World Pasta Day: Everything you need to make nonna-worthy dishes at home

Undeniably, we’re a nation of pasta lovers, and have been for decades. And, clearly so is the rest of the world, so much so that 25 Otober is World Pasta Day, an annual event celebrated since its conception by the World Pasta Congress in 1995.

It’s focus is to promote the eating of pasta (we’re already convinced) and its cultural importance not only to Italy, butto the rest of us too. Even though pasta is already a regular in our ktichens, its absolutely the already made version, whether that’s fresh or dry. But it’s not that hard to make it yourself.

And as many of us are faced with local lockdowns, many people are turning to busying themselves with learning new skills again, so now’s the time to learn how to make pasta from scratch.

If you’re new or out of practice with your kitchen skills, we’ve rounded up the essentials you need to create restaurant-quality dishes, from blenders to cookbooks, whether you’re a fan of ravioli, gnocchi, pappardelle, tagliatelle or any other type of pasta.

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Pasta makers

If you can’t make it to your favourite pasta restaurant, bring Italy into your kitchen by treating yourself to a pasta maker.

It’s the most authentic way to enjoy the carby dish and recreate the pasta shapes you typically enjoy at an eatery.

We put a number of pasta makers to the test in our round-up, to find the best and the KitchenAid 5KSMPRA food mixer attachment pasta maker (Argos, £154.99) walked away with the top spot.

As a set of attachments for the KitchenAid, if you already own the standing mixer, it’s a simple way to transform the popular appliance. Read our review of the machine in our guide to the best stand mixers here.

It comes with a pasta roller, a spaghetti cutter and a fettuccine cutter, which our reviewer easily slotted into the front end of the KitchenAid and lock into place.

“Start with the pasta roller, set the speed on a low setting, start with the widest setting (there are eight) gradually working towards the lowest and in minutes you’ll have perfectly paper thin sheets of pasta,” said our tester. Swap out the attachment if you’re after handmade spaghetti or fettuccine.

We especially loved that it did the hard work for us, as it sped the process up and left us hands free to pick a recipe cook or if the doorbell rang. While it’s not cheap, we think it’s a worthwhile investment.

If ravioli is your personal dish of choice, we’d recommend this Marcato ravioli tablet (Amazon, £77.37) that allowed us to make 10 ravioli in just a few minutes.

To get the best results, you will need to roll out the pasta dough first, which is a great activity to include the kids or housemates, then press it into the moulds and fill with stuffing. It comes with a useful cookbook full of recipes and the salmon ricotta caught our eye.

According to our reviewer: “Roll the metal rolling pin across to cut the ravioli out – the rolling pin has revolving handles for more comfortable and efficient rolling – we found the ravioli turned out easily thanks to the removable plastic tray topper.”

Add to boiling water for a few minutes and serve while piping hot.

If you have a pasta lover in your life, this Pasta Evangelists Italian pasta making six piece kit (Not on the High Street, £25) is perfect to encourage them to hand make their own dishes.

In the kit you’ll find a beechwood rolling pin, straight pasta cutter, ridged gnocchi maker, square ravioli stamp, double zero flour and Italian sea salt, equipping you with all the essentials necessary.

Then all they need to do is follow the instructions and recipes included et voila, silky deliciousness to enjoy.

Kitchen appliances

For making your own pesto from scratch, tomato and basil topping or cheesy carbonara, you’ll need a few tools at your disposal to master a pasta sauce.

Often its a case of blitzing ingredients together, so ensure you have the smoothly blended vegetables, spices and seasoning with a handheld blender.

In our guide to the best hand blender, we loved this Lakeland hand blender set (Lakeland, £49.99) which has separate attachments that allow you blend, whisk and chop.

Let it do all the hard work for you with the turbo button which had no problem tackling harder ingredients, and if you’re dealing with softer foods, try the low speed button instead.

Our reviewer gave it brownie points for the ergonomic handle and the ability to change attachments seamlessly with a quick twist.

For a more robust piece of equipment, consider investing in a food processor like this Magimix cuisine 5200XL (Nisbets, £314.99) that was awarded our BestBuy.

It’s especially good at working with large quantities so if you’re cooking for a family or meal prepping, it’s a welcome helping hand.

There’s 13 accessories to play with, ranging from different sized bowls and a citrus press. According to our tester: “It even does well with nuts and herbs – a shortcoming of many food processors.”

Cookbooks

While the appeal of pasta often lies in its simplicity, get it wrong and you can be left with a mushy, bland mess.

To avoid any said dissapointments, go to those who know best; Pasta Grannies: The secrets of Italy's best home cooks by Vicky Bennison (Amazon, £14.80) is a treasure trove of more than 80 recipes, so you can whip up dishes just like Italian nonnas do.

Having spent a lifetime cooking pasta, no one knows their stuff like these women, who share their life stories alongside instructions on how to make anything from gnocchi to pici.

Serving essentials

If you’re cooking for guests, make it extra special with this Pols Potten seeds dinner plate, set of four (Amara, £75) to add a splash of colour and presentation to dinnertime.

We loved them in our guide to the best plate sets, as they brought a “colourful, craft driven aesthetic to the dining table” found our reviewer.

Matte-glazed and hand painted with a sunflower seed motif, they’ll transport you to fond memories of your favourite restaurant in the summer.

For more food and drink, read our guide to the best organic wines and the best electric hand mixers that whizz up a storm in the kitchen