Anna del Conte on Pasta

The first printing of the cookbook Anna del Conte on Pasta from 1976, according to Nigella Lawson, it changed the way the English thought about Italian cooking. The latest edition (now several years old) is beautiful and does justice to the old style with a nice retro look. A fabric cover, many black and white photos from the time inside and beautiful illustrations.

The history of pasta

The book begins with an elaborate story about the history of the simplest food in the world: pasta, consisting only of wheat and water.

• The history of pasta factories
• The history of the traditions surrounding eating pasta
• Known person eat spaghetti (spaghetti eaters) -fiction…

In short, the entire culture surrounding eating pasta is being taken out of the books. Ample attention is paid to the role of Naples and the surrounding area. Where the pasta used to be dried a lot and where the better-known quality pasta such as Torre Annunziata and Gragnano to come from.

The fact that the pasta from this region is doing so well is partly due to the sea breeze that dries the spaghetti in the right way. (If pasta dries too quickly, it will become brittle.) There are beautiful photos, such as this historic photo in which pasta is hanging to dry.

Or this one with an excerpt from the 1957 TV documentary where in the UK people were fooled on April 1 with pasta cooked in Ticino would grow on the trees.

We often eat pasta at home as single dish, but in Italy it is an appetizer. These are American traditions, just as pasta Alfredo and pasta with meatballs are American corruptions of Italian culture.

how to pasta

After that, about 20 pages are devoted to how to eat pasta. Where to buy it, how to cook the perfect pasta, the difference between purchased ready-made pasta and the pasta you make at home.

A nice tip is to save some of the cooking liquid for the pasta for various dishes, depending on the recipe of course. Fresh pasta is not 'better' than ready-made pasta, it is a different product, the two cannot be compared.

There is also attention for good ingredients and I especially liked the olive santo on chili-flavored olive oil. It's nice how the Italians manage to add something sacred again.

Historical recipes

Of course there is plenty of room for recipes, including attention for historical recipes. I already tried Bartolomeo Scappi .'s recipes from the 16th century, I now got to work with the spaghetti con salsa rinascimentale. Spaghetti with Renaissance sauce.

I saw the list of ingredients and my attention was drawn. Ricotta, mascarpone, a list of spices, almonds, lemon juice and some sage to top it off. I always like to have a new taste experience. There are dishes that are really different from what you already know. This was certainly one of those.

Lucrezia Borgia

And to think it's a recipe that may have been eaten by Lucrezia Borgia in the 16th century. Lucrezia Borgia, who had already had two international marriages by the time she was 21, tied the knot with a D'Este in 1501. They spent a lot of money on the good life. So food, but also art.

To Lucrezia's credit, Ferrara developed a court culture with such distinguished guests as Titian (the painter) and Ludovico Ariosto (the author of the Italian literary classic Orlando furious). The Italian Renaissance has many stories about different families, each with their own court culture.

There is also ample attention for pasta patties and baked pasta, messes en timbali. Pasta that is first cooked and then processed into an oven dish.

This is a historic tradition, but Italians still love to bake up yesterday's leftovers to take to the beach for lunch. I think those historical dishes are the greatest value of this cookbook.

More modern recipes

In addition, there are many classics in it (ragout, tomato sauce, pasta and chickpeas, carbonara), as you would expect in a first edition book from the 70s. There is also a recipe for rotolo di spinaci, which I already presented in a vegetarian Christmas recipe for 2019.

A recipe for pizza crust (buckwheat pasta) might grab the attention of gluten-free fans, but they won't be inclined to buy this traditional book about pasta.

pestos

Since I have two small children at home, the paprika pesto recipe also caught my attention. Pesto has a good chance of success, but I found two cloves of garlic in it a bit much. The zucchini pesto from the Naples cookbook by The Silver Spoon has really become a classic with us that it is difficult to compete with.

I like the whole southern tradition of putting almonds in many dishes, it's really a seasoning. The Trapani pesto I also want to try with almonds and cherry tomatoes from this cookbook.

In the cookbook Pasta di Janny there is also an artichoke pesto (tasty as a Dutch dip than through the pasta) and when I once did groceries with a budget I made kale Pesto with the recipe from the British budget cook Jack Munroe. This book by Anna Del Conte also contains a recipe for pistachio pesto and arugula pesto, which are still on my bucket list.

New insights into old traditions

In short: a wonderful book with many new insights. Perhaps not the book if you like modern Italian cuisine. But if you want to know everything about the origin and history of the Italian pasta tradition, this book is a must. You have to order it in English, because there is no Dutch edition (yet).

Anna del Conte on Pasta
by: Anna Del Conte
208 pages
€ 21,99
Pavilion Books, September 2015
ISBN 9781909815629