Cooking with Amore

Food is “a love language that binds generations,” says Elena Davis BA’06 of recipe website CucinaByElena.com. Born in Italy, she came to the United States as a child so her parents could work on the Human Genome Project at the U. But summers were—and still are—spent back home in Sardinia, where the extended family comes together at every meal.

“Our grandparents ingrained it into us that we sit at the table and spend time together,” she says. A teacher for 13 years, Davis found her way to food blogging during the pandemic, when travel bans had her longing for those Sardinian family meals.

“I just wanted to fill that void and share it with the world,” she says. Now, she’s a full-time recipe developer, food blogger, and storyteller. Here, she shares a few insights.

You say Italian recipes don’t have to be complicated.

That’s one comment I get the most about my recipes—how simple and easy they are, while being out-of-this-world delicious. The beauty of Italian cooking is the quality of ingredients. When you have good ingredients, you cut your time in half.

What do people get wrong about authentic Italian cuisine?

It’s not heavily garlic-based. Italian American cooking is, because when Italian immigrants came to the United States and started opening restaurants, garlic was a cheap ingredient that added a lot of flavor. As Italian American cooking grew, it diverged quite a bit from authentic Italian cooking.

What should home cooks look for in Italian ingredients?

Try to use whole ingredients that you know the source of. For pasta, look for bronze-cut, slow-dried, and made of organic semolina. Durum wheat semolina and water should be the only two ingredients. Olive oil should be in a dark glass bottle and should be from a single source. For produce, try to do organic as much as possible, and buy in season. Seasonality is a big thing in Italy—we’re not eating oranges in summer.

Recipes and More

My Favorite Pantry Staples

Secrets To My Italian Kitchen

Pasta alla Norcina: This northern Italian dish is a little bit heavier than we eat in southern Italy. It’s a very fall recipe because of the sausage and rosemary. It sounds super fancy, but it comes together in one pan.

Italian Tomato Sauce: I love to share my nonna’s tomato sauce recipe. It’s so simple and easy, and people go crazy for it.

Carbonara: This is something that people order so much at restaurants. But it's easy to make at home, and it tastes even better.

Pear Cake: This is a treasured family recipe from my mom’s childhood. Her cousin’s house had a big pear orchard, and her cousin taught her how to make this cake. It’s so light and delicious. And the pears just totally shine.