Italian cuisine is one of the most popular cuisines in the world and one of the two (next to French) most popular European cuisines. It is dominated by herbs, vegetables and the best quality cheeses. Italians cook very differently, which translates into a great interest in dishes from their tables.
Italian food culture is known all over the world. This is due not only to the unique flavor compositions, but also to the charming simplicity of local dishes. However, it is often forgotten that Italian cuisine is extremely diverse – each region of Italy offers different, unique dishes. In the north of the country, we eat more rice and polenta, and in the south, wonderful pastes. Naples is the birthplace of traditional pizza, Bologna’s famous meat sauce was born, and Parma gave the world an aromatic cheese. See what Italian dishes you can prepare in your own kitchen. Buon appetito!
Pizza – is an oven baked, flat, usually round-shaped yeasty dough topped with ingredients such as tomato sauce, cheese, olive oil and endless varieties of other toppings. In Italy there are only two types of pizza: the Neapolitan – which is relatively tick on the outside perimeter and resembles a flat bread, and the Roman – which is much thinner and crustier. Neither of the two resembles the type of pizza found in the US.
For a sample recipe, please look here:
Pizza Margherita
Lasagna – Lasagna is a wide, flat pasta noodle, usually baked in layers in the oven. Like most Italian dishes it evolved from a poor man’s food to a rich meal filled with the ragù (meat sauce). On the beginning lasagna wasn’t made with tomatoes (those started to arrive in Europe in 16th century, being brought back from the New World); only ragù, béchamel sauce, and cheese, usually mozzarella or Parmigiano Reggiano or a combination of the two. Even today, only a bit of tomato or tomato sauce is used in a traditional ragù, unlike most Italian – American dishes, which in opposition use slot if tomatoes and tomato sauce.
For a sample recipe, please look here:
LASAGNA WITH RICOTTA AND MOZZARELLA
Gnocchi – those little, fluffy and pillow dumplings being to the pasta family, no doubt about it. And making all kinds of pasta from scratch is one of the most traditional things in Italy. Gnocchi are traditionally handmade from potatoes and cheese but based on regional location they are made as well from semolina or wheat flour or breadcrumbs instead of potatoes. Gnocchi pasta are prepared by boiling in salted water and served with a tasty sauce that can be also pan-fried after boiling, to achieve that lovely crispy texture.
For a sample recipe, please look here:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/gnocchi_with_crispy_19660
Spaghetti – the most recognizable, next to pizza, Italian dish. Almost a synonym of Italian cuisine. Long and thin pasta boiled and served with variety of sauces. From minimalistic olive oil and garlic, to plain tomato and basil, to rich tomato with braised meats or vegetables, or cream and cheese.
For a sample recipe, please look here:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/creamy_chilli_bacon_and_60433
Ragu Alla Bolognese – or Bolognese meat sauce, is renowned to be the national dish of Italy. Used widely in Italian cuisine, as an ingredient to many traditional and some of the best Italian dishes (spaghetti, tagliatelle, pappardelle, fettuccine…) across Italy. The original Bolognese sauce is made from tomatoes, ground beef, garlic, wine, and herbs. Although Bolognese sauce originates in the city of Bologna, it is evenly enjoyed throughout Italy.
For a sample recipe, please look here:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/rag_alla_bolognese_51842
Cassata – sweet Italian cake that is built of round sponge cake moistened with mixture of a fruit juices and liqueur, with ricotta cheese and candied fruit filling. Always looking colorful and inviting.
For a sample recipe, please look here:
https://www.lifestylefood.com.au/recipes/27467/sicilian-cassata-cake
Tiramisu – Italy’s most famous dessert. Made of mascarpone cheese, coffee (And sometimes liquor as well) soaked ladyfinger biscuits, eggs, sugar and cacao powder. The name Literally translate to “pull me up” – “cheer me up”, which given the amount of comforting ingredients and the Italian coffee is a perfect name!
For a sample recipe, please look here:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/tiramisu_cake_13686
Risotto – rice dish typically served as a first course (primo), (except in Milan where it is traditionally served as a side dish to meat course) and which can be flavored in a hundred different ways. The rice is first coated and toasted in butter, then cooked in broth to a creamy consistency. The broth may be meat-based or fish-based depending on what kind of ingredients the risotto will be flavored with. Almost all risotto recipes include parmesan cheese (except those with seafood), butter (but never a cream!), and onion. Some of the most famous risotto recipes are alla Romana and alla Milanese (with saffron).
For a sample recipe, please look here:
RISOTTO WITH MUSHROOMS
Insalata Caprese – Caprese salad is a famous Italian salad consists of only the freshest ingredients. Made of fresh sliced tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, garnished with olive oil, Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale di Modena balsamico (balsamic vinegar), and fresh basil leaves. Caprese salad is traditionally an appetizer in Italy, never a side dish.
For a sample dish, please look here:
https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/insalata-caprese-13232
Mozzarella – White mozzarella is a popular Italian cheese made from Italian water buffalo’s milk. Mozzarella is a semi-soft cheese very mild in taste. Although there are different types of mozzarella cheese (made from buffalo’s milk, cow’s milk, goats’ milk, and sheep’s milk), authentic mozzarella from southern Italy, from Lazio and Campana regions is always buffalo mozzarella (Mozzarella di Bufala Campana). Traditionally mozzarella is an ingredient of various dishes extremely popular throughout Italy.
For a sample recipe please look here:
https://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-make-homemade-mozzarella-cooking-lessons-from-the-kitchn-174355
Panettone & Pandoro – A large leavened yeast cake stuffed with candied orange and lemon zest, as well as raisins, which are added dry (not soaked). Hardly any Italian family would go without having Panettone on the table at Christmas. Recently, new variations appeared on the market such panettone with chocolate, with champagne cream, etc. It is usually sold at Christmas and served as dessert or for breakfast. It is cut in vertical slices.
For a sample recipe, please look here:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/pandoro_93030 https://www.greatitalianchefs.com/recipes/panettone-recipe
Saltimbocca alla Romana – as the name indicates, is a typical Roman dish that has become popular around the world. It is a type of open roulade (involtino) made of veal stuffed with prosciutto and sage, sauteed in butter with a small amount of white wine. The mixture of butter and wine in which the saltimbocca is being cooked later serves as sauce for the dish.
For a sample recipe, please look here:
Scaloppini Saltimbocca, Roman-Style, with Sauteed Spinach
Focaccia al rosmarino – Rosemary Pizza bread. Focaccia is a type of flat bread made in similar way as pizza dough, traditionally seasoned with olive oil, herbs, vegetables and/or cheese. Focaccia can be used as a side to many meals or as sandwich bread, or as a part of antipasto platter.Focaccia al rosmarino is a most popular style of flatbread in Italian cuisine prepared using focaccia dough, rosemary, olive oil and salt, sea salt or kosher salt. Whole fresh rosemary leaves are used after baking, sprinkled with salt and drizzled with olive oil.
For a sample recipe, please look here:
https://www.byvalenti.com/blog/food/focaccia-al-rosmarino-burro-e-olio-doliva/
Brasato – is a type of pot roast in which meat (less often fish) is braised extremely slowly at medium temperature in a small amount of liquid, usually, made of either wine, beer or spices. The meat is already marinated in that cooking liquid together with the typical sofrito base (onion, carrots and celery) for several hours. When the meat is ready the liquid is strained, from all bits and pieces, reduced if necessary, and used to top the finish sliced dish.
For a sample recipe, please look here:
https://www.greatitalianchefs.com/recipes/brasato-al-barolo-recipe
Grissini – are the long, thin and very crispy bread sticks. Traditionally served with the breadbasket in Italian restaurants. They can be flavored with various herbs and spices and with Sesame seeds. They originated in Piedmont but are now common everywhere in Italy and even abroad.
For a sample recipe, please look here:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/olive_breadsticks_79125
Polenta – porridge or mush usually made of ground corn (maize) cooked in salted water. Cheese and butter or oil are often added. Polenta can be eaten hot or cold as a porridge; or it can be cooled until firm, cut into shapes, and then baked, toasted, pan fried, or deep-fried. We always think that pasta is a staple in whole Italy, but in fact until recently, the staple starch eaten in the northern parts of the boot was Polenta. It is a traditional food of northern Italy, especially the Piedmont region, and of Corsica, where chestnut flour is used in place of cornmeal. Polenta is the perfect accompaniment to a wide range of meats, especially stewed meats, and it is arguably one of the most comforting foods you can eat when the temperatures drop in cities like Milan, Turin, and Venice. My favorite way of eating Polenta is as a Polenta fries. Nice and crispy.
For the sample recipe, please look here:
https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/basic-polenta-recipe-1915185
Bottarga – “Sicilian Caviar”, or “poor man’s caviar”. In late summer months, locals in Southern Italy take the roe from grey mullets, or blue fin tuna. It is cleaned, heavily salted and compress. Then left it to air dry for the next six months. The result is a solid block of eggs the color of amber and blood oranges that, when sliced and eaten or grated over pasta, suddenly evolves into something so decadent savory, smoky, and briny at the same time. You can see its humble beginning, as a poor men ways to preserve seafood in the days long before refrigeration. It is now considered one of the most exquisite and luxurious foodstuffs in Italy, right up there with truffles. The best and simple way to enjoy it, is to be grated over pasta, or sliced thinly and drizzled with lemon juice and olive oil.
For the sample recipe, please look here:
https://www.greatitalianchefs.com/recipes/spaghetti-with-bottarga-sauce
Pasta Carbonara – This dish and the list of its ingredients looks extremely simple – spaghetti, eggs, pecorino cheese, cured guanciale ( Italian bacon) , and black pepper, but the truth is that it’s take a great skill and practice to master this simple looking dish. Because of its simplicity, the cardinal sun, is to start adding more ingredients to fix it up ( like adding cream or butter , using just a bacon) , and make it better, while in fact you will take all that amazing classic taste away.
For a sample recipe, please look here:
https://www.greatbritishchefs.com/recipes/spaghetti-carbonara-recipe
Ribollita – With roots deeply embedded in the peasant cooking of the Tuscany region, this vegetable soup is really something simply amazing. It is thickened by using bread instead of meat, because that is what was cheaper and easily accessible for years in this poverty-stricken Italian countryside. In Tuscany, the dish is considered a special treat in the autumn. When, thanks to the freshly harvested vegetables, the essence and aroma of this dish is at its most potent point, the savoriness of the soup bursts with so complex flavor despite complete lack of meat.
For a sample recipe, please look here:
https://www.greatitalianchefs.com/recipes/ribollita-recipe
Ossobuco allá Milanese – literally means “hollow bone”. The famous dish is a bone in veal shank, cooked for a long time (on average 3 hours), until fork tender in a broth of meat stock, white wine, and veggies. Traditionally, it is accompanied by a gremolata (lemon zest, garlic, and parsley), and side dish of polenta. Even thou city of Milan claims invention of this meaty masterpiece there are numerous versions of it, all over Lombardy, which is known for hearty, often rustic dishes that are works so well in the winter chill.
For a sample recipe, please look here:
https://www.greatitalianchefs.com/recipes/ossobuco-alla-milanese-recipe
Prosciutto – This famous Italian air-cured ham originated in Po River Valley, but it is immensely popular across the whole country. Paper thin, eaten traditionally as an appetizer. Term prosciutto usually refers to raw ham (prosciutto crudo) and very rarely to cooked ham (prosciutto cotto). Sometimes prosciutto will be called Parma ham, as the most popular brand in Italy is Prosciutto di Parma from Parma province in the Emilia Romagna region in Po River Valley.
Bistecca allá Florentina – this large T-bone steak served bloody rare. It is at least 4 to 5 cm (up to 2 in high) high and weighs at least 800g (over 28 oz) grilled over wood or charcoal fire and seasoned with salt. The meat is sourced from specific breed of cows, called Chianina, and it should be only between 12 and 24 months old.
For a sample recipe, please look here:
https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/135541/bistecca-alla-fiorentina-tuscan-porterhouse/
Bruschetta – A classic Italian appetizer. Piece of crispy, crusty bread usually seasoned with olive oil and garlic and freshly chopped tomatoes and parsley.
For a sample recipe, please look here:
https://www.greatitalianchefs.com/recipes/tomato-bruschetta-recipe
Carpaccio – Thin slices of raw beef sprinkled with oil and thinly shaved leaves of Parmesan cheese. It can be served on a bed of fancy greens.
For a sample recipe, please look here:
https://www.greatitalianchefs.com/recipes/beef-carpaccio-recipe
Mortadella di Bologna – no doubt here, the most famous Italian sausage. This traditional Italian pork-based sausage is made with black pepper, pistachios and myrtle berries. Although there are plenty of different variations of mortadella all over the country: with garlic, with olives or myrtle berries.
Antipasti – cold cut platter served before the meal, or some type of gathering, as a board full of varies things to snack on. Typical Italian antipasti platter include: salumi (cold meats), vegetali (vegetables) and formaggi (cheeses) and crudité (raw fish), which is the opposite of the French “crudités”, that is means “raw vegetables”.
For a sample recipe, please look here:
https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/antipasti-platter-recipe-1941834
Parmigiana do Milanese – Oven baked dish made of fried sliced aubergines (Eggplant) interlayered with tomato sauce, basil, garlic and one or more cheeses pecorino, mozzarella, or caciocavallo. Perfect for colder days, to give you that warm and fuzzy feeling. Italian comfort food at its best.
For a sample recipe, please look here:
https://www.greatitalianchefs.com/recipes/aubergine-parmigiana
Porchetta – this is an amazing savory, fatty, and moist boneless pork roast of Italian cuisine. Deboned pork, all fat and skin still present, is heavily salted stuffed with liver, wild fennel, garlic, rosemary and other usually wild herbs, and rolled up tightly, in a roulade shape. Roasted, traditionally over wood for at least 8 hours, u till fully cooked through, and until the delicious crispy skin crust develops. Porchetta has been selected by the Italian Ministry of Agriculture as a “prodotto Agro-Alimentaire traditionale” (traditional agricultural-food product), one of an Italian foods held to have cultural relevance. Well done, Porchetta !! is probably one of the few dishes that is excellent both cold or hot and that is commonly consumed both as filling for sandwich, or as a meat main dish.
For a sample recipe, please look here:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/christmas_porchetta_19448
Veal Milanese (Scaloppine alla Milanese) – Probably one of Milan’s most famous dishes, along with risotto alla Milanese and ossobuco. traditionally prepared with a veal rib chop or sirloin bone-in and made into a breaded cutlet and fried in butter. Due to its shape, it is often called “oreggia d’elefant” (elephant’s ear). Remarkably like the Viennese Schnitzel. The butter or lemon juice is poured over the cutlet before being served.
For a sample recipe, please look here:
https://lidiasitaly.com/recipes/veal-milanese/
Fritto misto – A typical Italian dish that will differ from region to region. Crispy fried seafood, vegetable and sometimes meats platter, serves as antipasto. May consist of fried vegetables, small fried fish or fried In Rome the fritto misto will generally be an assortment of fried vegetables served as antipasto. Always fresh assortment of seafood: shrimp, oysters, scallops, Octopus, fresh fish: whole small ones, or big one cut in chunks, meat : Veal, lamb or chicken, in a seasoned batter, served fresh, hot and crispy, with a piece of lemon. Yummy!
For a sample recipe, please look here:
https://leitesculinaria.com/1808/recipes-fritto-misto-amalfitano.html
Tortellini – Tortellini are popular button-shaped pasta filled with meat, cheese, nutmeg and egg. As always, the flavor combinations are endless. Cooked in boiling water or stir-fried for additional crispy texture. You can serve them any way you like, with sauce, with herb butter etc.
For a sample recipe, please look here:
https://www.greatitalianchefs.com/recipes/classic-tortelli-di-zucca-recipe
Risi É Bisi – Rice and peas is one of the most common traditional Italian dishes. On contrary to common belief outside of Italy, risi e bisi is a thick soup not a risotto and not a rice side dish. It originates in Venice where traditionally is flavored with pancetta (salted and cured pork belly).
For a sample recipe, please look here:
Rice and Pea Soup
Parmigiano Regiano – “King of cheeses”. Parmesan is world-famous cheese from the province of Parma. It is a cow’s milk cheese, that taking almost 2 years to mature to the optimal balanced flavor. Most commonly Parmesan is grated over pasta, risotto, and salads but it is also eaten as a snack alone.
Zuppa di Cozze – Unlike the name suggests not exactly a soup, but a classic technique of cooking and serving mussels, in white brothy sauce made of white wine, garlic and Italian parsley. Quite similar dish is created by exact same cooking of clams (Zuppa di Vongole).
For a sample recipe, please look here:
Zuppa di Cozze
Pasta e Fagioli – Traditional Italian, thick Pasta and beans soup coming from Italian regions of Emilia-Romania and Campania. Ingredients of Pasta E Fagioli may vary from one region to another, but the basics always remain the same: tiny ring-shaped pasta, beans, olive oil, onion, garlic and tomato paste.
For a sample recipe, please look here:
Pasta and Beans
Cacio é Pepe – extremely minimalistic pasta dish. Pecorino cheese and black pepper – nothing else and that is the true simplistic beauty of Cacio e pepe. Almost every restaurant serves it in Rome and there is even a restaurant that is named Cacio e Pepe, which as you can guess, the main specialty is.
For a sample recipe, please look here:
https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/cacio-e-pepe-365162
Ravioli – Traditional Italian square shaped pasta with a filling. Ravioli are eaten throughout Italy. While the shape is consistent everywhere the various flavors and fillings differs from one region to another. For example: In Rome and Lazio the filling is made with spinach, ricotta cheese, pepper, and nutmeg, while in Sardinia the filling consists of mix of cheese and lemon rind.
For a sample recipe, please look here:
https://www.greatitalianchefs.com/recipes/ravioli-alla-calabrese-recipe
Turron – Turrón, or torrone, is a southern European nougat treat. Traditionally made of honey, sugar, and egg white, with toasted almonds or other nuts, and usually shaped into either a rectangular tablet or a round cake. Served, cut into small bite size rectangular shapes or baton logs.
For a sample recipe, please look here:
https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/246463/torrone-italian-nut-and-nougat-confection/
Panna Cotta – is an Italian dessert based on of sweetened cream thickened with gelatin and molded. The cream is usually Flavored with coffee, vanilla, chocolate, fruit syrups and many more. Require a little patience, because it need to stay in the fridge for few hours to set properly.
For a sample recipe, please look here:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/raspberry_panna_cotta_35712
Panzanella Italian salad – Panzanella or panmolle is a Tuscan summer salad. Made from coarsely cut stale bread, onions and tomatoes, also includes cucumbers, sometimes basil and is traditionally dressed with olive oil and vinegar. The juice from vegetables, mixed with the Vinaigrette, soaking into the hard bread, making it soft and squishy, but most of all extremally tasty. Quite simple dish, but what the teste.
For a sample recipe, please look here:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/panzanella_23604
Calzones – oven-baked, half-moon shapes, folded pizza. A typical calzone is made from pizza dough, that is stuffed with salami, ham or vegetables, mozzarella, ricotta and Parmesan or pecorino cheese, and of course tomato sauce. Closed tightly and baked in the oven, until cook through and crispy.
For a sample recipe, please look here:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/calzone_pizza_11861
Arancini – translate literally to “little oranges”. It is is believed that this fried treat originated in Sicily, and till this day they are one of the most favorite Sicilian food. Cooked arborio rice, or leftover risotto, is shaped into a small ball, coated with breadcrumbs and deep fried. But there is always a surprise in the middle. Arancini are typically stuffed with mozzarella or fontina cheeses, or ragù sauce with a bit of meat. Extremely easy to make, using leftover rice and some cheese for the middle. Comfort food at its finest.
For a sample recipe, please look here:
https://www.greatitalianchefs.com/recipes/ricotta-filled-arancina-recipe
Ricci Di Mare – Sea urchin is a delicacy in Italy and beyond. They are eaten throughout the whole Italy from Naples to Sicily. Traditionally those prickly delectable are consumed fresh and raw scooped out of the shells with squeezed lemon juice or just mixed with fresh pasta (pasta al ricci di mare).
For a sample recipe, please look here:
https://www.greatitalianchefs.com/recipes/spaghetti-ai-ricci-di-mare-recipe
Fettucine Alfredo – Another from the category of remarkably simple pasta dishes. Freshly cooked fettuccine is coated with butter and Parmesan cheese. As the cheese melts, it comes together and form a smooth and rich sauce coating the pasta.
For a sample recipe, please look here:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/fettuccine_alfredo_47554
Soppressata – is an Italian dry salami. Although there are many variations, two principal types are made: a cured dry sausage typical of Basilicata, (in Apulia, and Calabria), and a vastly different uncured salame, made (in Tuscany and Liguria). Soppressata is usually made from pork but may also be made with beef. Unlike traditional salami, Soppressata is a much coarser grind, often mixed with red pepper flakes. Like salami, they are salted, then air dried to preserve them.
Cacciatore – translates to “hunter” in Italian. All group of dishes under the name: “alla cacciatora” refers to a meal prepared “hunter-style” with onions, herbs, usually tomatoes, often bell peppers, and sometimes wine. Cacciatore is mostly made with braised chicken (pollo alla cacciatora) or rabbit (Coniglio alla cacciatora).
For a sample recipe, please look here:
Chicken Cacciatore
Braciola – quite thin slices of meat (typically pork, chicken, beef, or even swordfish), are rolled as a roulade (category of rolled food is known as involtini) with cheese and breadcrumbs. Pan seared to keep all the juices in, and then slowly cooked in a wine sauce.
For a sample recipe, please look here:
Braised Beef Rolls
Minestrone – Like its cousins ribolita and pasta e fagioli, minestrone soup is a thick, hearty brothy Italian vegetable soup. Soup base ingredients mainly include: olive oil, garlic, tomatoes, onion, carrot, and celery with addition of beans and sometimes pasta or rice. Many other vegetables can find its way to the minestrone pot, depends what is in season just now. Minestrone recipe, in general, embraces the variety of vegetables available year-round, so it will differentiate a little throughout the seasons.
For a sample recipe, please look here:
Minestrone – Vegetarian or with Pork
Panelle – or Sicilian chickpea fritters are a common street food in Sicily. fritters made from chickpea flour and other ingredients. They are a popular street food in Palermo and are often eaten in a bread roll, like a sandwich, with a little salt and some freshly ground pepper. These crispy little bites are exceptionally delicious and popular street food typically found in Palermo, Sicily.
For a sample recipe, please look here:
https://www.greatitalianchefs.com/recipes/panelle-recipe
Caponata – Caponata is a Sicilian version of ratatouille. This completely vegetarian cold eggplant salad, more like a relish, is made of eggplant, onions, raisins, bell pepper, celery and tomatoes with briny olives and capers. Like most eggplant dishes, this gets better overnight. Best served on a crusty toast, just like a Bruschetta, or as relish to elevate your roast lamb, chicken or fish.
For a sample recipe, please look here:
https://www.greatitalianchefs.com/recipes/aubergine-caponata-recipe
Vitello tonnato – Generally Summertime dish. Traditionally served cold as an antipasto, chilled or at room temperature, or as the main course of an Italian meal. it consists of fragrant veal, boiled and thinly sliced, and topped with creamy tuna fish sauce with traces of caper and anchovy. Nowadays, the sauce often includes mayonnaise, when the traditional creamy consistency is achieved by blending olive oil, with lemons, tuna and anchovies.
made of cold, sliced veal covered with a creamy, mayonnaise-like consistency sauce that has been flavored with tuna. It is served
For a sample recipe, please look here:
https://www.greatitalianchefs.com/recipes/vitello-tonnato-recipe
Very informative guide on Italian dishes. Thanks for sharing