Silvia’s Italian Masterclass

If you were to ask me what is so unique about Italian home-cooking, I would steadfastly assert its point of difference is the cooks themselves.

Italian home-cooking is centered around four fundamental pillars: tradition, pride, creativity and simplicity and Italians adhere to them like eggs and parmesan on carbonara!

We grow up immersed in a culture that celebrates the act of cooking, and that of eating, every day. and such reverence is offered in equal manner for a simple biscotto dunked in morning espresso, a chunky piece of bread dripping with extra virgin olive oil or a more elaborate dish of home made pasta.

We have an innate respect for tradition which is expressed with love and with restraint. We don’t like altering the recipes given to us by our Nonnas, as if the idea alone would be enough to offend our ancestors. we maintain the customs with pride and we are strongly opinionated about leaving out unnecessary ingredients, to allow the simple beauty of the dish to realize its potential. Less truly is more.

Italians are natural, inventive home cooks but such creativity is expressed thriftily and ingeniously more than with sophistication. It takes far more imagination to cook a delicious meal out of three or four ingredients and a wooden spoon, than using fifteen and as many kitchen gadgets!

In this new series of Silvia’s Italian Masterclass we are offered an intimate insight into Silvia’s kitchen, who loves nothing more than to share what she has learnt along the way, so that you too can muster the beauty of simple, Italian homecooking.

Ultimately, Silvia’s Italian Masterclass is for the accomplished home-cooks, the novice ones, those who love a kitchen gadget and those who don’t, those who like to improvise, and those who will follow the recipe to the T.