Darina Allen: Pasta is my favourite comfort food — here are my go-to recipes

Oil-based sauces are best with thin strands of pasta, while heavier meat based sauces are good with wide ribbons.

Pasta is a versatile dish - feel free to play with this recipe and try some variations

Sat, 20 Jun, 2026 - 01:00

Darina Allen is co-founder of the Ballymaloe Cookery School and more recently the Ballymaloe Organic Farm School in Shanagarry, East Cork.

Every now and then I get a longing for pasta, it’s really my comfort food and it reminds me of Marcella Hazan, the doyenne of Italian food who first introduced me to two wonderful ‘pasta making’ nonnas at Café Diane in Bologna. They taught me how to make homemade pasta, plump tortellini and cappelletti and explained how in Italy, different sauces suit different shapes.

To paraphrase, oil-based sauces are best with thin strands of pasta, while heavier meat based sauces are good with wide ribbons.