As we work to become better at cooking without recipes, we're taking a tour of world cuisines, looking at flavors and ingredients in each that play well together. Yesterday it was flavors in Asian and Far Eastern cooking, and today it's Italian. Mangia! as our Italian friends say. Eat! And eat they do, since Italian cooking has some of the best simple yet sublime food in the world...
It's also remarkably easy to assemble meals with basic Italian ingredient and flavors. Once you learn what goes together, it's not hard at all to substitute this for that and create dishes on the fly.
Flavors and Ingredients
• Garlic!
• Prosciutto, bresaola and other aged hams like speck
• Parmesan cheese
• Provolone cheese
• Mozzarella cheese
• Pinenuts
• Fresh basil
• Tomatoes - fresh, canned, and sun-dried
• Artichokes
• Pesto made with arugula or basil
• Olives
• Olive oil
Meal Basics
• Pasta, of course! Test your knowledge of pasta shapes here.
• Rice for risotto
• Bread for pizza and breadsticks
Recipes and tips for Italian cooking
• Recipe: Strozzapretti with Pecorino, Prosciutto and Something Green
• Good Product: RoyalVKB Garlic Crusher
• The Celluloid Pantry: Garlic Prep and Goodfellas (1990)
• Recipe: Roasted Garlic
• How to Peel Garlic Quickly and Easily
• Recipe: Prosciutto Roasted Figs
• Recipe: Ridiculously Quick Pasta al Pomodoro
• Recipe: Farfalle with Cauliflower and Toasted Breadcrumb
• Trader Joe's Pantry: Anelletti Pasta
• Dry Pasta vs. Fresh Pasta: What's the Difference?
• Recipe: Ricotta Pasta with Fava Beans and Bacon
• Spring Eating: Grilled Pizza with Herbed Mascarpone, Smoked Salmon and Asparagus
• D.I.Y. Recipe: Pizza Sauce
• New Favorite: Lemon Olive Oil Cake
OK - what did we miss? (Something crucial, I'm sure.) What else goes with Italian cooking, and how do you like to to mix and match the ingredients above?
(Image: Faith Hopler)
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i always tend to lean towards italian flavors. they are so simple and satisfying. there are a lot of vegetarian options, beyond pasta; i.e. antipasti.
White wine (for light sauces with garlic)
Flat italian parsley
Toasted garlic, white wine, oregano, olive oil and fresh lemon for roasted chicken and fish.
what people named above, and also: fennel, citrus, balsamic and wine vinegar, (roasted) peppers, polenta, mushrooms (truffles, porcini, etc), sage, beans (cannellini), almonds, hazelnuts...
Sage! Oregano! My Italian friends are going to have my head for forgetting those...
I'll keep these posts updated with all the additions.
When I was a teenager I used to make the best marinara. Then I went to college and stopped cooking entirely. I never cooked my sauce from a recipe but I wish I had written down something...anything. A decade later and I still cant come close to that sauce.
The best rice for risotto really is arborio. You can (and I have) make it with other rice, but if you want that perfect creamy-but-al-dente flavor, arborio does it.
I'm Northern Italian so I'll add coarse cornmeal for polenta. Regular cornmeal is fine, though. If you use regular, you'll probably want to whisk it into the boiling water instead of simply stirring with a wooden spoon so you don't end up with lumps.
For BIG batches of polenta, you'll need a polenta stick (basically a dowel!) or you'll snap your spoons. And long sleeves. That stuff burns!
Just some random things...
Parmesan cheese is commercial, Romano cheese is better. :)
Ricotta cheese is also a fine choice, especially for stuffed pasta.
And um, artichokes? No. HELLO! MUSHROOMS!
You also have to keep in mind that different parts of Italy have different flavors and "staples" and ingredients... so not all "Italian food" is equal.