Jacqueline Debono

The eggplant was placed at the bottom, a hill of pasta was piled on top of the eggplant and the tomato sauce with grated ricotta salata covered everything! There are three main types of eggplants found on the island; the very dark oval or long ones that most people outside of Italy know, oval zebra eggplants which have a lighter striped skin and the more rotund, lighter coloured Sicilian eggplant. Ricotta salata can be bought from Italian speciality food shops or online, but if you can’t find it, you can use feta, preferably aged feta. As they eat their pasta alla Norma, they often add extra cheese and eggplant along the way!

If you have never made pasta risotto style this zucchini flower pasta risotto is a fabulous recipe to start with. This zucchini flower pasta risotto is a divine example of risotto style pasta. In recipes with small types of pasta, pasta risotto is made almost the same way as rice risotto. Like in this pasta risotto, recipes with pasta and zucchini flowers usually include the zucchini too, cut into small rings, cubes or slices.

Pasta with fava beans and pancetta is based on a traditional spring recipe from Le Marche in Central Italy. Known as ‘fave in porchetta’, fava or broad beans are traditionally cooked with pancetta or guanciale, garlic and wild fennel. Known as ‘fave in porchetta’ in Le Marche, fava beans and pancetta is traditionally a side dish made with mature broad beans. You can find rabbit in porchetta, chicken in porchetta, duck in porchetta and even carp in porchetta.

However, there are a number of different types of Italian gnocchi including those made with bread, fresh ricotta, spinach, pumpkin or just semolina flour. Among the oldest types of Italian gnocchi are bread dumplings from the South Tirol known as canederli. Interestingly, Italian potato gnocchi only date back to the start of the 18th century, long after potatoes were brought to Europe from South America by Spanish explorers and introduced to Italian kitchens. Italian bread gnocchi (canederli) in broth is a tasty and easy way to use up stale bread.