A Gift Guide for Handmade Pasta Lovers Inspired by Italy
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Different forms of noodles developed separately in Asian and Mediterranean countries, but for the pasta lover in your life who dreams of Italy, this gift guide takes special inspiration from a pasta making class I joined in Florence.
My goal is to recommend products you may not have thought of yet; common sense will tell you that nice olive oil or a hand-crank pasta machine are typical gift ideas for pasta lovers, but if you know someone who’s a pasta addict, they likely already have these things and would appreciate something more unique.
Chitarra
When most people envision rolling out pasta dough and shaping the noodles from scratch, they expect to get the job done with a hand-crank metal pasta machine. During our class in Florence, we took “made by hand” to a new level and nixed the machine in favor of a wooden chitarra.
The Italian word “chitarra” translates to “guitar” in English. After rolling out the pasta dough into an oblong shape, it’s placed atop the “guitar strings” of the chitarra and pressed gently but firmly into the wires with a rolling pin. Then, you will literally play the chitarra by stroking the strings. The vibration cuts into the dough and the tonnarelli, or spaghetti alla chitarra, fall into the wooden basin below.
You will tip the chitarra so that the pasta falls out and catch the noodles on a rolling pin. Some people might like to hang them on a pasta drying rack at this stage, but during our class we just set them aside into piles. They didn’t stick together and it was easy to throw each pile into the pot to cook later.
Ravioli “Stampino”
When we asked our pasta class instructor what to call the mold we used to stamp out ravioli shapes from our dough, she adorably suggested “stampino.” Adding “-ino” to the end of an Italian word gives the object a descriptor of “small” – in this case, a small stamp or print.
A ravioli stamp has basically the same function as a cookie cutter. If the pasta enthusiast in your life doesn’t have a ravioli stamp, they have probably just been cutting dough using something that’s meant for pastries, or the rim of a wine glass. It’s hard to justify purchasing such a specific kitchen item for oneself (a stampino really has no other use), but to achieve the quintessential ravioli shape, a stamp made for this purpose is necessary.
While you’re at it, you could even look at one-of-a-kind custom pasta stamps!
Multi-piece pasta cooker/divider set
In order to cook all the noodles at once but still keep the various shapes separated (in our class we created tonnarelli and two different kinds of ravioli, agnolotti and a cappellacci), our instructor used a pasta cooker set with three basket inserts. We thought this was pretty fancy, but upon return to the States, my brother who works in restaurants said that every commercial kitchen has something similar. A true pasta lover who’s intent on practicing the art of many different pasta shapes will enjoy leveling up with a professional-grade pasta cooker!
Pasta Grannies Cookbook
While we waited for our pasta class to start, a TV was playing scenes from a show called “Pasta Grannies.” We were all totally endeared to these Italian grandmothers as we watched them intuitively create the most scrumptious looking meals ever beheld. They seemed to be using traditional methods and tools in their own home kitchens, and, having done so all their lives, never needed to measure any ingredients out. It was all instinctual.
The Pasta Grannies also have an official cookbook, and something tells me this book is ten times better than anything written by elite profiteering Michelin chefs.
Pasta Making Class
The class we took in Florence, Italy was through the tour operator Experience in Florence and called “Florence: Pasta Making Class with Wine, Limoncello, and Cake.” I could go on and on about how wonderful our instructor was and how delicious the final product was, but obviously not everyone is planning to fly out to Italy! Luckily, pasta making classes are available all around the world. In the United States, GetYourGuide has them in Portland, Atlanta, Chicago, Austin, and Indianapolis; you can also search TripAdvisor for pasta classes near you.
If you’re not sure what to gift someone who enjoys making pasta as a hobby, my advice is to steer away from recipe ingredients because they likely already know their favorite flavors and producers. Connoisseurs can be picky, and rightfully so! However, it’s rare for home kitchens to be able to collect all of the more specialized pasta-making and pasta-shaping products. With a few extra tools at their disposal, your pasta lover will be able to let their creativity shine and feed their passion for Italian cuisine!
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