- If there is one food that I could eat every single day,
every single meal for the rest of my life, it is pasta.
I love pasta.
It's like a blanket around you,
and eventually a bump in your stomach.
There's only one pasta I hate out there, it's pappardelle.
I hate it, I just can't, I won't.
And then I saw our next guest on TikTok,
and I knew that she was my kind of girl.
She's practically royalty.
Oh yeah, that's why I'm wearing a crown, too.
Instead of just looking totally insane,
there's a reason for this.
Okay, take a look at her.
- [Nadia] Just gorgeous.
Stuffed pasta shells are rich with flavor,
just like you are.
Ingredients.
I made the sauce with onions, tomatoes, and olive oil,
and then prepared the stuffing
with equal parts of ricotta and mozzarella.
Once it's beautiful, cover it in tomato sauce.
Add some extra mozzarella,
and sprinkle parmigiano like fairy dust.
- (groaning) I am in love with you,
and I am so excited you are here.
Nadia Caterina Munno, also known as The Pasta Queen, hello.
(audience applauding)
- Hi, Drew, I love you.
Thank you so much for having me, I'm so honored.
- Now as an Italian woman, a goddess, I might add.
Yes, I put the crown on, but I always named different pastas
to my daughters when they were babies.
I would sit them in their highchairs and go, rigatoni.
(audience laughing)
Fettuccine.
- Oh my god.
That's so funny. - Tortellini.
Is that okay that I do that?
- Totally, you can do anything you love.
- Pesto.
(audience laughing)
- Oh, yeah.
I do that, too.
- We would literally watch Sesame Street,
and then I would talk about arrabiata.
(audience laughing)
(Nadia laughing)
Anyway, okay, good.
I'm glad I'm not, like a horrible stereotype cliche.
- You're not alone, I do that too.
- Oh, good, okay.
It's this familiar, lovely thing I do with my daughters.
- Oh, yeah.
- I still do it.
They're older now, so they're more mortified.
(audience laughing)
Now, people think that you're playing a character,
like the way I'm embellishing for my girls,
but this is really you, isn't it?
- I just love pasta.
I was born and raised in Rome, and into a pasta family.
My great-great grandparents in the 1800s
started a pasta factory.
I mean, I remember as early as five years old
making gnocchi with my Nana Caterina,
so for me, this is home.
And this year, through my daughter, I found TikTok,
which I thought was just like, a dancing app.
And then all of a sudden, I'm like,
people are cooking on this app,
so I thought, I want to bring my family's tradition
to social media, and it was incredible.
Everything just started going viral.
- Well, will you quickly teach me here today,
right now, how to make a pasta?
Let's get going.
Come on, what are we making today?
- Yeah.
So the first thing we're gonna do
is have a pot of water boiling.
- [Drew] Good.
- And we add a generous amount of salt.
Gonna make it like the ocean, super salty.
Then we put our spaghetti in.
- All right.
- So the sauce is so quick and delicious,
it literally takes a few minutes to make,
so by the time the spaghetti are done,
the sauce will be done, and that's it.
(Drew blowing)
So let's go over to the sauce.
We drizzle some olive oil in,
and then we're going to put the minced garlic inside,
and sizzle it.
Okay, so we want to get- - Oh my god, that smells good.
- (chuckling) I know, right?
Okay, so one thing that is important
is to go onto the next step fast,
and we just slice the butter so that we put it right in.
We don't want the garlic to brown at all.
That way you don't burn it. - Well, so far
this looks amazing.
- Now we're going to zest the whole lemon in.
- Zesting the lemon.
I'm not sexy in the kitchen, Nadia.
I am not sexy.
- Oh, you're beautiful, Drew.
- You're beautiful.
- Even that crown.
All right, lemon juice in.
- Lemon juice in.
- Yes.
Good, now you add the heavy cream.
- Heavy cream.
(pan sizzling)
- [Nadia] Mm-hmm.
- [Drew] Oh, god.
- I know.
A pinch of salt, don't forget.
- Pinch of salt. (groaning)
- [Nadia] Yeah.
- [Drew] Ah, this looks so amazing.
- So a couple of minutes,
that's all it needs before you turn off the flame.
- Now, if I see it separating a little bit,
that doesn't mean it's curdling, right, it's okay?
- No.
So there's a little trick with the pasta water.
Because of the starch, if you put the pasta water in,
it will glue everything together.
- I have a sort of religious thing with pasta water,
which is if you don't keep your pasta water
and add it to your pasta, you are just a sinner.
Is that too far?
- Yeah, you shouldn't be cooking.
You shouldn't be cooking if you don't use pasta water.
- (laughing) Good, I feel the same way.
- Good, so now the sauce is pretty much done.
You leave it for a couple of minutes,
and then we add the spaghetti.
- Okay.
So, wait until you see the surprising
and gorgeous way that Nadia plates the pasta.
'Kay, let's finish up, Nadia.
Teach me everything.
- Good, so let's put the spaghetti in the pot.
And mix them together, adding a little bit of pasta water.
- So I'm adding my pasta in,
and then I'm ladling a little bit of pasta water in there.
- Yeah, very important.
As I said, the starchy glue found in the pasta water
makes it all come together.
- (sighing) Oh my god, I love.
Now, Nadia-
- And you mix them a little bit, yeah?
- How do I make that nice, roundy bird's nest?
- You have a serving fork and a ladle,
so we're going to plate this pasta with style.
We're gonna take a really generous amount of pasta.
You're gonna pull it all the way up so that it stretches,
and then you're gonna twirl it around the ladle.
Just like this.
- See, this is a revelation.
I have never thought to do this in a ladle.
- Yeah, anybody can do it from home.
Then you go in the center of the dish,
and then you slide it off the ladle at the bottom,
and you just gently move your fork that way, right?
- God.
All right.
(audience applauding and cheering)
Nadia, thanks to you,
I finally have the perfect pasta bird's nest.
All right.
- And now we're ready to serve.
- [Drew] Will you do a pasta beauty shot with me?
(audience applauding and cheering)
- Just gorgeous.
- Nadia, will you teach me how to do your hair flip?
- Oh, yeah.
Let's do it.
- Okay.
(audience cheering and applauding)
- Ow.
Nadia, do you have the number of a chiropractor?
(audience laughing)
(Nadia laughing)
- Nadia, thank you so much for coming on our show
and gracing us with your beautiful presence.
And for anyone watching,
please go to thedrewbarrymoreshow.com for even more fun,
more knowledge of Nadia,
and how to get ahold of her immediately
by watching all of her videos.
(upbeat instrumental music)