Kids’ Recipe: Make Chef Davide Oldani’s Fregola Pasta

To celebrate Milan Fashion Week, the Michelin-starred chef reveals an easy pasta recipe kids will love.

You wouldn’t expect a Michelin-starred chef to whip up a kids’ recipe that pleases the picky palates of both children and their parents. But leave it to chef Davide Oldani of D’O, a restaurant near Milan, to pull it off. Oldani practices what he calls “Pop Cooking.” What does that mean? His food is literally popular (simple and crowd-friendly) and Andy Warhol-level modern.

The chef honed his skills in the kitchens of Gualtiero Marchesi, Albert Roux, and Alain Ducasse. Along the way, he also came up with his own set of healthy cooking commandments. His smart tips include shopping for groceries only with a full stomach to avoid buying too much and the notion that every mistake can be transformed into an opportunity. These rules apply outside of the kitchen—and are worthy of imparting to kids.

We met up with Oldani and his young cousin Emma and asked him how he makes sure kids have fun and are healthy at the table. “Avoid junk food and substitute it with equally delicious and fun healthy alternatives,” he says. “ Bright colors are great, but they have to come from seasonal fruit and vegetables. His young cousin is his toughest critic when it comes to his healthy recipes. “When she compliments one of my dishes I know I hit the nail on the head,” he says. “The recipe I’m sharing with you today is perfect for kids, bright and sunny just like the season to come. Fregola is a fun pasta to eat, and the sweet and sour flavors are great for little ones.”

Below, he shares his easy pasta recipe for Fregola, a round Sardinian pasta similar to cous cous and made from semolina flour, with saffron, candied tomatoes, lettuce, and cantaloupe. —Veronica Russo

Fregola with saffron, candied tomatoes, lettuce, and cantelope
13 oz. fregola
8 tbsp. butter
3 oz. grated grana padano cheese
2 tsp white wine vinegar
2 tomatoes on the vine
4 tsp. extra virgin olive oil
12 lettuce leaves roasted in sunflower oil
3.5 oz. diced cantelope

Toast fregola in a pot. Cook in salted boiling water and saffron. Add butter, cheese, and vinegar. Place tomatoes in boiling water. Remove from heat; peel, and let cool. Quarter tomatoes, remove seeds, dry them out in the oven at 194°F for two hours on a pan with oil and salt.

Place fregola in a bowl, add lettuce, tomato and melon.