🍳 Spanish & Latin Recipes

Neapolitan pizza is the original and strictest of all pizzas: high-protein wheat dough cold-fermented for at least 24 hours, stretched thin with puffed air-bubble edges, topped with barely crushed San Marzano tomatoes and buffalo mozzarella or fior di latte. The Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana has written rules for every detail of its preparation. At home, a very hot oven and a baking stone get you surprisingly close.

Mushroom risotto is one of the most representative dishes of northern Italy: arborio or carnaroli rice coaxed ladle by ladle with hot stock, fresh mushrooms, and a handful of dried porcini that add deep umami. A final knob of butter and parmesan give it the characteristic creaminess. It demands your attention at the stove, and it rewards every minute of it.

Italian meat lasagna is the quintessential Sunday dish of the Bolognese tradition: fresh pasta sheets layered with a slow-cooked ragù of minced meat and pancetta, velvety béchamel, and generously gratinéed parmesan. The ragù needs time — red wine, carrot, celery — but every minute of simmering shows in the final result. Feeds six hungry people.

Authentic Neapolitan pizza dough with 24-hour slow fermentation, San Marzano tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella, and fresh basil. The perfect pizza you can make in a domestic oven with pizzeria results.

Mushroom risotto made in the Thermomix delivers the creamy, slow-cooked texture of the Italian classic without constant stirring. Arborio rice is coaxed through the gradual absorption of white wine and warm stock, while mixed mushrooms add an earthy depth rounded off with Parmesan and cold butter. A full Italian trattoria dish on the table in thirty minutes.

Butternut squash risotto is the quintessential autumn risotto: roasted squash is stirred into arborio rice as a purée, worked with hot stock, white wine, and butter until silky and creamy. Parmesan and nutmeg finish the dish. It needs 18-20 minutes of steady stirring — every minute is worth it.

Bolognese lasagne is the great baked pasta dish of Emilia-Romagna: layers of fresh pasta alternating between a slow-cooked meat ragù with tomato, onion, carrot and wine, and a creamy béchamel, all covered in Parmesan gratin. The ragù needs at least two hours for the meat to meld with the tomato and lose any rawness. A Sunday dish, the kind of effort that is always worth it.

Classic Italian tiramisu is the most popular dessert in modern Italian cooking: layers of ladyfinger biscuits soaked in cold espresso (with a splash of amaretto if desired), alternated with a cream of mascarpone beaten with egg yolks and whipped egg whites. Finished with a generous dusting of bitter cocoa powder and chilled for several hours before serving. Born in the Veneto in the 1960s, it requires no oven and no gelatine.

Porcini mushroom risotto is northern Italy's definitive autumn dish. Dried porcini are first rehydrated in warm water — don't discard that liquid — then combined with Arborio rice cooked ladle by ladle in warm vegetable stock. The final mantecatura, beating in cold butter and Parmesan off the heat, is what gives the dish its characteristic silky wave when the plate is shaken.

Authentic Roman carbonara is one of Rome's most coveted pasta dishes and one of the most misunderstood outside Italy. Its secret lies in the emulsion of egg yolks with pecorino romano and sizzling guanciale — no cream, no onion, no garlic. The result is silky, intensely savory pasta that comes together in the time it takes to boil the spaghetti.

Authentic Genovese focaccia is not a pizza. It is an olive oil bread with a tender, airy crumb inside, a crispy crust outside, and the characteristic dimples that trap the oil and give it its unmistakable texture. This recipe stays true to the Ligurian original.

Linguine with freshly made Genovese pesto and sautéed prawns: a combination that comes together in the time it takes to cook the pasta. Real pesto is made in a mortar with fresh basil, pine nuts, Parmesan, garlic, and Ligurian olive oil; the prawns take just one minute in a hot pan to stay juicy. A restaurant-quality dish in 20 minutes.

Roman carbonara is one of the pillars of Lazio cooking, built on just a handful of ingredients: guanciale, egg yolks, Pecorino Romano, and black pepper. The silky sauce forms entirely from the emulsification of fat, starchy pasta water, and beaten eggs — no cream involved. Getting the temperature right off the heat is the only trick, and the result is richly satisfying.

Parmigiana di melanzane is one of the most satisfying vegetarian dishes from southern Italy: layers of fried aubergine, homemade tomato sauce, fresh mozzarella, and Parmesan baked until everything melts together. Whether it was born in Naples or Sicily — the debate is still open — it's now a classic that tastes even better the next day.

Carbonara is one of the most misunderstood dishes in Italian cuisine. The original Roman version contains no cream: the creaminess comes from egg and cheese emulsified with the starch from the pasta cooking water.

Risotto is the jewel of northern Italian cuisine. The key lies in the starch of Arborio rice, which slowly releases into hot broth, creating a velvety texture that captivates with the very first bite.

The caprese is both the simplest and most unforgiving Italian salad: ripe tomato, buffalo mozzarella and fresh basil dressed with nothing but extra virgin olive oil and flaky salt. No vinegar, no garlic, nothing to hide behind. The tomato and mozzarella quality is everything — get them right and there is nothing to improve. It originated on the island of Capri, the three ingredients painting the colours of the Italian flag.

Spring risotto is the freshest version of Italy's most beloved rice dish: carnaroli rice cooked with ladles of warm stock, finished with seasonal asparagus, peas and courgette. The Thermomix takes over the constant stirring. Butter beaten in off the heat and a generous handful of Parmesan give it the signature creamy finish.