The essence of Italian cuisine seen by Anthony Bourdain

“It was, I must admit, a revelation. A simple pasta pomodoro – just about the simplest thing I could think of, pasta in red sauce – suddenly became a thing of real beauty and excitement.

All the food was simple. And I don’t mean easy, or dumb. I mean that for the first time, I saw how three or four ingredients, as long as they are of the highest and freshest quality, can be combined in a straightforward way to make a truly excellent and occasionally wondrous product.

Homey, peasant dishes like Tuscan bread soup, white bean salad, grilled calamari, baby octopus, tender baby artichokes in olive oil and garlic, a simple sautéed calves’ liver with caramelized onions, immediately became inspiring and new. The clean, simple, unassuming integrity of it all was a whole new approach, very different from the sauces and squeeze bottles and exotic ingredients of my recent past”.

Italian cuisine by Anthony Bourdain – Celebrity Chef