Nonna’s Untouchables

Appears in
Better Than Nonna: Modernised Italian Recipes

By Danilo Cortellini

Published 2024

  • About
We all have those dishes that we enjoy at every age, no matter how much we may have trained our palates to expect new flavours. These dishes can take you back to childhood with just one bite.
For this reason, I’m going to introduce you to a small selection of dishes that instantly make me think of dinner at Nonna’s. If they were altered in any way, they would lose their hit of nostalgia, which is why they are perfect just as they are – no twists needed (for the time being!).
Some of these dishes are highly specific to my upbringing – my mum makes the best olive all’ascolana – while others are recipes that many Italians find nostalgic like ziti alla genovese and affogato. Save these recipes and treasure them; Nonna would be proud.