From the office to the kitchen, from the puff pastry to victory!

Good morning Simonetta, or SFOGLINA or Lady Chef as you are called.We know you are always around in Italy and overseas. We get her between a party in Sanremo and her trip to US and in particular to Florida.

1. Can you tell us how was born your passion for the hand made pasta and how you became an entrepreneur of herself and  ambassador of a such un old activity as making the egg pasta by hand?

Before I became a Sfoglina (from Sfoglia an Italian word that means handmade egg pasta) I have been an employee in different sector, but I was never completely satisfied. My last job was commercial assistant in a company specialized in catering equipment. Staying in contact with chef and catering people, I matured the idea of leaving the office and going to kitchen. I ‘ve turned my life around, I enroll myself at  evening Hotel School in Loreto (Le Marche region)and I started  looking for a job .I had a clear idea of what I wanted to do …being a  sfoglina (the hand pasta maker).
I found a job almost immediately in a restaurant in Ancona, finally I could come back to the pleasure of artisan work working in kitchen. Being a chef had always fascinated me, but I had never been so brave to start this job and my business studies had distanced me from this work.

2009…. SFOGLINA SIMONETTA ACTIVITY WAS BORN

I was working in a restaurant in a visible position, and I immediately realized that everybody, but in particular tourists, were very interested about my job. So I made up my mind: creating a profession all my own, passing on my knowledge and spreading this profession everywhere ….”Sfoglina Simonetta was born: the traveling teacher”. At the beginning I made   amateurs course in my town, then with the words of mouth some people were looking for me outside my region. Teaching was a stimulation to specialize myself also on other regional typical pasta in order to propose professional courses at high school. I made my web site done and I started my personal communication channel as IG , quite soon I received a lot of requests from outside Italy.

2. You have had international experiences for a long time, expecially in Us and Brazil.Can you tell us who were your teachers? How did you become the national Sfoglina and Chef lady 2025 ?And also which are your activities in the world now?

My firts job was in 2014 as Ambassador of handmade pasta for an Italian Association in Toronto. The very first important calling in US was in 2019 when I worked with Fabio Trabocchi Chef in his restaurants called Sfoglina in Washington D.C. My job was both coaching the staff to make them produce handmade pasta and also helding amateurs courses. In February 2020 I came back to Italy to renew my Visa, I should have stayed in Italy one month and then back to Us with a 3 years contract. But pandemic came and after some lock down I decided to stay in Italy with my family. At the beginning I felt as I have missed a great opportunity, as I have given up on a job and an important career, even though  it was my free choice.
The 2020 has been a very difficult year…..no job no possibilities to hold my courses , the only thing I could do was making social activity. In a few months my contents became viral and all this buzz produced an increase on demand for my courses.
Americans, Brazilians and Australians came to my town Ancona to attend my courses and everybody loved our region. In 2024 I received the “civic merit” as I’m an ambassador of handmade pasta, at the same time I promote Le Marche region abroad. People who could not came physically to Ancona had the possibility to attend my pasta courses on line. Today I usually come back to US twice a year and I hold hand made pasta courses at University, restaurants and cooking school. In 2024 I participated to National Championship of Italian Cooking organized by the Italian Chef Association.I won the first prize with my hand made rolled out dough ravioli with the cuttlefish ink.I won the first prize in Lady chef category. This prize was a huge satisfaction  for being able to represent my region and my job as pasta maker.

3. Your recipe is very interesting, on one hand is up to date with international aspects on the other hand is deeply connected to Le Marche region territory. Can you explain to us how T&C truffle products helped you in your creative path? What’s new in these truffle products belonging to you?

I’ve been working in so many different restaurants,  tavern, trattories and starred restaurants as an handmade pasta maker(Sfoglina ), and I must say that the form of a raviolo can change , the colour as well , but the taste of a roll out dough made by hand ,according to the rule of arts, always wins! In this recipe I’ve used Shiitake mushroom with their strong and good taste of umami to exalt the taste of truffle. I’ve also used a particular ingredient in this recipe: cocoa beans that combined with black or white truffle are a pleasant surprise. We can say that it is an international dish because I’ ve used excellent products from the territories as the black truffle by T&C and the cocoa beans by Joy an award-winning Taiwan company I’ve visited in one of my business trip.
I love truffle a lot to experiment with new dishes from pasta till desserts. When I prepare a recipe I am very instinctive …. I always must have eggs and flour at hand.  The practicality of excellent product as T&C truffle from Acqualagna it allows me to make several tests to refine the recipe and get exactly the taste I was looking for. I think I will repeat this recipe during my next business trips in US.  Last but not least another advantage of T&C truffle products? I can bring T&C products with me in my suitcase!

COCOA COCKCOMBS WITH BLACK TRUFFLE AND SHIITAKE MUSHROOMS

Shiitake mushrooms are characterized by the intense and tasty flavor of umami (the one of proteic food). You can also find it inside the porcini mushrooms a perfect alternative to enhance the truffle taste.

INGREDIENTS 3/4 people h 1,45 time

To prepare eggs pasta
2 eggs for puff pastry, 200g   0 or 00 flour, 8 g cocoa beans

To prepare the pasta filling
200 g ricotta cheese by Sabelli, 20 g   fine black truffle by T&C, 10 g finely grated Parmigiano Reggiano, A pinch of salt

To prepare sauce
200g Shiitake mushrooms, 10 g  butter with summer truffle by T&C, Slices of summer truffle by T&C, Parsley stems, 1 shallot, Half a coffe cup of dry white wine

HOW TO DO IT

1. Making the dough: toast the cocoa beans in a non -stick pan, once cooled , crush them well in a mortar .Mix them with flour and put it in a pastry board.
Form the classic fountain with your hands, pour the eggs into the center and beat them well.Then mix it first with a fork then with your hands till the dough become smooth and elastic .Wrap it with cling film and let  it rest at room temperature for 30 minutes.
2. Making the filling: mix well ricotta cheese with black truffle, Parmigiano Reggiano cheese and the pinch of salt. Put it into a sac a poche and then put it in the fridge.
3. Making the sauce :  clean the mushroom and cut the stems  if they are too hard , you cannot use them. Cut the mushroom in thin slices. Whisk the shallot with EVO oil , fry  gently them with parsley stems and add the half coffe cup of dry white wine.Once evaporated add the mushrooms and cook them 10 minutes .Remove the parsley stems.
4. Making the ravioli egg pasta :roll out dough with a rolling pin till it become thin .Cut the dough in discs of 7/8 cm of diameter with a pastry cutter .Put the filling at the center of the discs and close them like a half moon .If you want you can create some wavy folds around the edge like the cock’s comb.
5. Cooking the ravioli pasta:cook them in boling  salted water .Dry them and sauté them in a pan with the  truffle butter, a drizzle of EVO oil  and half of the quantity of cooked mushrooms.
6. Plating: decorate with the rest of the amount of cooked mushrooms and some slices of truffle in oil.