Italy According to Roberto(‘s)

Roberto Payer, originally from the Italian province of Pordenone, is the flamboyant and slightly headstrong spiritual father of the restaurant named after him, Roberto’s, in the Amsterdam Hilton hotel. A twenty-year institution of Italian culinary simplicity. As headstrong as Roberto runs ‘his’ restaurant and hotel, he also created the cookbook Pure Italian Cuisine: ‘I have 500 Italian cookbooks in the basement. I don’t use a single one.’

“There is no such thing as THE Italian cuisine. Ask my mother, my sister, my aunt… They alone will talk about three different cuisines. Italian cuisine is like the Dutch postcode system. Fragmented. That’s why I prefer to talk about products. They are always the starting point in an Italian dish, regardless of the province. Not the chef and his ego,” says the GM of both the Amsterdam Hilton and the Waldorf Astoria hotel, ambassador of Italian cuisine in the Netherlands, and judge of Italian products.

Mamma cuisine
“Italian cuisine originated among poor people. Out of scarcity and thrift. Not in the lavish restaurant world or court life. It is a true mamma cuisine: simple and pure. It is all about love for the product and its preparation. Nothing complicated about it.”

I have 500 Italian cookbooks in the basement. I don’t use a single one.

“That’s why there are no complicated recipes in this cookbook either. Many Italian cookbooks are unnecessarily complicated. They experiment haphazardly. It looks nice, but beyond that? Who would actually cook from it? I have 500 Italian cookbooks in the basement. I don’t use a single one. I didn’t want a cookbook for the coffee table, but one to actually use at home. Hence the washable cover.”

Simple and good
From aperitivi and antipasti to dolci, Roberto’s cookbook covers it all. From classics such as carpaccio Cipriani and spring vegetable soup from Lazio, to quails with grapes, pâté Nino Bergese and cassata. All simple and all good.

But what you may personally wake me up for are the pasta dishes prepared with just a few ingredients. Sicilian penne alla Norma, spaghetti alle vongole or risotto alla Milanese. With a contorno (side dish) of radicchio alla brace.

And remember what the Italians, and therefore Roberto Payer, say: ‘The pasta doesn’t wait for the guests; the guests wait for the pasta.’

Pure Italian Cuisine
Roberto Payer, Jonah Freud, Franz Conde
€ 39,99 
Terra Lannoo

Text: Marjan Ippel
Image: Jan Bartelsman