Dining Italian Style

Appetizers

Bruschetta is a traditional appetizer. It consists of a toasted slice of bread rubbed with garlic and drizzled with extra virgin olive oil. It can include toppings like diced tomatoes.

Frisele is a traditional rusk that originated in Puglia. It is prepared by combining plain flour, seminole flour, sea salt, yeast, and water. Rusks are double-baked. Before serving they’re soaked in seawater or spring water. Then topped with fresh tomatoes.

Arancini are rice balls stuffed with savory fillings like meat sauce with peas, dried prosciutto, cheeses like mozzarella and pecorino, tomatoes, or dried capers. The balls are rolled in breadcrumbs and fried in hot oil giving them a golden color.

Pizzetta is a version of pizza. It is made with dough or puff pastry topped with sauces, cheeses, and other ingredients. It is served as an appetizer, quick snack, or light meal.

Polpette are meatballs that traditionally are made with ground beef or veal and shaped into small balls. The meat is mixed with parsley, eggs, garlic, and cheese like Parmigiano Reggiano. They can be served with pasta or eaten as an appetizer or snack.

Cipriani is a dish that originated in Piedmont. It consists of slices of raw beef dressed with lemon juice, olive oil, and white truffle shavings. Served as an appetizer it can include thin slices of meat or fish on a plate with olive oil, cheese shavings, and lemon.

Focaccia is a chewy, oily flatbread. It is topped with coarse sea salt, olive oil, herbs, tomatoes, and olives. The bread was traditionally baked over coals.

Arancini al ragu is a traditional variety of arancini rice balls that originated in Sicily. The rice balls are stuffed with ragu, cheese, and peas. The ragu consists of ground beef, onions, carrots, celery, tomatoes, olive oil, salt, and pepper. They are deep-fried until golden and crunchy.

Cicchetti are traditional Venetian small dishes similar to Spanish tapas. Little but delectable bites. These consist of olives, hard-boiled eggs, and marinated anchovies. They can also consist of creamy salt cod over toasted bread.

Eggs

Frittata al tarufo is a traditional Umbrian and Istrian dish. It is prepared with eggs, black truffles, olive oil, salt, and black pepper. The eggs are beaten and poured into a pan with hot olive oil, thin shavings of truffles, and salt and pepper are added to the pan. When the eggs have set, finely chopped parsley is sprinkled on top before serving. The dish can be topped with grated cheese.

Meat

Ossobuco alla Milanese is a dish made with wine-braised veal shanks. It is a classic dish from northern Italy and one of the best signature dishes in Milan. The veal used to make this dish is sliced horizontally through the bone exposing the marrow. The meat is slow-cooked in beef broth until tender. After it is topped with gremola, a zesty herb relish and mashed anchovies, minced garlic, parsley, and lemon zest.

Salsiccia refers to various kinds of fresh Italian sausage. The sausage is made with minced or ground pork, pork fat, and spices. The mixture is stuffed into a natural pork or sheep casing. It is sold fresh for frying or grilling.

Porchetta is a traditional, boneless pork roast enjoyed all over Italy. The pork is flavored with salt, garlic, rosemary, fennel seeds, and other herbs. The stuffing consists of pork liver, fat, or pieces of skin and meat flavored with salt and spices, The pork is rolled up, spitted, and slowly roasted over a wood fire. When done it is sliced thinly and served warm or cold with bread.

Studtiroler gulasch is a traditional Italian goulash that originated in the southern Tyrol region. The stew was influenced by Austrian and Hungarian dishes. The stew is prepared with beef, cumin, paprika, olive oil, onions, pancetta, stock, garlic, salt, pepper, and thyme.

Piatto Unico is traditionally made with layers of homemade spinach-flavored lasagna egg pasta. This is topped with becamel sauce and a rich meat sauce called ragu alla Bolognese. After combining the lasagna is sprinkled with cheeses like Parmigiano-Reggiano. It is baked in the oven until golden on top.

Tagliatelle al ragu alla Bolognese is a traditional dish that originated in the city of Bologna. It is made with tagliatelle pasta and a rich ragu that consists of beef and tomatoes.

Seafood

Fritto misto di pesce is a popular dish from Campania. It consists of fried seafood and includes crustaceans and mollusks like shrimp and squid. It also often has paranza, very small whole fish like fresh anchovies, sardines, baby mackerel, or mullet. The dish can be batter-fried until the seafood has a golden brown crust.

Linguine allo scoglio or lingunine ai frutti di mares is a southern Italian seafood dish. The dish consists of linguini or spaghetti and a combination of seafood and shellfish. It can include calms, mussels, shrimp, and baby squid.

Linguine all’astice is a classic Italian dish that combines pasta with tender lobster meat. The dish starts with a sauce made of lobster meat, sauteed shallots, garlic, and onions. It is deglazed with white wine and finished with tomatoes. The sauce is served over fresh linguine and traditionally decorated with shelled lobster.

Pasta

Spaghetti alla puttanesca is a southern Italian pasta dish. It is a simple dish consisting of olives and capers.

Pasta alla Norma is a Sicilian dish. It is traditionally prepared with tomato sauce, eggplants, ricotta salata cheese, and fresh basil. It was named in honor of La Norma, the famous opera composed by Vincenzo Bellini in 1831.

Spatzle Tirolesi is an Italian version of German spatzle. A sauce is made with boiled spinach, eggs, flour, nutmeg, salt, pepper, and water along with heavy cream and the spatzel added to the sauce and fully coated. The dish is topped with grated Parmigiano and freshly ground black pepper.

Agnolotti del plin a traditional dish originating in Piedmont. It is prepared with boat-shaped agnolotti pasta. The pasta is filled with veal, pork, or rabbit and vegetables like cabbage or spinach. When done the pasta can be served doused in melted butter or a combination of butter and fresh sage, tomato sauce, ragu, or meat drippings sauce.

Malloreddus alla Campidanese is a pasta dish from the Campidano Plain. It is prepared with malloreddus pasta, saffron, fresh sausages seasoned with fennel seeds, peeled tomatoes, and a topping of freshly grated Pecorino cheese.

Tajarin al tartufo bianco is a pasta dish made with handmade tajarin pasta flavored with butter, pepper, and freshly grated white truffles. It can be sprinkled with Parmigiano.

Culurgionis d’Ogliastra is a dish that is made with culurgiones, known as Sardinian ravioli. These are handmade dumplings shaped to look like an ear of wheat. They are filled with potatoes, pecorino cheese, lard, onion, garlic, and mint. Other kinds of fillings include ricotta, spinach or chard, and saffron. When ready to serve this dish is doused in tomato sauce and sprinkled with freshly grated pecorino.

Tagliatelle ai funghi is a flavorful dish made with fresh tagliatelle pasta and meaty mushrooms like porchni, Portobello, or chantrelles. The dish is flavored with shallots, black pepper, salt, chopped parsley, and white wine. Grated parmesan cheese is sprinkled on top.

Spaghetti aglio e olio is a classic pasta dish with few ingredients. It consists of spaghetti, garlic, and oil. For more flavor pepperoncino, a tiny red chili pepper, can be added. The spaghetti is tossed with garlic, crushed pepperoncino, and sauteed in olive oil.

Tortelli is a variety of Italian stuffed pasta prepared in shapes like square, semicircular, or rounded. This pasta is especially popular in Tuscany, Lombardy, and Emilia-Romagna. Tortelli con zucca are filled with pumpkin, crushed cookies, and parmesan cheese. The dish is topped with more cheese and a sauce of butter and sage.

Cacio e pepe is a simple but delicious dish. It is a combination of spaghetti, aged Pecorino Romano cheese, salt, and lots of ground black pepper.

Lasagna alla parmigiana is a traditional dish that originated in Emilia-Romagna. The dish combines two Italian classics – lasagna pasta and eggplant parmigiana. The dish is layered with lasagna sheets, eggplants, tomatoes, garlic, mozzarella, olive oil, basil, grated cheese, salt, and black pepper. The eggplants are sliced, salted, drained, and fried to a golden brown. The tomato sauce includes tomatoes, olive oil, and garlic.

Pizza

Pizza Romana is a pizza prepared with a thin crust that is extremely crunchy. The dough is best stretched with a rolling pin. The dough is covered with some tomato sauce and toppings of choice. However, the traditional toppings for this pizza include mozzarella, anchovies, capers, chopped basil, and pecorino.

Pizza bufalina is prepared with tomato sauce, cherry tomatoes, and buffalo mozzarella. The pie is finished off with some olive oil and some fresh basil leaves before serving.

Pizza alla Diavola is a variety of pizza that is traditionally topped with tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese, spicy salami, and hot chili peppers. For extra flavor black olives can be added.

Pizza capricciosa is a pizza that is topped with tomatoes, mozzarella, mushrooms, artichokes, ham, olives, and sliced hard-boiled eggs. In central and northern Italy this pie can include capers, sausages, and anchovies.

Salad

Panzanelli is an Italian salad made with pieces of stale, moistened bread. Other ingredients include tomatoes, onions, basil and a dressing of vinegar and olive oil. This is a specialty of Tuscany.

Caprese Salad is popular in southern Italy. It is a combination of tomatoes, creamy mozzarella, and fresh basil. It originated on the island of Capri.

Dessert

Torta Caprese is a dark chocolate cake that is prepared without flour. It is a specialty of the island of Capri. The cake is made with dark chocolate, eggs, sugar, almonds, and butter. The egg yolks are beaten with sugar to make a thick rich custard. Once the other ingredients are incorporated the egg whites are whipped and folded into the batter. Then the cake is baked for 30 minutes. It is garnished with halved strawberries or raspberries.

Bomboloni are deep-fried doughnuts. They are one of the traditional sweets during the Carnival season. They have a sugar-coated outside and are filled with custard cream or chocolate cream.

Sfogliatella are well-known Italian pastries originating in Naples. They’re filled with custard cream and black cherries preserved in syrup.

Cannoli are crispy fried pastry tubes filled with ricotta cheese cream. They’re one of the best-known desserts from Sicily.

Montebianco or Mont Blanc is a dessert that consists of pureed, sweetened chestnuts topped with lightly whipped cream. Due to the fact that they resemble the snow-capped mountain Mont Blanc, the highest mountain in the Alps the dessert was given its name.

Tiramisu is a dessert that is prepared with coffee-soaked ladyfingers. The ladyfingers are layered with mascarpone cream.