Lighter Italian: 8 Feel-Good Meals and Healthy Dinners

Many of us spent the holiday weekend pigging out (or, in our case, trying to avoid Cinnabon at the airport). And then we return to... Italian Week! Pasta! Parmesan! Pizza! Phew. Don't worry; there are plenty of Italian dishes that emphasize fresh vegetables, fish, greens and, yes, even pasta that's light and healthy. Here are eight that look good to us.

This is a perfect time of year to cook in a Mediterranean style. Roast a good piece of fish or chicken and top it with the sweet little cherry tomatoes or a sauté of zucchini with some fresh herbs and good olive oil. Make a pasta with no-cook tomato sauce (one of our favorite things to do with summer tomatoes) and add a few chunks of fresh mozzarella and lots of basil.

• 1. Slow-Cooked Tomato and Herb White Beans, from the Kitchn.

• 2. Multi-Grain Pasta with Sicilian Salsa Verde, Cabbage, and Haricots Verts, from Bon Appétit.

• 3. Minestrone Soup, Full of Leafy Greens, from the Kitchn.

• 4. Linguini with Shrimp and Lemon Oil, from Food Network.

• 5. Roasted Black Sea Bass with Tomato and Olive Salad, from Gourmet.

• 6. Eggplant Caprese with Grilled Tomato and Basil Vinaigrette, from Bon Appétit.

• 7. Roasted Vegetable Panzanella, from Gourmet.

• 8. Turkey Meatballs over Broccoli Rabe, from the Kitchn.

(Images: Faith Durand; Lisa Hubbard/Bon Appétit; Elizabeth Passarella; Food Network; Mikkel Vang/Gourmet; Tina Rupp/Bon Appétit; Romulo Yanes/Gourmet)

Comments (4)

Please don't imply Italian food is super unhealthy or heavy you don't see many clinically obese people in Italy.

there's fat dudes everywhere. "Americanized" any-culture-food is usually fatty pants inducing. Look at what we did to chinese food.
Americanized food is fat. Accept it. If I lived in Chile still I wouldn't have the extra pounds to prove it. I appreciate recipes that are lighter than the originals. But I can also appreciate the fact that the original-original recipes are probably much healthier than the versions chef Joey cooks at my local pizzeria.

come on, princess fiona, i've eaten some super rich food in italy (mmm, and it was delicious). the difference is portion size! for example, instead of eating 3 heaping plates of risotto, they have a small helping and then a second course of meat and veggies.

and the other important difference is, italian people actually walk places, probably because parking is such a pain! ;)

I made the first recipe last year (Slow-Cooked Tomato and Herb White Beans) and it was AMAZING! Will definitely be making again soon.