Four recipes from Massimo Bottura's Italian kitchen

For the frittata:

1. Preheat the oven to 160°C.
2. In a 20–23 cm ovenproof or frying pan, warm the olive oil over medium-low heat. Add the onions and cook, stirring constantly, until they become translucent and light brown. Remove from the heat and let cool for at least five minutes.
3. In a bowl, stir together the eggs, cream, Parmigiano, and salt until nice and homogenous. Add the egg mixture to the pan with the onions, and with a fork, mix to evenly distribute the onion throughout the frittata.
4. Pop it into the oven and cook until there is just a slight jiggle in the centre of the pan and the top is golden brown, about 25 minutes. If the top starts to become dark, place a sheet of foil over it. Remove from the oven and let sit for 5 minutes before cutting into it. (At Casa Maria Luigia, they like to add a small pot of boiling water into the wood-burning oven during the cooking process to create a small amount of steam so that it does not overdry.)

For the frittata Emiliana:

1. Leave the skin on the eel fillet, sprinkle it with the salt, and let sit for 10 minutes.
2. In a small saucepan, bring the saba, soy sauce, and garlic to a boil. Remove from the heat, cover with a lid, and let infuse for 20 minutes. Strain and set aside.
3. Preheat an offset smoker to 60°C and add cherrywood to the embers in the firebox. Set the eel fillet on the smoker rack, skin side down, and let smoke for 40 minutes, controlling the fish and smoke temperature every 10 minutes. Every 10 minutes, baste the eel with the saba/garlic sauce.
4. Meanwhile, prepare the frittata. When the eel is cooked, it will be very soft to the touch, and the skin will come off by itself. Remove any pinbones with a pair of fish tweezers. Remove the skin and cut into 10 equal portions.
5. Cut 10 pieces of the same shape from the frittata. Place the warm smoked eel directly on each piece of warm frittata and finish each with a drop of the extra-aged balsamic vinegar. Sit back, relax and imagine you’re in Italy.

1. Make the gnocco fritto in a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, stir together the yeast, sparkling water, cream, and olive oil. Add the flour slowly and mix until the dough just starts to come together. It won’t be smooth at this point. Add the salt at the end and let mix for another minute. The dough will still not be perfectly homogenous – that’s okay. Wrap the broken dough in cling film or in a bag and let sit in the fridge for at least 2 hours.
2. Remove the dough from the fridge. If you have a pasta machine, that is ideal, but you can also do this by hand. If using a machine, take about a quarter of the dough (depending on the size of your pasta machine) and flatten it out with a rolling pin, then pass it through the thickest setting on the machine. Reduce the setting on the pasta machine and roll again and continue this process until the dough is about 1 cm thick. If using your hands, on a lightly floured work surface, roll the dough out to a thickness of about 1cm. Fold the dough over itself in 3 (like a pamphlet) and start the process again. Do this a total of 4 times. Wrap again and place in the fridge for another 12 hours.
3. Roll out and redo the fold once again, then roll out to 3 mm thick. Cut into 8 cm squares – it should yield about 16 in total.
4. Pour 10 cm vegetable oil into a deep heavy-bottom saucepan and heat to 180°C.
5. Line a sheet pan with paper towels. Working in batches, add the dough squares to the hot oil. They will start to puff, but it’s very important not to turn them yet. Once the dough has puffed and the corners are slightly golden, carefully flip each gnocco. Let the second side get ever so slightly golden. This bread is served soft, not crispy, so don’t overfry. When lightly golden, transfer to the lined pan to drain.
6. To serve: for each serving, place 2 gnocco on a plate. Top each gnocco with a slice of mortadella, a generous spoonful of ricotta, and a little drizzle of balsamic vinegar on top.

1. To make the crumble, in a bowl, mix the ground coffee, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Cut the butter into the coffee mixture – it will create a sandy texture. Mix in the almonds. Set aside.
2. To make the coffee cakes, preheat the oven to 175°C. Grease 12 cups of a mini muffin pan with butter (at Casa Maria Luigia they use a silicone oval mould with ovals 7 × 4 cm in diameter).
3. In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar. Add the egg and beat well. Scrape out the seeds from the vanilla bean and add to the mix. Keep mixing until everything is fully incorporated.
4. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, and salt. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture in three additions, always making sure that the first part is well incorporated before adding the next. With a rubber spatula, fold in the yoghurt and diced pear.
5. Scrape the batter into the prepared mini muffin cups or moulds, filling them three-quarters full. Top each with about 1 tablespoon of the crumble mixture. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the centre of a cake comes out clean, 10–15 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool to room temperature in the pan before removing and serving on a plate.
6. These cakes are best eaten as soon as possible but can be kept in an airtight container for up to 2 days.

1. Clean the basil leaves and combine with the alcohol in a jar or, ideally, vacuum seal in a bag. Refrigerate for 24 hours.
2. In a pot, combine 1 litre of water and the sugar and bring to a boil over high heat, and boil until all the sugar has dissolved. Let cool completely.
3. Strain the basil out of the liquor and discard. Mix the basil-infused liquor into the simple syrup and store in a bottle or bag in the freezer at –18°C.