Liam Driscoll, the executive chef at Sydney’s Big Poppa’s, learned to cook Italian about as far away from there as you can get: at the white-tableclothed Restaurant Pendolino in Sydney, which calls itself a ristorante. Hence his repertoire of classic dishes such as cacio e pepe and lamb ragu pappardelle.
“Sometimes we keep it pretty close to what they do in Italy, but other times we like to play with it a little bit,” he says.
This salad is a good example of the latter. The ingredients aren’t faithful to Italy, but the seasonal thinking is. It was created to take advantage of the beautiful zucchinis and sugar snaps that are available during spring and summer. “They’ve got to be super fresh,” Driscoll says.
“It stands alone as a salad, but you can pair it up with some sliced prosciutto or other salumi. You can have it as a lighter salad to accompany a heavier pasta or meat dish, or even with seafood.”
**Big Poppa’s