So, here’s the thing: I spent a year and a half as a missionary living in Southern Italy, and that means I ate a lot of good food. Like, a lot. From street vendors, small shops and restaurants, but mainly in the homes of Italian families, eating homemade Italian meals. You tell yourself when you go to Italy that you won’t come back a pasta snob…but you do.

That’s not to say good Italian food doesn’t exist in Utah. The most delicious of these restaurants, though, are usually more upscale—fancy ingredients, complex recipes and, most notably, high prices. I’ve been missing the simple goodness of homemade Italian pasta. I finally found it.