People regularly ask me for recommendations: from which culinary classics to have on their bookshelves, to which ingredients to keep in their cupboards, or what utensils are best for certain techniques. So, as a Pasta Grannies team, we thought it was about time to share a few of our favourite things. Each week, on the Pasta Grannies blog, we’ll share a few key items we’re loving.
Boo!
Did we scare you? It’s Halloween week and although it’s not always traditionally celebrated in Italy (November 1, All Saints Day is much more important), many modern Italians will use Halloween as an excuse to throw a party, eat good food, and give out sweet treats to their loved ones.
So if you’re hosting, or planning on sharing your baking with any hungry trick-or-treaters then see our recommendations below. And, if you’d like some grandmother-approved pumpkin inspiration, make sure you check out our pumpkin-themed favourite things, and catch up on which desserts are on the Pasta Grannies team’s list of favourites.
STOCK
Items we regularly have on shelves in our pantry
Italian branding is often very straightforward. And baking is no exception. Paneangeli’s yeast, “lievito pane degli angeli” will make cakes as cloud-like as the cherubs floating on the packaging. It’s not everyone’s favourite, but a lot of our grandmothers swear by it.
And if baking’s not your thing? One tip I have: keep a panettone or a pandoro cake somewhere in a tin at the back of the cupboard in case sporadic visitors. You can dish it out for any unannounced guests (a spooky tradition in my family). I’m never brave enough to turn them away, and almost always offer them an espresso and a slice of back-of-cupboard panettone with a smile. It always goes down a treat. My favourite is the Bauli Verona version, with crunchy almonds and juicy dried fruit.
MAKE
The best kitchen gadgets and gizmos to make a family-style spread.
Making some muffins? Icing a cake? Decorating a cookie with scary vampire fangs or a cute ghost face ? This GreenPan muffin tin is lightweight and is handy if you run out of muffin cases since it’s non-stick. And when it comes to decoration, we like this Lakeland piping bag with 10 different nozzles for all your different spooky finishes.
ENJOY
Other things we’ve been enjoying inside or outside of the kitchen.
More recently, we’ve documented desserts on our travels. Take Maria’s Concetta’s almond biscuits, or Nonna Nella’s Crostata as examples. As well as our wonderful grandmothers, there are a few other baking books we like too. The master of flavour combinations, Yotam Ottolenghi, shows us how to make baking more inventive in Sweet. He has a deli not far from the Pasta Grannies office in London; it takes us a lot of willpower not to purchase something from the kaleidoscopic cake-laden windows every time we walk past.
And talking of other beautiful things, La Vita è Dolce: Italian–Inspired Desserts by Letitia Clark is a book where the author does all her own artwork. Beautiful, isn’t it? She’s travelled much of Italy as well as being a trained pastry chef so there’s some lovely recipes in here. Try: the cantucci, and the caramelised citrus tart.
Please note that all these items are real recommendations chosen at our own discretion, and not a result of paid placement. Sometimes, however, we may include affiliate links)
