Stream free On Demand
Cook Like an Italian with Silvia Colloca
series • cooking
G
series • cooking
G
"For Italians, food is a deep expression of love and joy," Silvia Colloca says in Cook Like an Italian. The beloved Italy-born cook, author and singer brings that Italianate joy and passion to all her cooking, including the many recipes she has shared in her various SBS Food shows and her cookbooks.
Her cooking covers everything from family celebrations to simple family meals, from pasta and tiramisu to one of of all time, her .
Here's a selection of the best recipes from Silvia Colloca that will take your Italian cooking to the next, more authentic level.
SOUPS AND SMALL BITES
A lovely idea for sharing with visitors, with a quick homemade flatbread, some simple pickled cucumbers and warm tomatoes for scooping.
Credit: Byron Keane
Spelt flour adds a slightly nutty note to these satisfying frittelle, a great way to use up some zucchini if you have an abundance.
Spelt and zucchini fritters (Frittelle di farro e zucchine) Credit: Rob Palmer
Leftover parmesan rinds are used to make this vibrant soup into something very special, and the skins from the potatoes used in the soup are turned into a crisp snack to serve along with the soup.
Credit: Wok Vs Pot with Marion and Silvia
Packed full of beans and vegetables, minestrone warms the soul from the inside.
Minestrone with risoni is filled with vegetables, bulked out with rice and topped off with cheese. Credit: Jono Fleming
PASTA, RICE, BREAD AND PIZZA
If you have the time, discover the rich rewards of making both the pasta and the rich ragu from scratch in this hearty dish.
Hand rolled and cut tagliatelle with ragú Napoletano Credit: Cook like an Italian
Not all ragus are tomato based – this classic from Genoa, known as ragu Genovese, is made with two cuts of meat, white wine and onion. The sauce is cooked low and slow for at least 4 hours ("even 8 hours, if you can!" Colloca says) until the meat is fall-apart tender.
Credit: Jono Fleming
This is a very popular dish in the mountainous villages of Abruzzo. "This is my personal take on the classic dish, devised to celebrate the crisp sweetness of spring vegetables. When Nonna Irene taught me to make sagne, she wasn’t her usual vague self about size and measures. She insisted the squares must be an even 2.5 cm × 2.5 cm. Given that this is the only time she has ever advocated precision in the kitchen, I make it a point to follow her instructions to the letter," Colloca says.
This vibrantly yellow Italian classic is all about mellow flavours and perfectly cooked rice. (And if you'd like an even more vibrantly coloured bowl, take a look at Silvia Colloca's recipe for )
Credit: Wok Vs Pot with Marion and Silvia
Sfincione is a legendary Sicilian street food with universal appeal. Silvia's recipe makes a hearty, tomato-ey, deep dish pizza topped with gooey scamorza cheese and salty anchovies that fills the house with tantalising aromas as it bakes.
Pizza rustica. sometimes also called torta rustica, can take several forms - from a pie to a hybrid between a pastry and a calzone, like the one above, made with an unleavened olive oil pastry-like dough and a classic spinach and ricotta filling. For a more pie-like version, try another of Silvia's pizza rustica recipes, a golden with a pastry lattice top.
Credit: Pizza rustica (Cook Like an Italian)
The perfect combination of soft and airy focaccia adorned with a mosaic of sweet and tangy caramelised onion, this recipe comes from her most recent book, . "It’s a simple pairing that wonderfully epitomises the intrinsic beauty of the Italian cucina povera tradition, where very little can be turned into something big and bold," she says.
Focaccia con le cipolle (caramelised onion focaccia). Credit: Plum Books / Alan Benson
BAKING AND DESSERTS
This is the recipe that soon claimed a spot in SBS Foods after she shared it in her SBS Food show, . With just four ingredients, plus icing sugar for dusting, these deliciously rustic, lightly chewy biscuits are easy to make – and completely gluten-free. As Silvia notes on the recipe, they will keep for weeks so you can, should you wish, double the recipe and make a larger batch.
Italian almond biscuits (ricciarelli). Credit: Cook Like an Italian
Embrace the thriftiness of past generations with recipes like this one, which transforms stale bread into a moist, almost pudding-like chocolate cake.
Left-over bread cake with chocolate and cherries (torta di pane e cioccolato) Credit: Cook like an Italian
Discover the light and lush appeal of this traditional Italian dessert. A staple during Naples' Carnival festivities, migliaccio is the region's rustic semolina and lemon cake which is made rich and moist with the ricotta.
Credit: Cook Like an Italian
We couldn't compile a list of beautiful Silvia Colloca recipes without including her classic tiramisu! It's creamy, delicious and coffee-spiked. "I haven’t met anyone who doesn't love tiramisu with a passion!" she says. Or try her recipe for – cute and convenient individual serves.
Credit: Wok Vs Pot with Marion and Silvia
MORE FROM SILVIA'S KITCHEN
Stuffed fried olives (olive all’ascolana)
