dipped in a crimson liqueur, layered with yellow lemon custard and dark chocolate custard. Despite the name, no soup and nothing English; one story links it to the trifles brought home by Italian diplomats. The red comes from alchermes, a spiced liqueur that is alcoholic and coloured with cochineal, an insect dye, so this version soaks the biscuits in a vegetarian, alcohol-free hibiscus and spice syrup that keeps the colour and the clove-cinnamon perfume. It sets into soft, creamy, striped slices. Chef's tip: dip the biscuits for a second only; they keep softening in the custard overnight.

60 min

Italian Desserts

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Torta pasqualinaChard and ricotta egg pie

Genoese families bake torta pasqualina for Easter Monday picnics, and it is just as good cold the next day as warm from the oven. Paper-thin sheets of olive-oil pastry enclose a deep layer of chard and ricotta, and whole eggs are cracked into hollows in the filling so that every slice shows a neat yellow and white circle. Old recipes boasted 33 pastry layers, one for each year of Christ's life; four sheets top and bottom give a crisp, flaky crust at home. The taste is mild and green, lifted with marjoram and hard cheese. Chef's tip: stretch the dough on the backs of your hands like strudel rather than only rolling it, and brush every sheet with oil, so the layers separate in the oven.

135 min

Italian Snacks & Starters

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Panissa ligureFried chickpea polenta sticks

Panissa is farinata's quieter sister: the same chickpea flour and water, but stirred on the stove into a thick polenta, poured into a tray and left to set firm. In Genoa and along the Savona coast it turns up at friggitorie, the frying shops by the harbour, as golden sticks in a paper cone with salt and pepper; at home it is just as often cubed cold and dressed with raw onion, olive oil and lemon. Fried, it is crisp outside and creamy within, with a sweet, nutty taste. Chef's tip: make it the day before and chill it overnight; a well-set panissa cuts cleanly and doesn't spit in the oil.

170 min

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Passatelli in brodoBreadcrumb and cheese strands in broth

Passatelli were born in Romagna kitchens as a way to turn stale bread into a feast: breadcrumbs, eggs and plenty of hard cheese, scented with lemon and nutmeg, pressed through a special perforated iron straight into simmering broth. Around Rimini, Cesena and Forlì they are Christmas and Sunday food, served steaming in deep plates. The strands are soft, slightly rough and full of cheese flavour. Traditionally the broth is made with capon or beef; here a rich vegetable broth keeps it vegetarian. Chef's tip: no passatelli iron? A potato ricer with large holes does the job; just cut the strands to 4 cm with a knife as they come out.

40 min

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Erbazzone reggianoChard and Parmesan pie

Bakeries in Reggio Emilia sell erbazzone in squares from big trays, and people eat it standing at the counter mid-morning or wrapped in paper for the walk home. It is a farmhouse pie of chard and spinach, sharp with spring onion and garlic and generous with Parmigiano, sealed in a very thin, crackly crust. The classic recipe uses lard in the pastry and often pancetta in the filling; both are left out here, and butter and olive oil make the crust. Serve it warm or at room temperature. Chef's tip: dry the greens thoroughly in the pan after blanching; erbazzone should be dense and green, never wet.

75 min

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Pandolce genoveseRaisin and pine nut cake

No Genoese Christmas table is complete without a round, domed pandolce, traditionally topped with a sprig of bay and cut by the youngest at the table while the eldest serves. The low, quick version made here, pandolce basso, is raised with baking powder rather than days of yeast, so it bakes into a crumbly, buttery cake between shortbread and fruit loaf. Raisins, pine nuts, candied orange and a scattering of fennel seed give each bite a sweet, faintly aniseed taste, and orange flower water perfumes it. Chef's tip: keep it wrapped for two days before cutting; the crumb softens and the fennel and orange flavours deepen.

75 min

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Corzetti con maggiorana e pinoliStamped pasta with marjoram

On the Riviera di Levante, from the Fontanabuona valley down towards Chiavari, corzetti are pressed between two carved wooden stamps, so each thin disc carries a pattern on both faces: a family crest, a flower, a ship. Noble families once had their arms carved into them for festive tables. The ridges are there to hold a light sauce, and the simplest is melted butter with toasted pine nuts and fresh marjoram, the herb Ligurians reach for before basil. They have a firm, slightly chewy bite. Chef's tip: no stamp? Cut the discs with a 6 cm glass and press each with the bottom of a patterned glass or a carved wooden butter mould; any relief gives the sauce something to cling to.

60 min

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Frittelle venezianeRaisin and pine nut fritters

For the weeks before Lent, every pastry shop in Venice is piled with fritole, golden balls of fried yeast dough studded with raisins and pine nuts, and masked visitors eat them from paper bags as they wander between the campi. They were once sold from street stalls by a guild of fritter-makers and are still the true taste of the Venetian Carnival: crisp and sugary outside, light and bready within. The traditional batter has a spoon of grappa or rum; here orange juice takes its place, which suits children too. Chef's tip: fry a single fritter first to check the oil heat and timing.

120 min

Italian Desserts

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Cjarsons della CarniaSweet and savoury filled pasta

Each village in the Carnia mountains of Friuli keeps its own recipe for cjarsons, and families argue happily about whether chocolate, cinnamon or lemon balm belongs inside. The old story ties them to the cramârs, pedlars who walked over the Alps selling spices and brought exotic flavours home. Served at weddings, feast days and Sunday lunch, these half-moons hold a potato filling sweet with raisins and fragrant with mint and parsley, finished with brown butter, cinnamon sugar and grated smoked ricotta. The mix of salty, sweet and smoky is unlike any other pasta in Italy. Chef's tip: pinch the edges into a twisted rope; it seals well and looks the part.

120 min

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Presnitz triestinoSpiced fruit puff pastry spiral

Trieste's pastry shops, many of them founded in the Habsburg years, sell presnitz all year but above all at Easter, when it sits on the table next to the sweet Easter breads. Unlike the yeasted gubana from inland Friuli, it is made from flaky puff pastry rolled thin around a long rope of nuts, dried fruit, chocolate and spice, then coiled into a flat spiral and baked crisp. Slices shatter into buttery flakes around a dense, aromatic centre. The filling is traditionally soaked in rum; orange juice is a good alcohol-free swap. Chef's tip: use all-butter puff pastry and check the label, since some brands use non-vegetarian fats.

120 min

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Canederli agli spinaciSpinach bread dumplings

Green canederli, Spinatknödel in German, are a fixture of the mountain huts and village inns of Trentino and South Tyrol, from the Val di Fiemme to the streets of Bolzano. Day-old bread is soaked in milk and bound with egg, chopped spinach and mountain cheese, then rolled into fist-sized balls and poached until light but firm. They arrive two to a bowl in steaming broth, or drained and dressed with melted butter and grated cheese. The best-known canederli are made with speck; this is the spinach and cheese version, served in vegetable stock. Chef's tip: poach one test dumpling first; if it starts to break up, work a spoonful more flour into the mix.

60 min

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Strangolapreti trentiniSpinach and bread gnocchi

The name means priest-stranglers, and in Trento they like to say it dates from the Council of the 1500s, when visiting clergy ate these little green gnocchi so greedily they nearly choked. Thrifty and simple, they are made from stale bread soaked in milk and beaten with spinach or chard, egg and grated cheese, then poached and rolled in sage butter. Expect a soft, tender dumpling with a fresh green flavour, found on trattoria menus across Trentino in autumn and winter. Chef's tip: chop the spinach as finely as you can, almost to a purée, for smooth gnocchi that hold together.

50 min