Cookstuff

Virtuoso instrument

This Italian noodle cutter, a chitarra (“guitar”), is, like its namesake, made with steel wires hand strung on a wood frame. To cut fresh fettuccine, the cook simply places thinly rolled sheets of dough on the wires and rolls a rolling pin over them. Perfectly cut strands fall below. The wires on one side are spaced for thinner noodles, on the other for wider.

Chitarra tagliapasta, $22 at Sur La Table stores.

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Italian American tradition

Made from an old family recipe by an established New Orleans restaurant, this muffuletta relish (a vital ingredient in the famous sandwich) is so good it seems to dance in your mouth. Chopped green and black olives, capers, garlic, red bell peppers, carrots and cauliflower are marinated in herb-seasoned olive oil. Perfect in salumi sandwiches or with fresh bread, crostini, crackers or cheese.

Unlabeled muffuletta relish, $8 at the Cheese Store of Beverly Hills, (310) 278-2855.

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Multitasker

This basic, multiuse kitchen tool is great for cutting homemade pasta with a decorative edge (for example, the wide pasta ribbons in the recipe for Reginette della Mamma). Also use it to cut ravioli, puff pastry, cookie dough and flatbread. Some models come with plain wheel included.

Fluted pastry wheel, available for less than $10 at most kitchen and housewares stores.

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Whiff of the wild

An aromatic bunch of wild oregano will change the way you think about dried herbs. Grown “on the hills of the Neapolitan valleys,” its long, woody stems hold leaves and blossoms and are tied with a green, red and white ribbon.

Wild Italian oregano, 1-ounce package, $4 at Monte Carlo Imported Foods, Burbank, (818) 845-3516.

-- Becky Trowbridge