Welcome to Carmela’s Kitchen

Welcome to Carmela’s Kitchen. Carmela is a passionate Italian cookery tutor who specialises in the art of making pasta. Carmela is known as a pastaia (specialist pasta maker) and is also an event cookery demonstrator, recipe developer, food writer, founder and chef or a sell out supper club and author of four beautiful cookery books ‘A Passion for Pasta’, ‘Pasta Fresca’, Northern & Central Italian Family Cooking & ‘Southern Italian Family Cooking’. Cooking simple, inexpensive, seasonal, flavoursome dishes whilst using good quality seasonal ingredients as her mantra. The most basic and mouth-watering of Italian dishes can take minutes, from an easy spaghetti dish to a slow cooked meat based sugo dish. Eating and enjoying snacks and meals around a kitchen table is paramount with friends and family so with good reason the pasta courses that you will learn from Carmela and her Italian cooking classes will put you in great stead for whatever you decide to cook and for whom.

Carmela shares her love of Italian food through her work as an Italian cookery author, magazine contributor and fortnightly food columnist for the local newspaper ‘The Chronicle & Echo’. Her writing has brought her to the attention of Filippo Berio Olive Oil who sponsor her Supper Club, the success of which sees each session is sold out months in advance.
Carmela’s new book Northern & Central Italian Family Cooking takes the reader on a culinary journey from the breath-taking dolomites as far south as Lazio and Abruzzo. She explores the northern regions of Italy while focusing on polenta, rice, gnocchi, pasta, meat, game and seafood dishes. For the sweet lover amongst you fear not as Carmela has also included an array of delicious desserts, cakes and biscotti with a strong selection of aperitivi & digestivi for all palates. Carmela’s passion for Italian food and drink culture is at the forefront t of every recipe she creates. The recipes in this book blend the seasonal ingredients of the north with the cucina povera style cooking of the south.

Carmela’s first book, Southern Italian Family Cooking, was a true labour of love, which showcased the best dishes of the South of Italy. The recipes in this book show her passion for the cucina povera style of cooking and encourages the use of seasonal ingredients in everyday family cooking. Carmela’s second book A Passion for Pasta, showcases different regional pastas alongside their complimentary sauces.

Easy access – Carmela has released in ebook format only a short pasta cookery book to aid you through the lockdown period. Providing easy recipes and basic pasta skills to keep you active over this uncertain period. The book as mentioned is only available in ebook format and is available to download now from Amazon, titled, ‘How to make your own pasta’.

NEW ITALIAN COOKERY BOOK – Pasta Fresca – OUT NOW!

Carmela is a UK brand ambassador for both Marcato Pasta and Filippo Berio Olive Oil.

Carmela’s Kitchen offers delicious Italian cooking classes

Carmela specialises in ‘Handmade Pasta’ classes. With 642 shapes of pasta known, the fun and learning to be had is endless!!

‘How to make your own pasta’

Available now to download only via Amazon or Google Play.

In How to make your own pasta you will learn simple techniques to make stunning pasta from scratch using simple store cupboard ingredients. Carmela Sophia Sereno shows you how to make even the most basic pasta dough into a variety of shapes and designs.

You will find information on making pasta by hand as well as with a pasta machine, how to make gluten free pasta, how to cook and store pasta and what store cupboard essentials you should stock up on. Substitute ingredients are suggested throughout so that you rely on what you have in the kitchen. A few included recipes are:

Spaghetti carbonara
Tagliatelle with a meat ragu
Orzo minestrone soup
Gnocchetti sardi with sausage and tomato
Tortellini in stock
Egg layered lasagna
Beginners and expert pasta enthusiasts alike will be amazed at the range of pasta explored in this ebook, with dishes selected to delight not only with their exquisite taste but also by their beautiful and varied appearances.

‘Northern & Central Italian Family Cooking’

Carmela’s 4th Italian cookery book

Northern & Central Italian Family Cooking is a celebration of Italian cookery through the northern regions of Italy from Aosta, Lombardy and Trentino through to the warmer central regions of Emilia Romagna, Tuscany and Abruzzo.

Covering 13 regions in total, Northern & Central Italian Family Cooking will inspire you to cook and explore the seasonality of your food from the UK while creating the passion and food from the Italian boot.

Carmela reflects the UK’s seasonal changes and abundance of fresh produce foraged, grown and bought from land and sea with traditional Italian dishes. She uses the bounty of seasonal produce combined with pasta, stirred through risotto, spooned onto pan-fried polenta and served with potato gnocchi pillows.

Explore a new menu of dishes inspired by fresh ingredients with an Italian twist. From wild boar risotto, spaghetti cakes, stuffed rabbit ravioli to soft Parmigiano polenta topped with pan-fried mushrooms or slow cooked Bolognese sauce.

Welcome to Carmela’s Northern & Central Italian Family Cooking a unique look at an Italian menu with elements of the rich British landscape.

Buon appetitio.

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