Italian Starter Recipes

I hate waste and so I created this recipe after making pumpkin lanterns with my daughter Mia during Halloween one year. Sweet pumpkin works really well with the salty speck, the Parmesan and the kick of the chilli. This is a really fantastic, tasty lasagne which can easily become vegetarian by removing the speck. You can substitute Parmesan with pecorino cheese, speck with Parma ham, pine nuts with...

This is my daughter Mia’s favourite way to cook and eat gnocchi and she could make this recipe all by herself when she was just 10 years old, with my supervision of course. Please make sure you buy the best-quality gnocchi you can afford, to get the best results. As soon as they all float to the surface of the boiling water, they are ready to drain. You can substitute the pancetta with chopped courgettes,...

I love a white pizza without any tomatoes and I can’t understand why people are sometimes so against it and won’t give it a try. The flavour of the Taleggio cheese with wild mushrooms and truffle is a match made in heaven, and lately in all my restaurants this is becoming a very popular choice with the younger generation. My boys Luciano and Rocco can’t get enough of this pizza and they literally...

My son Rocco loves balsamic glaze, so once, when making a chicken risotto, I drizzled some over his dish. It tasted lovely, so I decided to incorporate it into a risotto recipe. Although this is a one pot wonder, you do need to make sure that you are constantly stirring, so please only make this recipe if you have the time to stand and stir for twenty-five or thirty minutes. I promise, it will be worth...

Stromboli are perfect for picnics or lunch boxes; they can be prepared ahead and they’re pretty much a self-contained meal. Fontina is an excellent melting cheese, and I love its buttery nutty flavour. I’ve paired it here with mozzarella and Parma ham, but any favourite filling of your choice can work well. Serve warm with a mixed salad, or leave to cool and wrap in foil ready to take on your picnic.

I can’t think of anything better than sitting eating a plate of risotto while admiring the view of the winding canals of Venice. This risotto has all the colours of Italy – green peas, creamy white rice and the sharp red of a favourite regional leaf vegetable, radicchio.

The rich meat pasta sauces of northern Italy usually contain two or more different kinds of minced or finely chopped meat. Near Turin they tend to combine beef and lamb, which I initially thought was a little strange until I tried it and found the textures and flavours really complemented each other. Make sure you cook the sauce for the full cooking time as a good ragù must be cooked very slowly for...

I love a pasta salad and this is a really tasty one. I must admit it came about just before we were off to Sardinia for the summer; the night before, I threw everything we had left over in the fridge or kitchen cupboards into it (which explains the apple and onions) and the outcome was delicious. That’s what I love about pasta salads: anything goes and you can be as creative as you like. This is...

Classic pesto is a specialty of Liguria, in northwestern Italy. However, Sicilians have their own equally delicious, lesser-known version – just a few additional ingredients take it in an entirely new and exciting direction. In this recipe I’ve used bucatini pasta, which is basically a thicker version of spaghetti with a hole all the way through, but of course pasta of any shape will be fine.

When I was a little boy my mother, Alba, used to make this rice salad for my lunch box. It’s a very useful recipe, as you can prepare the salad a day ahead, refrigerate it and take it to work the following day. For maximum flavour, it’s best eaten at room temperature, rather than straight from the fridge.

If you’ve never cooked before, this is a great recipe to start with, as very little can go wrong. Just make sure you cook the pasta until al dente – that is, firm with some bite – you don’t want soggy pasta. I’ve suggested a list of ingredients, but you can add pretty much whatever you like – peas, artichokes, cooked ham or tins of sweetcorn and tuna all work well in a pasta salad.

As a young man I often used to go to the pretty port town of Castellammare, near Naples, to eat platefuls of their famous mussels. When I found myself there again recently, filming Gino’s Italian Coastal Escape, I couldn’t resist making the classic dish of the region – the chilli-spiked spaghetti vongole. Traditionally, spaghetti vongole contains just clams, but as I was in Castellammare, of...

The Adriatic coast is not as well known for its pizza as some other regions in Italy, but you can still find great pizzerias. Like any true Neapolitan, I’m always on the lookout for great pizza and after a day’s filming I enjoy nothing more than relaxing with a slice of pizza in one hand and a beer in the other. The pizza always has anchovies and the beer is always Italian.

Originating from Campania and Calabria, paccheri is a popular pasta shape in the region of Marche. When filming there I made this dish using a selection of delicious cheeses. This is a tasty and filling meal that’s really easy to make – it’s my version of a posh macaroni cheese! If you can’t find paccheri you can use large rigatoni for this recipe. If scamorza is unavailable, use a mixture...

Gorgonzola and Parma ham both originate in northern Italy and make a great combination. I often prepare this pizza for my boys, and sometimes we ring the changes by using cooked ham or salami instead of Parma ham. Make sure you preheat the oven to the correct temperature before putting in the pizza, or the dough will be soggy and not cook properly.

People often ask me what my favourite pasta dish is, and this must be among my Top Ten ... salty, crisp pancetta with eggs and pecorino cheese – it’s a match made in heaven. It’s really important to take the saucepan off the heat when you pour over the egg mixture, otherwise you’ll end up with overcooked eggs and sticky pasta. The heat from the pasta and pancetta will be enough to cook the...

Pizza originated in Naples and it’s where the best, most authentic pizza can still be found today – and I’m not just saying that because I’m a Neapolitan! Apparently this topping was created in the 19th century to honour the visit of Queen Margherita to Naples, as it represented the colours of the Italian flag – red, white and green. Try to use buffalo (rather than cow’s milk) mozzarella...

Risotto is the ultimate comfort food, and it’s so versatile and quick to make. For this recipe I’ve used chicken breast, but you can also use cooked chicken left over from a roast – just stir it in as you add the last ladleful of stock. Red pesto is a southern Italian variation of the northern Italian basil pesto – the colour comes from sun-dried tomatoes or red peppers and the sauce adds depth...

This Neapolitan ragù recipe has been in my family for over 40 years and my mother has never changed a single ingredient. It works to perfection, and the great thing is that you can prepare the sauce a day ahead and it will taste even better the day after. The meat should be crumbly and as soft as butter. Feel free to use rump steak if you prefer, as fillet steak can be expensive.

Risotto ai frutti di mare is a classic northern Italian dish and some recipes contain four or five different types of seafood. Here I’ve added a little chilli for extra kick. Please don’t add cheese as it ‘fights’ with the seafood.

For me, this wonderful risotto signals the end of spring and the start of summer. If using older beans it's best to remove their skins after boiling as they can be tough. You can use frozen broad beans and peas if you prefer.

When I was in Pescara – the main city in the Abruzzo region – I spent the morning with Giovanni Minicucci, the founder of the pasta shop Chitarra Antica, making spaghetti alla chitarra in the traditional way (see page 54). I then rustled up a quick fresh tomato and chilli pasta sauce – the type that every Italian makes at home. So simple yet so delicious. If you can’t find spaghetti alla chitarra...