Move over penne – reinventing pasta with Italy’s best chefs

Adding unexpected ingredients to the pasta itself is a clever way to introduce new flavours or colours to a dish. I’m not talking about the multi-coloured pasta shapes you can buy in delis which look splendid but invariably taste of nothing. These freshly made colourful pastas taste and look really vibrant and take homely pasta dishes to a whole new level. Rosanna Marziale uses black squid ink tagliatelle to add drama to her squid and mussel dish while Emanuele Scarello livens up the plate by cooking his macaroni in beetroot juice – the pasta becomes a powerful pink and tastes glorious. Francesco Sposito makes his fettucine with pistachio flour for a nutty flavour and texture and serves it with mortadella emulsion and leek powder while Alessandro Gavagna adds a mixture of chopped herbs to his pasta dough for his simple, green spaghettini. Other ingredients that can be added include saffron, chillies, dried peppers or even chocolate.

In contemporary restaurants across Italy, some chefs are doing away with pasta all together, replacing it with ingredients that behave a little like it. Similar to the recent trend for courgetti – ‘spaghetti’ made from spiralized courgette – squid and cuttlefish can be cut into very fine ribbons and served with sauce. Mario Uliassi does this for his Tagliatelle of cuttlefish with nori pesto and fried quinoa while Francesco Sposito uses squid for his alternative tagliatelle which he serves with dehydrated squid ink. Other possible ingredients for spiralizing are carrots, beetroot, celeriac, cucumber, sweet potatoes and kohlrabi. Similarly, vegetables and fruit that can be cut very finely while still retaining their shape can be used to make ravioli. You could try using turnip, kohlrabi, beetroot, mango or pineapple to make little parcels filled with complementary flavours. For a very sophisticated sweet version have a look at Aurora Mazzucchelli’s Pineapple ravioli with ricotta which is served with coffee caviar, raisins, pine nuts and edible flowers – it’s as pretty as it is delicious and no pasta in sight.