Italians are natural, inventive home cooks, but their creativity is expressed more with thrift and ingenuity than with sophistication, Italian-born television personality Silvia Colloca writes in the introduction to her latest cookbook, The Italian Home Cook.

"It takes far more imagination to cook a delicious meal out of just three or four ingredients and a wooden spoon than it does using 15 ingredients and as many kitchen gadgets."

And so it is that many Italian recipes revolve around eggs, which occupy a special place in the kitchen – and heart – of the Italian home cook. "On those days when both fridge and pantry seem desolate and empty, if there are eggs in the fridge, there's a meal."

Here are some of her favourite egg-based recipes.

This is one of the signature dishes of Nonna Irene (my mum's mamma). She would always make a large batch of sugo for Sunday pasta, and the leftover sauce was the perfect poaching liquid for eggs. The name "alla contadina" means farmers' style, an expression used in many no-fuss recipes in the Italian home-cooking repertoire. Clearly, contadini don't have time to indulge in elaborate courses – they need something fast, nutritious and delicious, and this Italian-style shakshuka fits the bill perfectly.

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Note 'Nduja is a spicy salami, chilli and garlic paste typical of Calabria, in Italy's south. It is often used as a flavouring in stews and sauces or even spread on toasted bread.

This dish is essentially poached eggs in a tomato and onion base. Photo: Rob Palmer

If you rely on the literal translation of "acquacotta" – cooked water – I admit this soupy concoction doesn't sound very promising. However, if you are familiar with the delicious simplicity of Italian home cooking, you'll know too well that behind this unassuming name hides a delectable dish that has been kept in cooks' repertoires over the centuries. Acquacotta may have originated in the Middle Ages, when the local mandriani (cowboys) would cook up onions in fat, add water and bread, crack in an egg and call it dinner. Over the years tomatoes were added, giving this dish an attractive makeover, both in flavour and appearance. Think of it as poached eggs in a tomato and onion base, served with stale bread and lashings of olive oil.

Any bitter green leaves work well in this pastry. Photo: Rob Palmer

This savoury pie is traditionally made for Easter ("Pasqua" in Italian), but can be enjoyed all year round so long as you have bitter green leaves on hand. Spinach can be replaced with silverbeet or even cavolo nero – the only rule to live by is to squeeze all the moisture out of the cooked greens to safeguard the crunch of the pastry. Other than that, you can really unleash your culinary creativity and add smoked speck or pancetta and, if you have nimble hands, enclose the filling with intricate lattice patterns.

Devilled eggs are due for a revival. Photo: Rob Palmer

Here's a fun retro recipe to try. Uova ripiene (devilled eggs) were all the rage in the 1980s when I was growing up in Italy. It is fair to say I have not enjoyed them many times since, but the recipe has been caught in its own time warp for far too long. It's time to revive it – and dust off the piping bag that I never seem to get to play with.

This is an edited extract from The Italian Home Cook by Silvia Colloca, published by Plum, RRP $44.99, photography by Rob Palmer. Buy now