Iconic Italian cooking sisters Monica and Daniela Venturi share tips for the perfect meal

Sunday World

2 days ago

DOLCE VITA |
And pineapple on pizza is definitely not one of them!
Pineapple on pizza is already a divisive issue among the Irish. But for the iconic Italian Nonnas, whose all-women pasta shop Le Sfogline draws converts from all over the world, it's unthinkable.
'Mixing sometimes is good,' says Monica. 'But pizza, no. There's the mozzarella, and you cannot put pineapple. Our mother used to prepare a pork roast with sliced pineapple,' she adds, offering a tasty and inspired alternative.
This writer hasn't the heart to tell them about our tendency to have chips with our lasagne for fear it might bring us pasta point of rescue.
Italian sisters Monica and Daniela Venturi ahead of the Birra Moretti 'Nonna's Kitchen' event
News in 90 Seconds - Saturday July 12
But the Venturi sisters are not food snobs — far from it. Like all Italians they were raised in the simple belief that fabulous ingredients should be allowed to sing. A dish of tagliatelle with olive oil — 'or butter, your butter is very good' — and topped with fresh parmesan, they believe, can give you the same happy feeling as zipping towards the Trevi Fountain in a red Vespa on a sunny day.
It's the type of simple and pure approach that has made Le Sfogline a great success story. Starting the business with their mother Renata, Daniela and Monica wanted to share the pasta dishes they made at home, and it now draws hungry visitors from all over the world.
Their business was female orientated from the early days. 'This is the kind of job that was traditionally for women, the housewives were always the ones at home working for the family and making meals,' says Monica. 'For us now, the problem is we cannot mix women and men because of the loos, the shop is so small so we can't mix them for men and women.'
Monica and Daniela in Dublin ahead of Nonna's Kitchen by Birra Moretti
Now the funny and colourful sisters will return to Dublin as part of a partnership with Birra Moretti to host a two-night pop-up called Nonna's Kitchen at the end of July. Having already fallen for the city during their advance visit, they are excited at the prospect of returning.
'Dublin is wonderful and we are very happy to be here,' says Monica. 'It was one of my goals to come to Dublin but we have never had the time, and I must thank this event, Birra Moretti, to host us in this wonderful place. I'm really in love with it, and the people are not like when I go to London and everybody avoids you.'
The siblings hope to share their pasta-making prowess with Irish food fans during their two days in the capital. 'I hope they will join us in having lessons and we're going to take with us our shop and our experience,' says Daniela. Read more
'We can explain tradition and all the things we love — family, friendship — that we tried to put inside the shop, apart from, of course, cooking and making pasta.
'Our shop is like our kitchen, and as it's our kitchen clients are not clients, but are our friends. We are always searching for the best because that's what we had when our grandmother and our mother used to make pasta. It's a tradition we have to take and go on with forever, because we will never die!'
Sharing some of their secrets from a place where great food equals la dolce vita, Monica and Daniela have some bellissimo ideas and tips for Irish pasta fans. 'Pay attention to the cooking of Italian food, because sometimes, especially for pasta, the problem is that it can be overcooked, and this means that after it's like a goo, and it's a pity,' says Monica.
Sisters Monica and Daniela Venturi
'Never put too much sauce over it because good pasta is very good all by itself. You just have to add something that exalts the pasta, that doesn't cover it up — like a good spaghetti pomodoro, or a good tagliatelle with ragu.
'What I don't like, and many restaurants in Bologna are doing this now, just to have tourists: they serve tortellini with ragu sauce. They're too different. Tortellini is so famous because the filling is very rich. Pork loin cooked in the butter, mortadella, parma ham, parmigiano reggiano six months old, eggs, nutmeg. What else can you add to make it perfect? Nothing. It's perfect. Everything you put over it is too much. And so you don't taste the ragu, you don't taste the tortellini.'
It's a passion for great food that's infectious, and one which the sisters experienced in their very early memories of eating in their family home. 'I think from when I came out from my mom's body, I started to appreciate food,' says Monica. 'Our family was always cooking something, because any friend was a guest — and if someone came home there was always something ready to eat.'
They sisters guffaw in unison when asked if food is the best way to get somebody in the mood for love. 'Yes, yes, it's true! You catch the man by the throat. A good dish of tagliatelle, not with ragu because the ragu is not very simple, but with a touch of olive oil and parmigiano, very simple, very good.
'Another dish to make for a romantic dinner is tortellini with lemon zest. If you want to be romantic you don't want something too heavy. Just dress it with a little drop of butter, parmigiano and maybe some mint leaves on top.'
Monica and Daniela Venturi will return to Ireland on July 23 and 24 when they bring their signature culture, stories and handmade tortellini to Dublin for a once-in-a-lifetime experience: Nonna's Kitchen by Birra Moretti. The event will take place at Fumbally Stables and tickets are priced at €30 and available on Eventbrite.​