Tips From Nonna
1. Salt your water like the sea.
If your pasta water isn’t properly salted, your pasta will never taste right — no matter how good the sauce is.
2. Don’t rush the soffritto.
Onion + carrot + celery cooked slowly in olive oil is the soul of many dishes. Low heat. No browning. Patience.
3. Clean as you go — a messy kitchen makes bad food.
Nonna never lets dishes pile up.
4. If it sticks, you turned it too soon.
Whether it’s meat, fish, or vegetables — if it won’t release from the pan, it’s not ready.
5. Good olive oil is never wasted.
Use it to finish soup, dress salad, serve with bread, cook the soffritto. It’s liquid gold.
6. Vinegar and baking soda fix almost everything.
Stains, smells, drains, kettles.
Nonna didn’t need 20 cleaning products.
7. Feed people. Always.
Unexpected guest? There’s always pasta, eggs, or bread and olive oil.
Hospitality isn’t about perfection or having a lot, it’s
8. Never let people leave empty handed.
Leftover cake. Extra pasta. A lemon from the tree. Nonna always sends you home with something.
9. Chopping boards are not necessary.
Nonna always peels and chops holding fruit and vegetables in her hands. Her vegetable knife of choice was always Victorinox.
10. Mangia la minestra o salta la finestra.
Eat the soup or jump out the window.