It happens to the best of us: You’re scrolling thoughtlessly through your Instagram feed, barely logging the content before your eyes, and then suddenly your thumbs pause, hover, and unable to move. You found #pastaporn.
Pictures of friends’ family, celebrities collaborating with sunglasses, dogs cuddling piglets in a cup of tea—everything pales in comparison to the noodles being sliced, cooked, and served. The next thing you know is that you wipe saliva off your screen and walk into the kitchen to set a pot of water to boil.
There are many “features” of homemade pasta adorning our feed these days, but none have caught our attention quite as attractive Nadia Katrina Mono She has – AKA The Pasta Queen.
With over 1.9 million followers on TikTok, 30.7 million likes and 811k followers on Instagram, she is well positioned to become the queen of everything at this rate.
Her tagline is “Pasta, Drama, Dolce & Gabbana,” which resonates in every ounce of her brand, from her signature hair flip that starts each video, to cooking in QUEEN’s D&G T-shirts, to glimpses of her insanely A wonderful Italian kitchen that had to be installed in three parts after removing the wall:
After catching up with Mono to discuss everything from Bruno’s pasta scoop and shiny hair products to Arctic, all we have to say is: Long live the Pasta Queen!
PS, the gift that keeps on giving finally comes – I described it to her Pasta and peas that went so fast, Kylie Jenner Make it. you are welcome.
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Who are some of your favorite foodies who embrace pasta?
There are famous foodies out there who are technically brilliant, but only a few adore them. Gino de Acampo And the Gennaro Contaldo They constantly stand out to me because they embrace my belief that cooking is one part love and two parts telenovela. Food must have drama! Otherwise it is just lifeless and somehow tastes okay. It must be created by glow, beauty, lights, camera and action. Even at home, you can change the dynamic of your entire family by wetting things in the kitchen, having a loud and emotional meal and maybe shedding a few tears of laughter.
Related Topics: Best Pasta Recipes
What’s the last pasta dinner you could ever order in your life?
Well, this question is a little dark…but I’ll keep playing. Your last pasta dinner should be lasagna. Because it’s warm, rich, and huggable. Each layer can have a different flavor and texture. It also seems to never end. So if it was my last supper, I wanted it to last a long time and would probably have a bottle of red wine as well.
Favorite pasta restaurants in the world?
This would be controversial, but I actually don’t enjoy going to Italian restaurants in general because home cooking is always better. It is an economical challenge for restaurants to recreate the same level of taste as a home-cooked pasta dish where one can engage in aroma analysis, mingle with emotion and whisper the beloved words of each ingredient. But here are some of my favorite things to do in my hometown of Rome. I recommend anyone visiting to go check out these places.
Osteria Dei Pontefici: next to the Vatican City in Rome. I grew up in this restaurant and they do all the classic Romanian recipes right. The owners make sure you have a family experience and come to visit every table.
Il Focolare: Over the hills of Rome, there is a wonderful restaurant between the houses. Parking is impossible, but the lobster tanks are full, the mozzarella came fresh from the farm that day and the pasta options will keep you coming back daily. You can also take a look at some Italian celebrities!
Pantry essentials for assembling easy pasta dishes?
This is what I have in stock in case the apocalypse happens:
- Many shapes of pasta. At least eat spaghetti, penne, rigatoni, and lasagna.
- Tomato sauce including drained tomatoes, mashed tomatoes and peeled tomatoes
- Olives, capers, tuna, salt and pepper, garlic, onions and parmigiano-reggiano cheese.
What hair products do you use to keep your face looking good?
There is a little secret to flipping perfect hair. I use Love Touch and Love Perpetua from EVO. This eliminates frizz and makes your hair smoother and shinier so I can give everyone the perfect face—the ingredients!
What do you think of frozen pasta? Yay or nay?
Frozen pasta is definitely good if you live in the Arctic.
Related: How much pasta does a person need for dinner?
How about gluten-free pasta or vegan pasta? any favourites?
In the USA, my current brand is Jovial for gluten-free pasta. The trick with gluten-free pasta is to find pasta that doesn’t turn into a soft mush when cooked and Jovial does that pretty well. I recommend their Jovial Gluten Free Spaghetti!
Favorite ways to dish pasta?
I have a spaghetti scoop I call bruno. It’s strong, bold and not shy about giving big servings. I also have a maintenance fork called Antonietta the Forchetta, it’s the power behind Bruno. Together they work magic. Using a serving fork, you roll a large portion of the pasta, place it inside a ladle, and continue to rotate. You can then carefully remove it from the ladle and shake with a serving spoon until it separates. Don’t forget to grab some extra sauce and put it on top of the pasta mountain.
We have to ask… With all this pasta, how do you stay fit?
It’s about eating with discipline. I don’t eat a whole plate of pasta, I try a few forks and that’s enough for me. It has fluctuated in size over the years and I keep a close eye on it. Eating in moderation allows you to have a big periodic feast! I rarely do sports. I think if you have a day full of activity and energy, you can burn enough. Passion burns calories.
If you could invite any three famous people dead or alive to a pasta dinner, who would they be?
I now have one famous person I’d like to invite to eat pasta:
Quentin TarantinoIf you’re reading this, please write to me on Instagram. I will serve you an exciting meal like your movies.
Have you ever made a pasta dish that you didn’t like?
I once made artichoke sauce which was really bad. My mistake is that I used a lot of artichoke leaves which have a lot of fiber in them. It tastes great, but I felt like I was eating a shredded rope. The trick to cooking artichokes is that you should only use the artichoke core. It’s very small in the middle, but has almost no fiber and is very sweet – just like you.
What are your tips for creating Foodstagrams and TikTok cooking classes?
The world is moving very fast. Nobody has time to hear you talk about the size of the egg and the theory of this and that. Make a nice, interesting summary using your own personal flare and put the smallest details in your description or on a website somewhere. For the foodie, it’s all about the highly digestible content (no pun intended).
What are your favorite shapes of pasta?
Spaghetti is the universal shape. Followed by Penny and Rigatoni. With these you can achieve greatness.
Related: Gigi Hadid Hot Vodka Sauce Recipe
What is the most underrated pasta shape?
It’s perhaps the most mysterious shape, but it’s cool Trophy pasta. There’s just something about its shape that, unlike the latest physics, holds a lot of sauce and creates a great experience. It is best cooked with cheese or cream sauces as I did here. It’s also amazing with pesto. Perhaps Trophy Basta follows the laws of love, which have not yet been determined.
What’s next for the Queen of Pasta?
I have a cookbook coming out next year, which I prefer to describe as a cultural and visual guide to traditional pasta. I’m really excited about it and work with some great editors and photographers to make sure you want to get rid of the pages from it.
Before the end of the year, you’ll also see an early release of my new Pasta Essentials Copperware line. Each pot and pan will have a name and personality assigned to it. Food is life, so reviving everything is important for a perfect meal.
If you want to stay updated on everything, you can subscribe to my newsletter. Fun fact: If you write to me on this post, I always answer, because you are great and I love talking to people.
My goal is to bring love, excitement, and positive drama into your life. We all need more of it, because after all, that’s the essence of life.
Find The Pasta Queen’s recipe for creamy and pea pasta below and an easy video of how to make it here: