Italian cookbook

Who is Mateo Zielonka?
Mateo Zielonka is better known to his 900k+ Instagram followers (@mateo.ziolonka) as The Pasta Man. He is a London-based chef, pasta teacher and creator whose culinary philosophy blends visual artistry with disciplined technique. Originally from Poland, he honed his skills at London institutions such as Padella and Polpo before opening his own pasta studio. His earlier books, The Pasta Man and Pasta Masterclass, established him as the go-to name for anyone serious about homemade pasta. Pasta Pronto marks a shift from the intricate and artisanal to the quick, flavour-packed and effortlessly doable.

What is Pasta Pronto’s USP?
Pasta Pronto celebrates speed without compromise. This isn’t about sculpting elaborate pasta shapes (although there are plenty of those on his social media – this post is extraordinary), it’s about getting brilliant pasta dishes on the table fast, without losing the heart or soul of Italian cooking. The book offers 55 recipes that range from quick midweek miracles (20 minutes or less) to slightly slower weekend indulgences, with every dish offering the option of using fresh or dried pasta. This dual approach (fresh if you have time, dried if you don’t) makes the book genuinely flexible. Zielonka also includes thoughtful primers on essential kitchen tools, store cupboard staples, and the art of cooking pasta perfectly.

What will I love?
If your ideal evening involves a bowl of pasta, a glass of wine and minimal washing up, this is the book for you. The recipes balance speed with sophistication: expect comforting dishes made lively with hits of chilli and lemon and silky sauces that come together in minutes. Zielonka writes with quiet confidence; he is never showy, but his generosity and good taste shine through. The photography and styling are elegant yet relaxed, making the food feel invitingly within reach.

Clear sections guide you through kitchen essentials, pantry staples and a concise but thorough pasta masterclass (with vegan and gluten-free doughs included). Step-by-step photo guides to shaping, rolling and cooking pasta are ideal for beginners.

There are also clever serving suggestions peppered throughout such as a peppery rocket and Parmesan salad or a handful of crispy pangrattato, small flourishes that make a simple dish sing. Vegetarian and vegan adaptations are included too.

Is it good bedtime reading?
This is the sort of book you flick through before dinner, or keep propped open on the worktop. Zielonka doesn’t meander into long travel stories or culinary essays, but his short recipe introductions are warm, personal and engaging. He offers just enough backstory or technique insight to feel companionable, without drifting into waffle.

Will I have trouble finding the ingredients?
Zielonka keeps things accessible: olive oil, garlic, pancetta, tinned tomatoes, seasonal vegetables, seafood and herbs you can find in most supermarkets. Occasionally, a recipe calls for a premium cheese or a particular cured meat but they can easily be swapped.

How easy are the recipes to follow?
Zielonka’s instructions are clear and efficient. Each recipe offers the fresh or dried pasta route, ideal for afternoons when you want to make a bit more effort, as well as nights when time and/or energy are in short supply. While a few dishes involve multiple components, none require chef-level prep. This is everyday cooking at its most elegant.

Stand-out recipes?
Spaghetti with Creamy Ricotta and Basil is a soft, velvety twist on pesto that’s light, fragrant and indulgent without being heavy. For something brighter, Spaghetti with Poached Cod, Capers and Lemon delivers the perfect balance of sharpness and silkiness, ideal for summer evenings. Meanwhile, Orzo Salad with Cannellini Beans and Cavolo Nero is a nourishing all-rounder, just as satisfying at the kitchen table as it is packed up for lunch or a picnic. And when comfort calls, Pappardelle with Gorgonzola and Speck is gloriously rich and soothing, especially when paired with Zielonka’s Sautéed Garlicky Broccoli, creating the kind of meal that makes you linger at the table a little longer than planned.

How often will I cook from this book?
This is a book for repeat use, not display. The balance between simplicity and creativity means you’ll find yourself returning again and again, whether for a Tuesday-night Rigatoni with ‘No-Vodka Sauce’ or a weekend treat.

Alongside reliable classics like Alfredo and carbonara, you’ll discover inventive combinations such as Spaghetti alla Tapenade, Farfalle with Fig and Chorizo, and Orecchiette with Broccoli and Anchovy that expand your repertoire.

Any negatives?
The pared-back writing style, while refreshing, might feel a little sparse to readers who enjoy travel anecdotes or deep cultural context. And while 55 recipes cover a lot of ground, you might find yourself wishing for a few more. Still, what’s here feels polished, practical and full of personality.

Should I buy the book?
Pasta Pronto isn’t about perfection or pasta purism; it’s about joy, flavour and achievable food that fits real life. You’ll cook from it often, and with pleasure.

Cuisine: Italian with global flourishes
Suitable for: Time-conscious food lovers seeking flavour-forward meals
Great for fans of: Theo Randall and Tim Siadatan
Cookbook review rating: Four stars
Buy this book: Pasta Pronto by Mateo Zielonka £18.00, Quadrille

This review was written by Freelance Food Writer and Recipe Developer Sophie Knox Richmond. Follow her on Instagram on @sophie_kr_food.

What’s the USP? A deep dive on Italian food culture in an ‘oversized, obsessively complete, visual feast of a book’. And the marketing folk at publisher Artisan really do mean over-sized. This is the sort of coffee table book that might be better suited to artful placement on a picnic bench. Never mind doorstop tomes, this book is the size of an actual door. You get the idea: woe betide anyone looking to fit this onto an Ikea bookshelf.

Who wrote it? Credited to ‘François-Régis Gaudry and friends’, this is a collaborative effort from the team behind 2018’s similarly massive Let’s Eat France. A popular restaurant critic across the Channel, Gaudry has compiled a team that includes well over seventy contributors, including pieces by regulars from his radio show On va deguster.

Is it good bedtime reading? In so many ways, Let’s Eat Italy is perfect bedtime reading – each section offers a stand-alone deep dive into a single facet of Italian cooking. They are beautifully designed, as indebted to a Wes Andersonian sense of style as they are Italy’s own innate relationship with design. It makes for a book that one can pore over, page by page, or simply dip into as they like.

There are in-depth looks at different ingredients, from a ‘Spotlight on Capers’ to sumptuous photographic spreads on artichokes, Italian citrus fruits, tomatoes and more. Perhaps you are more interested in exploring the terroir of the nation’s cuisine, exploring the impact Venice’s lagoon has on its food. There are, of course, plenty of recipes too – regional specialties uncovered and offered up for home cooks to discover on their own turf.

All told, it’s rare to open Let’s Eat Italy and not find yourself at least briefly enamoured by its contents. Amongst the three hundred or so topics there are remarkably few duds – an occasional look at Italian food in American pop culture sheds no new light, but elsewhere even those sections without any immediate obvious use (charts of native cattle breeds) or beautiful enough to distract the reader for a moment.

The only real problem, then, is the sheer size of it, which simultaneously renders it readable only on a large table, or propped up on one’s knees whilst sitting on the sofa. But equally with the design so lovingly attended to, it’d be a crime to print it any smaller than it already is.

How good is it as a cookbook? Oh, absolutely useless. The recipes are tempting, sure – but who has room on their counter for a cookbook the size of a tabloid newspaper? I have enough difficulty sourcing real estate for the toaster. Recipes also tend to form only a small percentage of the page they are on, with the vibrant photography and elaborate histories of each dish taking priority to Gaudry and his pals. Better, then, to explore the dishes that tempt you most and then seek them out elsewhere – a decent Italian cookbook like Anna Del Conte’s Gastronomy of Italy or, more recently, Rachel Roddy’s A to Z of Pasta will cover most of the bases here.

Should I buy it? Let’s Eat Italy is surplus to almost any cook’s actual needs – but then, that’s also true of all the best cookbooks. This is a luxury, to be treasured and perhaps even revered a little. The sort of book that sits in a home like an alternative religious text – an illustrated Bible of Italian food culture that will have as many devotees as it does naysayers. But here’s the kicker: the real Bible doesn’t have a three page illustrated spread dedicated to salumi.

Cuisine: Italian
Suitable for: Beginner and confident home cooks, and hungry folk who have no intention of cooking but do fancy lusting over authentic local specialties.
Cookbook Review Rating: Four stars

Buy this book
Let’s Eat Italy!: Everything You Want to Know About Your Favorite Cuisine
£45, Artisan Division of Workman Publishing

Review written by Stephen Rötzsch Thomas a Nottingham-based writer. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram at @srotzschthomas

Tag: Italian cookbook

Let’s Eat Italy by François-Régis Gaudry and Friends