Camilla Rossi, food blogger and “pasta-maker” from Ferrara

2017-09-01 Camilla Rossi, author of the blog A casa Camilla, leads a double life. Her first life is lived offline, in Ferrara, where she works in her parents’ deli “Da crudo a cotto”. Her most important task is making fresh pasta, and particularly filled pasta: her hands form the pumpkin-filled cappellacci traditional in the Ferrara area, as well as other creations filled with meat, fish or snail.
She says that cooking is a physical necessity for her, but so is writing. In 2013 Camilla, who has an Arts degree in Fashion Heritage, began her second life, her online life. She began a blog where she writes about her culinary life: recipes, events, food news and posts on Italian cooking schools.
What has been the most satisfying thing about your blog so far, Camilla?
“I guess it would be starting with show cooking this autumn (I also spent a week on the television show “La Prova del Cuoco” on RaiUno, which gave me a log of exposure), because you realise there are companies that believe in what you do and invest in you. It was hard at first, because I’m very shy, and I’d rather be behind a computer screen than talking to people face-to-face, but show cooking gives me an opportunity to get to know the people who follow my blog.”
What has been the biggest difficulty for you so far?
“Ferrara is a very small, conservative town, without many young people, and in 2013 there weren’t a lot of bloggers around, and so people had difficulty understanding my passion or profession, and started to criticise me. After my first post about couscous, somebody wrote: What’s that? Dog food? At the time I felt bad, but then I got over it. I relied on the fact that I am not just a blogger, but a cook, and this turned out to be the key to my success, because readers of my blog see me as a more reliable authority than a person who just spends all their time writing. I get my hands covered with pasta dough every day!”
What kind of work comes out of the blog?
“The work coming from the blog involves partnerships with companies, acting as their brand ambassador for a given period of time and developing recipes in my style for them. In short, if a company comes and asks me, I’ll come up with a fresh pasta recipe for them! And then I do show cooking events and cooking courses, in my town and elsewhere, and I cater dinners.”
What is your cooking like?
“I really love herbs. In a filled pasta recipe, I use herbs such as sage, pennyroyal, thyme, tarragon and savoury in the sauce. It should be the filling that you taste, so the sauce should be light. For example, tortelli with a filling of snails, ricotta and Parmesan cheese should be dressed simply with butter and sage” (to be continued).

Mariagrazia Villa

Photos: © A casa Camilla