This is the winner of the Dutch Championship for Best Pasta
Horecava is in full swing, and for the second time the Dutch Championship for Best Pasta was held there — with one convincing winner. Stella Contola took the win; she made an amazing Malloreddus con ragù di ossobuco, which will soon be available to taste at the Italian restaurant La Casina in Haarlem, where she works.
Definitely worth a visit, then, because this pasta sounds absolutely god-damn delicious.
‘A great start’
That is how Contola described her participation, and entirely understandably: this was the first time she had entered this competition — and she immediately took the win. ‘I’m incredibly happy about this. When you make something, you have to do it with love. This dish always makes me think of my grandmother, because this is her recipe. It’s perfect,’ she happily told us.
But what exactly does her dish consist of? To be honest, I had never heard of Malloreddus myself, but it is a type of pasta from Sardinian cuisine. When I looked it up online, it did seem familiar; it is also called ‘little gnocchi’. It has the same shape and ingredients, and therefore differs from the well-known gnocchi only in size.
The jury’s verdict
If you are a lover of Italian cuisine, then you know: it should excel in simplicity. Perfection lies in simplicity. Authentic Italian dishes are not like the pasta bolognese we often make in the Netherlands, with a bag full of vegetables, a gigantic amount of minced meat and, above all, a whole lot of ingredients. No, you cook with few ingredients, but all of them high quality — so you have to be a good chef to handle them properly. And Contola succeeded with flying colours.
‘With just a few ingredients, she created a top-quality dish. The pasta itself was executed well, perfectly al dente, and the osso buco had a very beautiful flavour. The dish seems so simple, but in its execution she showed herself to be the chef. You don’t just make a dish like this,’ said the jury, which consisted of Sarah Puozzo (editor-in-chief of South & Pepper, columnist and owner of Pasta Academy Benelux), Gabriella Ficarelli (owner of restaurant Divina Cucina in Oud-Beijerland and winner of the 2023 Dutch Championship for Best Pasta) and Donatello Piras (known, among other things, from BNR’s Italy Podcast.
The complete top 3
Five contenders took part in total, facing a tough challenge: they had to prepare the dish on-site within ten minutes for the jury during Horecava. If you have ever been to Horecava, you know: it is absolutely packed there. Just try concentrating a little… In addition, all five contestants had to make an identical dish (which is not easy either), and besides flavour they were also judged on aspects such as presentation, purchase price and creativity. Personally, I wonder how you can incorporate creativity into a dish when they all have to be identical, but anyway.
This was the complete top 3:
1. Stella Centola, La Casina in Huizen
2. Jean Carlos Di Mella, Mangia Pizza in Amsterdam
3. Valerio Prestato, Pizza & Co in Amsterdam
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