Cooking with Patty, my personal collection of Italian recipes

This is an original way to prepare apple cake. It alternates dry ingredients with apples and no eggs are added. It’s a good dessert served at an afternoon tea.

Every region has its own traditions and sweets for the Carnival season. In my family we prepare sweets typical of the Veneto region. This is a typical dessert for the Carnival season.

This is a wonderful recipe to make with asparagus. It is very simple to make and wonderful to eat.

This is a classic dish that is really popular when the asparagus are in season.

Every summer I’m buried with tons of fresh zucchini from the garden, which I love, but after a while it gets difficult to find new recipes and making them the same way too often is just plain boring.

This is an easy way to put together a complete meal.

The Italian name for this would actually be “Lasagne alla Bolognese” but in my region of Italy almost everyone calls it Pasticcio. Most people have tomato sauce in mind when they think of lasagna, however this recipe is based on Ragù alla bolognese and Béchamel sauce. This is a classic of the Northern Italian cuisine [...]

This is a wonderful seafood pasta recipe that really isn’t difficult at all to make. Cuttlefish are a versatile mollusk and can be prepared in many ways. The most famous methods are Risotto al nero di seppia (Cuttlefish Black Risotto) and seppie in umido.

This is a relatively easy to prepare dish that makes a great impression on the table. The Béchamel sauce is the more complicated part of the dish but it’s worth the work your pasta will be delicate and extremely tasty. Béchamel is often used in baked pasta recipes more in the North than the South [...]

Polenta is a very common dish on our table especially in the winter. It’s the perfect accompaniment for  stews or sausages and ideal with some fish dishes. Polenta itself can be enriched with cheeses and butter or filled with meat or cheeses and baked. This particular polenta pasticciata recipe is from Lombardy, one of the [...]

Simple, quick and delicious.

I really enjoy this when I can get fresh sardines.

If you don’t mind turning on the oven in the summer this is a great dish to make. My mother makes this every summer. I think they are a great dish for most any occasion, tasty and healthy.

I often prepare comforting soups and what could be more cozy than a barley soup with speck to enjoy on a cold winter day. This dish comes from Trentino Alto Adige and there are many variations to the basic recipe, however they all have barley, speck or smoked meat and veggies in common.

This is a thin crust pizza recipe. It is a recipe for two medium pizzas.
This is the real Italian pizza that it is very different from the one that you may have eaten in a pizza parlor outside of Italy. Its origin is very antique but the introduction of tomatoes in our country brought by Cristoforo Colombo (Christopher Columbus) contributed to making pizza a famous dish.

This is a very common dish of Veneto, my region. Borlotti, cranberry beans are called this way for their red stripes. They’re often used for soups for their rich taste creamy consistency. This dish can also be enriched with sausages and eaten together with polenta.

If you like Bell Peppers this is definitely for you. Peperonata is a very common summer dish in Italy. It can be served warm or at room temperature, alone or as a side dish.

This simple appetizer is always a hit when I serve it. The recipe comes from an aunt of mine who lives in Genova, Liguria. It seemed to me an unusual combination but when I tasted it I changed my mind these two simple ingredients complement each other.

This is a typical cookie from my region, Veneto. They’re hard cookies and as its name implies are best consumed dipped in sweet wine to complement their flavors.

Ragù alla bolognese is now famous worldwide. There are many versions of this recipe I personally like it with just a little bit of tomato sauce and two kinds of meat, pork and beef. Some add also veal which gives a more delicate taste to the sauce, some others instead prefer to use only ground [...]

Canederli or Knödel in German are bread dumplings, made with dry old bread softened with eggs and milk, flavored with onions, cheese and nutmeg in this case. It’s a typical dish from the Alto Adige, the Northern part of the Trentino Alto Adige region where the cuisine is typically Tyrolean. There are many variations of [...]

This year I’ve made only one simple resolution and that is to not waste food, which also means saving money that, in this period of economic crises, isn’t a bad idea at all. I don’t know about you but I waste way too much food. I tend to buy more than I need and then [...]

This classic recipe from Lombardia, also called costolette alla Milanese, goes well anytime of year.

Bresaola is a salted and seasoned beef, air-dried and aged for about 2-3 months. It’s produced in Valtellina, a valley in the Alps of northern Italy’s Lombardy region. To make sure you’re buying the real product check if it has the trademark IGP “Protected Geographical Indication”. The color should be a brilliant uniform red, there [...]

Bresaola is produced in Val Tellina, in the Northern part of Lombardy region. It is seasoned and air dried beef. It has unique taste and flavor and usually it’s not eaten alone. When you buy it check that has the trademark IGP and make sure it is cut really thin otherwise it won’t taste right. [...]

This torta salata can be prepared very quickly. It’s tasty and flavorful thanks to the speck and the brie cheese.

There’s a debate about the exact name and origins of this dish. In fact you can find it written as Bucatini all’Amatriciana or Bucatini alla Matriciana as well as Spaghetti alla matriciana. As far as its origins go it seems to come  either from Rome or from the town of Amatrice in the Abruzzo region [...]

Simple, surprisingly tasty and easy to make. You can’t go wrong with this one. When I prepare gnocchi I usually serve them with different sauces and I always start with this one because of its delicate flavor, followed by tomato sauce, Bolognese sauce and pesto.

The first time I tasted this dish was in a restaurant in Calabria and I practically ate the whole serving tray by myself. I asked the owner what the ingredients were and he told me potatoes, bell peppers and tomatoes, but if you tasted it you would have thought there was a secret ingredient. I [...]

This is the appetizer of all Italian appetizers. It can be found anywhere in Italy during the summer time. The secret is in the quality of the cured ham and the sweetness of the cantaloupe. When you find a butcher or a specialty food store that has the ham, you have to make sure that [...]

This is a refreshing and easy to make recipe, it can be served as a salad or as the main coarse.

Easter changes its date every year but the dishes we eat are always the traditional ones that have often symbolic meanings. Casatiello is one of them. From the Neapolitan cuisine it’s well known in the South of Italy. There are many versions of it and some of them resemble the Tortano but the one I [...]

A classic Italian appetizer more common in the North of our peninsula where Gongonzola cheese is produced. I’m a Gongonzola cheese lover, but if you’ve never tasted it I suggest you to try it before preparing this recipe. Gorgonzola has a characteristic taste and a distinctive flavor and for some of you it could be [...]

This is a wonderful cake that I really enjoy. I like to buy a piece fresh at the bakery when I can, otherwise I just make the cake at home. In Verona you can only find it in October/November when the chestnuts are in season.

This appetizer is a sweet and sour dish: chicken served in a lemon-vinegar syrupy sauce sweetened with raisins. It’s quick to make and is best if prepared one day in advance.

This is great dish that goes well with polenta.

Fast and easy to make. These are really good for just about any occasion.

This recipe is the dream of every kid. It is really easy to prepare so teach your kids how to make it.

This is a classic way to serve gnocchi in Verona. My grandmother always ate gnocchi like this. Traditionally these gnocchi were served with butter, cinnamon and sugar, this is a heritage from the Austrian Empire. I’ll leave that up to you and your sweet tooth, personally I skip the sugar.

If you like coconut this is the cookie for you.

A simple recipe for baking cod fish that is absolutely wonderful.

Simple flavors that make for a great fish salad.

A wonderful combination of flavors and easy to make.

This is a fun recipe that really isn’t that difficult to make.

This is a good recipe to make when you have too much fruit on hand and don’t want it to spoil.

This is a nice soup. It has a really delicate flavor and is perfect in the winter.

In the autumn when fresh squash hit the market this is a recipe that I really enjoy.

This is a delicate winter soup.

My mother always makes this recipe when she has too many vegetables in the refrigerator. She throws some of them in a pot and makes a simple soup. Now I do the same at my house it is a great way to avoid waste, and this is a very healthy soup too.

This is the base recipe for crespelle. They are better known by their French name crêpes, but they originate in Italy. In the 5th century A.D. Pope Gelasio had the cooks prepare the crepselle for visiting French pilgrims who were in Rome for Candelora celebration. Thus, this dish has a long history that finds its roots in Italy.

Crepes are a fabulous invention of mankind, a thin egg wrap filled with everything you can imagine. It’s one of the most versatile dishes ever. When I think about crepes though, I only think about this recipe and it has no rivals. It’s rich, it’s creamy and so flavorful that at the first bite I [...]

This is a wonderful crepes recipe for the winter when radicchio is in season. If you like the bitterness of radicchio salad you’ll love this recipe.

This is a simple delicate crepe recipe that is perfect for the summer when the arugula is in season.

This appetizer is a specialty from Tuscany, it usually has a stronger taste but this recipe is more delicate. Even someone who doesn’t really care for liver will enjoy this version. I assure you that when you start eating it it will be very difficult to stop.

This is a typical Tuscan appetizer which is perfect to serve with  ribollita or pasta and chickpea soup. It‘s also a good match with another well known Tuscan appetizer, crostini with liver spread. You can finish your Tuscan dinner in glory with a castagnaccio (chestnut cake). This is the kind of appetizer you can prepare [...]

This dessert is a big part of Carnevale in Italy. It takes on different names in the different regions. Here we call them, Crostoli.

A Venetian recipe, one of my favorite risotto dishes. Aside from being absolutely delicious this dish will leave everyone in shock for its black appearance. There’s also a version of this risotto without the cuttlefish ink but the flavor and appearance is much better this way.

It makes a good appetizer, you can serve it in small plates on top of a lettuce leaf. It is also a refreshing summer salad.

This famous Easter pie is called by many names from Easter pie to grain pie so to keep things simple let’s just call it, “Pastiera Napoletana.”

This is a wonderful eggplant appetizer that I learned to prepare on my vacation in Calabria in the South of Italy. Even if you don’t like eggplants this is a recipe to try. When I make them people rarely guess that it is eggplant. You can prepare the eggplants the day before then refrigerate them [...]

This is a classic Sicilian dish.

Parmigiana di melanzane is a classic of the Neapolitan cuisine. Other Italian regions claim to have the paternity for this dish but they’re only responsible for creating new versions of original. It’s true there are numerous versions of the parmigiana di melanzane and different methods on how to prepare the eggplants and the sauce, not [...]

Melanzane al funghetto is a classic of Italian cuisine. They’re called al funghetto because they’re cooked like the mushrooms. They’re served as a side dish with meat, cheese or fish. I like to use this preparation also as a condiment for my pasta.

This is a cold dish, perfect for the summer time and a typical appetizer for the winter. I learned this recipe a long time ago from a lady that lived close to Rome, but I doubt that the origin is roman. Kids love it, at least my sister and I did when we were kids. We used to prepare it when my mom and dad were away and we ate it all at once.

Farinata is a typical appetizer from Liguria that goes well all year long. You can often find it in bread stores as well as the focaccia Ligure. It’s a simple preparation of chickpea flour and oil.

The name doesn’t translate well so I left it in Italian. In Italy we have the “Day of the Saints” on the First of November and the “Day of the Deceased” on the second. This cookie is traditionally made for the latter. In fact the translation of the name would be,”Fava (beans) of the Deceased.”

Favette are one of the sweets prepared exclusively during the Canival season. As most of the carnival sweets favette are also called differently depending on the region. A more common name is castagnole but I’m sure there are many more. They are little fried dough balls usually flavored with anise liquor but in my family we prefer dry Marsala wine.

I had this salad on a sunny Easter day. It’s so fresh and tasty I can not do without it anymore.

If you want to surprise your guest with something different this is the right appetizer: puff pastry wrappers filled with feta cheese. It’s quick, easy and really tasty. Be careful you can become addicted to them! This is also a good recipe to make with your kids or for kids.

This recipe is a creation of Alfredo di Lelio owner of the famous Ristorante da Alfredo all’Augusteo in Rome now held by his nephew Alfredo III. Tourists and affectionates from all over the world crowd the restaurant to taste the famous Fettuccine all’Alfredo. It all began when his wife gave birth to their first baby [...]

This is a simple broth recipe to use in risotto recipes.

If you like skewer cooking you’ll really enjoy this recipe. I make it often since it’s so easy and healthy too.

This is the base recipe for focaccia. If you want something with more flavors try Focaccia with Rosemary and Sage.

If you like Italian Focaccia recipes you’ll love this one.

This simple focaccia recipe is perfect for those who like onions.

This simple focaccia recipe is perfect for those who like fresh breads with herbs.

If you love cheese as much as I do and you are crazy about gnocchi you can’t go wrong with this combination.

Pasta ai quattro formaggi is a triumph of Italian cheeses combined in a delicate and unique cream. It is definitely a cheese lovers pasta and I should say one of my favorites. Some cheeses may be changed according to your own taste but this is one of the most common and easier to make combinations.

If you like fried calamari you’ll probably enjoy the recipe in which the calamari marinated first giving them a very delicate flavor.

Crema fritta is a carnival sweet typical from Verona and Venice. It’s a thick custard cream breaded and fried. When I was little I used to go to Piazza Erbe and press my nose against the glass of the stand selling crema fritta and dream of having a piece. My mother wasn’t that big on [...]

Fried sage looks like a fancy entree often served in parties accompanied by tempura vegetables, but in reality it’s the simplest and easiest appetizer you can prepare. I planted a quality of sage with big leaves in my garden to prepare this appetizer but you can use any kind of sage. I like to serve [...]

This dessert is so fulfilling that sometimes I eat it as a complete meal.

A real eye opener for your guests. There’s no summer for me without fried zucchini flowers and I’m sure that if you’ll try them you won’t be able to resist them either. There are different recipes for the batter some people add  egg or milk or both. I like it simple and I often make [...]

A classic spring time frittata to make when the asparagus are in season.

A great summer dish that can be eaten with any meal.

I make these all summer long. A great way to get kids to eat zucchini too. My son devours them.

Not only a good dessert, it’s a great healthy snack for kids and adults alike.

Tarts are popular all over Italy and sometimes they are made with jam. At our house we prefer to use cream which is more delicate and we love to use fresh fruit.

This colorful salad is perfect in the summer or it could brighten a late summer day. First time I had this salad was while visiting my aunt and uncle in Piemonte. My aunt just went into the garden, pulled out these vegetables and we made the salad in no time at all.

Bruschetta is a classic from the Tuscany region. It’s eaten manly as an appetizer but also as a snack. The original preparation consists of grilled bread rubbed with a clove of garlic and then topped with extra virgin olive oil. There are some variations to this classic like adding ripe tomatoes cut in cubes, capers [...]

I’ve never been a fan of cooked carrots. Actually I still have nightmares about the plain boiled carrots I was obliged to eat in kindergarten. They were so terrible that I stopped eating carrots until I went to college. This recipe is in fact adapted from the dish my roommate used to prepare when we [...]

This famous sauce is the perfect condiment for potato gnocchi. The ragù can be prepared also the day before and reheated when gnocchi will be ready.

If you like gorgonzola cheese and you like gnocchi you’ll love this recipe.

Gnocchi with pesto is one of my favorite way to serve gnocchi. Pesto sauce is a specialty from Liguria where basil has a particular and inimitable taste and aroma. Its leaves are smaller and light green but if planted elsewhere it won’t come out the same due to a complete different environment.  I cultivate pesto [...]

This is such a simple sauce, but it’s so tasty with gnocchi.

This Tirolean recipe from the extreme northern regions of Italy is really good if you like a spicy beef dish. The best way to serve it is with a soft polenta.

They take a little time but they are well worth the work!

Salsa Verde is a green sauce made with Italian parsley to be served with boiled meats. It is easy to make and really makes for a good sauce.

This dish is so simple that I didn’t even want to publish it. I decided to do it only because it’s so good that I would feel guilty not sharing it with you.
The other day I bought green asparagus from a local farmer. The lady told me they were just picked. They were in fact firm and crunchy.
I was thinking about preparing a frittata or a risotto when she asked me if I had ever tried to grill them, the answer was, no I’d never tried.

This is a super simple, but classic way to cook bell peppers, especially in the summer.

This recipe is so easy to prepare and yet presents itself so well. The best part though, is that they are absolutely delicious.

The base to many recipes this classic can be found in most any kitchen. As the saying goes, “An old hen makes good broth.”

Insalata russa is a cold appetizer originally from Russia that became a staple of Italian cuisine. Made with vegetables like potatoes, peas, carrots, green beans, pickles and combined with mayonnaise it’s a wonderful appetizer.

A simple recipe for mash potatoes that is much like the one you probably already make at home.

We make meat loaf on the stove rather than in the oven. If you like meat loaf recipes this one will be a pleasant surprise.

The translation is meatballs, but we don’t put them in our spaghetti sauce.

This is a popular tart that is so easy to make. If you prefer a bit more of a challenge and one with fresh fruit try my fruit tart recipe.

This is a very rustic and simple dish. It was one of my grandfather’s favorites and we ate it often. When my mother asked my grandfather what he wanted for dinner would respond in dialect saying, “La panà ben salà ben consà,” which means the panà well salted and well seasoned.

This is a classic Tuscan soup. It is a fairly long process, but not very difficult and definitely worth the effort.

Savoury tarts are really popular here in Italy and there are endless recipes. The crust is often store bought puff pastry which makes this dish easy to prepare, but if you have a little bit of time I suggest you to try this homemade crust and your cake will gain in flavor and complexity not to mention be healthier than a store-bought crust.

There’s no New Years Eve without lentils. In our family we eat them just after midnight. The belief is that eating lentils will bring you money throughout the rest of the year.

A classic dish from the region of Liguria. Pesto derives from the verb “pestare” which means to pound, in this case to pound in the mortar. The original pesto is in fact made in the mortar by using the pestle. Nowadays people are always so in hurry that it’s difficult to see someone following the [...]

A good pizza for those of us who love garlic.

A nice cream that you can eat in a dessert dish with dry biscuits or on top of a cake.

Meat broth is the indispensable ingredient for cooking egg pasta like tagliatelle, egg filled pasta and risotto and many other preparations. Meat broth can be prepare ahead of time and kept in the refrigerator for 2 maximum 3 days. It’s easy to prepare and it takes no effort at all. Not to mention that it’s [...]

The recipe is so simple and only takes a few minutes, nevertheless it is a refined dish.

This risotto is a Milan’s classic recipe made precious by the right use of saffron. It is usually served together with Ossibuchi (Veal Shanks). If you visit the city you’ll find it on the menu of most restaurants. The risotto should be “al dente” but creamy, not too dry and certainly not soupy. It may [...]

An important winter staple all across the North of Italy.

Bell peppers, zucchini and eggplants, summer vegetables always present on our table. This dish can be served as an antipasto or as a side dish for your barbecue.

This is a tasty and colorful salad that I like to make. You’ll notice that I haven’t given exact measures for the salad because a good mixed salad should be in part your own invention. One ingredient will never change though, extra virgin olive oil, it’s indispensable in all Italian salads.

This is a recipe for apple cake that my mother makes often, thus I gave it this name. It is a healthy dessert because it gets it sweetness from the apples.

This is a classic Italian recipe from the Campania region (Naples) that is just delicious. If you like fried cheeses then you’ll really enjoy this dish. They can also be served as a main course accompanied by a green salad.

My mom used to make me this dish when I was little and even then I would devour  it until there wasn’t any left. I’m an artichoke lover and when autumn arrives I start eating artichokes and continue until spring when we make Torta Pasqualina, which  is the center piece of my family’s Easter menu. To tell you the truth [...]

Pizzelle from the Neapolitan tradition are small fried pizzas served with tomato sauce, Parmesan cheese, mozzarella or provolone cheese. Not to be confused for the pizzelle from Abbruzzo which are a sort of sweet waffle cookie, also called ferratelle.

This recipe is a wonderful mix of bitter and sweet flavors that produce a delicate dish.

This pie is simple to make despite the cooking time. If you like potatoes and onions you’ll really enjoy this pie. It’s the perfect dish for parties and picnics.

It takes a little time, but it’s a very easy to make recipe that is for all onion lovers.

This delicate cream goes well on Panettone Christmas cake.

Panna cotta means cooked cream in Italian. It’s a spoon dessert from Piedmont of great effect and taste but very easy to prepare. It can be served simply with caramel sauce on top or with different berry or chocolate sauces. The strawberry sauce that I used in this recipe consists purely of berries lightly sweetened [...]

Panzanella is a hearty bread salad from Tuscany that utilizes dry Tuscan bread, tomatoes, fresh basil and extra virgin olive oil. Tuscan bread is also called “pane sciocco”, an unsalted bread that is often added in Tuscan recipes to complement the dish. Panzanella is a dish that stand on its own, a refreshing dish to serve on a hot summer day.

Pasqualina literally means “little Easter.” It has been a part of Easter in my family as long as I can remember.

Passatelli is a fresh pasta from Emilia Romagna made with eggs, parmigiano, bread crumbs, nutmeg and lemon zest served in broth. The typical first course for a Sunday lunch where dishes are more festive and richer than those during the week.

This is a classic dish from the Veneto region, where I live. The beans used in this recipe are called borlotti, cranberry Italian beans named for their cranberry color.

Chickpeas are one of the most common legumes in the Mediterranean area. In Italy are mainly cultivated in the central and southern regions. They are really antique already known by the Egyptians, but only consumed by the poor and slaves. The Romans instead liked them very much and especially loved them fried in olive oil. [...]

This really simple pasta recipe is excellent on a hot summer day. Even better if you have fresh cherry tomatoes in the garden. I love to use mozzarella balls mozzarelline but a whole mozzarella cut in pieces is perfect. I know it’s not so easy to find Italian mozzarella in the regular stores by Italian [...]

This is a rich and refreshing pasta salad. This is an usual summer salad which uses chickpeas, a common ingredients for soups. Here the legumes have the role to round off the flavor of the other ingredients like bacon, bell peppers, pickles and black olives.

This is a summer favorite in our house that I would like to dedicate to my friend in Zimbabwe. She was having a difficult time and I wanted to cheer her up with this colorful and tasty pasta dish.

This really simple pasta recipe is excellent on a hot summer day. You can prepare it in no time and if you have an extra portion left is a perfect lunch to bring at work. If have a hard time digesting bell peppers, grill them first, remove the skin then add them to the pasta salad.

This is not the classic spaghetti con aglio e peperoncino but a recipe that my dad invented. It’s a creamy garlic sauce enriched by Parmesan cheese and extra virgin olive oil, the difference in this recipe is that the garlic isn’t cooked. I’m sure other people make it similar, but I know of no one else who makes it as we do. Enjoy it on a day off from work!

This is the recipe I use most often for pasta. It’s really easy fast and flavorful. It’s the perfect recipe when you don’t have time to cook.

This tomato sauce utilizes canned tomatoes so it can be made all year long. It’s quick to prepare and very tasty. I added a personal touch from the my northern Italian cuisine heritage, a small dot of butter only to give the sauce a more delicate taste but you can skip this part.

This dish is for mushroom lovers only. A simple tomato sauce enriched with dry porcini mushrooms that gives a decisive taste to the preparation. Better served during the cold months of the year to warm up your day.

Pasta with pesto alla trapanese is a typical dish of the province of Trapani, Sicily. It’s an antique dish and it seems having its origins from the Ligurian pesto. In the Trapani harbour in fact used to stop the Ligurian boats coming from the Orient, the Genoese sailors brought with the tradition of their pesto. [...]

This is one of my favorite pasta dishes. Italian tuna fish preserved in extra virgin olive oil and a lot thinly sliced onions. Most Italians add tomatoes to the tuna sauce, but I prefer it without because the tomato covers the taste of the fish.

Pasta with zucchini flowers and baby zucchini is definitely a colorful and tasty late spring-summer dish. It only takes few minutes to prepare and it’s ready to be savored. I use baby zucchini because they have a sweeter and more delicate taste and zucchini flowers for complementing the flavor and to give more consistency to [...]

My husband eats this after every meal when the peaches are in season.

Pearà is a bread sauce made only for boiled meats. It takes a little time but it is well worth the effort. This is a classic dish in my region of Italy. It can be found on the menu of most restaurants or trattorias during the winter months.

Piselli al prosciutto, a simple recipe that I make often.

This is one of the most famous Italian pasta dishes of all. A classic from Roman cuisine: Pecorino romano cheese and freshly ground black pepper. It seems almost too simple to be so good until you taste it. Sheep cheese has a distinct and strong flavor that perfectly blends in with black pepper. Every time [...]

Pennette all’arrabbiata is a famous pasta dish from Rome. Arrabbiata means angry in Italian. It’s name is probably due to the red hot pepper used in the tomato sauce.

Everybody seems to have a different recipe for this dish. This is the one that I use: heavy cream, vodka, ketchup and spices. Ketchup originated from China or Malaysia. Imported first in Europe by the English and Dutch, the original sauce was a fish sauce, later on soy was eliminated and vinegar, salted anchovies, walnuts [...]

These days it’s so hot and humid that just the thought of eating something warm makes me dread lunch time. Every meal I prepare is cold so at least it gives me the impression I’m cooling off a little. In all honesty I’m not usually a fan of cold pasta dishes, but I really enjoyed this simple one I made recently.

By definition Tiramisu should only refer to the traditional recipe, however reality is people are making a lot of varieties with fruit and other ingredients. So here is my variation with pineapple.

This is what comes to mind when one talks about dipping oil. Pinzimonio is an oil preparation we use for dipping raw vegetables. It takes just a few minutes to make and it’s very good. I serve it with a varieties of fresh vegetables cut in strips such as carrots, celery, red or yellow bell [...]

Pizza Margherita is the most common pizza in Italy. It took its name from Queen Margherita. In the summer of 1889 King Umberto I and the Queen Margherita went, as always, to spend 3 months in their summer Residence at Capodimonte. They heard about this dish called pizza and they asked to try it. The most famous “pizzaiolo” of Naples was called at the Court to prepare it for the sovrans. He created a new pizza especially for them with tomatoes, basil and mozzarella in honor of our flag. It was a great success. The next day he named this pizza Margherita.

The favorite pizza in my family.

Pizza with hot dogs is my son’s favorite. It’s actually a pizza loved by most kids around here. It’s really easy to make, it only has a few ingredients tomato, mozzarella and hot dogs. It’s the most common pizza at birthday parties. As a matter of fact I just had my son’s birthday party the other day and among all the other treats I prepared the dough to make pizza Margherita and pizza with hot dogs.

This is a very simple pizza topping with a rich taste.

A hearty and filling pizza.

This pizza has an interesting combination of flavors.

This simple and tasty pizza is a must if you like tuna fish.

I know that summer is getting closer when I start finding zucchini flowers at the farmers market. If it were up to me I would fry them all. Unfortunately, as we well know, eating fried foods isn’t the best health choice, thus I only fry the flowers when I have guests. Luckily zucchini flowers are good in many other recipes. I use them with pasta and in risotto too, however one of my favorites is on pizza.

This is an easy to make appetizer that is always a hit. It uses puff pastry for the dough so as to give this appetizer a more delicate consistency compared to the normal pizza dough. I prepare pizzette very often for my guests and they always think that I bought them. The secret is to [...]

It’s an earthy dish made with Pizzocheri pasta which is made from a mixture of buckwheat and regular flour. They are similar in shape to the tagliatelle though shorter. The recipe calls for few simple ingredients that are cultivated and produced in the valley starting with the buckwheat flour for the pizzoccheri, savoy cabbage, butter and Valtellina Casera cheese from the Alps.

Polenta is an important component to Northern Italian cooking.

Carnival season just isn’t the same without these frittelle. I prepare them all the times. It takes a while to fry them all but it’s worth the effort.

This is what I love about Italian cuisine, with only few simple ingredients you come out with a great dish rich in flavor, aroma and taste. It only takes about 10 minutes to prepare these pork chops. You only need fennel seeds and a good red wine. Fennel is a plant widely used in Italy, [...]

This is potato and green bean salad enriched with Swiss cheese and black olives. It’s perfect when you need something to be prepared in advance, which makes it a great choice for picnics.

This is a real classic. They take a little time but they are easy to make and more than worth the effort. In Verona every year we have a Gnocchi festival called, “Venerdì Gnocolar.”

This is one of many ways to make a potato salad in Italy. I first ate this one in Calabria in the south of Italy.

They take a little time but they are well worth the work!

I love summer it’s my favorite season of the year for all its sweet and colorful fruit. I have my own garden that flourishes with every possible kind of vegetable, but there’s not enough space to have my own fruit trees and plants. I don’t particularly regret it though, because I’m blessed with wonderful neighbors [...]

If you like rabbit this is a tasty and easy to make recipe. As for the name “alla campagnola” means rustic or country style, since it doesn’t sound well translated I’ve just left it in Italian.

Radicchio is a leaf chicory, a winter vegetable with white-veined red leaves. It has a bitter flavor depending on the variety. The most famous types are Trevisano (from Treviso), Veronese (from Verona) and Chioggia.
Radicchio trevisano is the most bitter variety, the best to use for risotto with radicchio. For this recipe I prefer the milder type which is common in the US.

I brought these tomatoes to my auntie during my last visit in Piedmont and she prepared this monochromatic salad. I always like to arrange and balance colors in my dishes so I was little but disappointed when I saw this one, but not when I tasted it.

This is a classic from my region of Italy. The name Risi e bisi is dialect, the Italian name would be Riso e Piselli.

Insalata di riso or risotto alla greca (Greek style rice) is a very common dish in Italy during the summer. It’s fast and easy to make, this is the way I prepare it but you’re free to add or substitute some ingredients with others at your own imagination. Some people like to add boiled eggs, [...]

Whenever the family is together and we make this risotto my father tells us about when he was a boy and he said he didn’t like rice with celery. His father made it for him all the time after that until he acquired a taste for it. Well I’m sure most of you would like this risotto right from the start.

Two very basic ingredients that make a tasty warm rice for a cold rainy day.

A delicate way to prepare rice with flavors from the sea.

There are many ricotta cake recipes, but when I’ve tried this one I fell in love with it so I’ve decided to publish it here. It’s a wonderful recipe that my friend Sara gave me.

Gnocchi are one of my favorite dishes ever. I like them in any combination, I love potato gnocchi as you might already know, but I also love gnocchi made with ingredients other than potatoes. I often make squash, ricotta and spinach or ricotta gnocchi. Ricotta gnocchi are among my favorites as they’re even faster to [...]

This is a typical dish from the Verona area, more specifically from Isola della Scala where it also takes its name. Isola della Scala is small a town on the outskirts of Verona well known for its cultivation of  Vialone nano rice. Vialone nano has a round shape and is rich in starch.  For this [...]

My love for risotto brings me to a constant search for new recipes I’m not familiar with like this particular risotto. Years ago I was reading Predator a novel by Patricia Cornwell where the famous Kate Scarpetta was preparing risotto alla sbirraglia (chicken risotto) a Venetian specialty.

Risotto with asparagus is synonymous of spring when the asparagus are in season. In Italy we have many different types of asparagus in sizes and color, mainly green and white. White asparagus are more bitter then the green varieties, the peculiarity of this kind is that they sprout underground so this explain their color. If you’re using white asparagus to prepare this risotto the result will be a more delicate flavor.

It seems unusual to combine würstel (hot dogs) and beer in a risotto but the result is decisively outstanding with a clear reference to the Tirolean cuisine.

A colorful risotto to lighten up your meal: sweet and meaty bell peppers cooked until caramelized refined by a touch of heavy cream.

The chef in a restaurant told me how her risotto with leeks and wrapped in prosciutto always has a great success when served, so I made it myself.

This is the most popular risotto recipe in my house. Dry porcini mushrooms play an important role in the kitchen with their strong and hearty aroma adding a remarkable taste to this risotto inimitable by other kind of mushrooms

This is a wonderful recipe if you can have radicchio. I make this every fall when the radicchio are in season.

A good wintery dish. It’ll warm cold bones and it’s so wonderful to eat.

It’s getting more and more common in Italy to prepare Risotto dishes using fruit as the main ingredient. Risotto with strawberries is particularly refreshing and light, in fact it has no butter or cheese.

A good wintery dish. It’ll warm cold bones and it’s so wonderful to eat.

A delicate but delicious risotto and a real eye opener for family and friends.

This is a really tasty way to prepare pork loin.

Saltimbocca alla romana is a classic dish from Rome and its surroundings. Saltimbocca literally means hop in the mouth. These veal slices topped with prosciutto and scented with sage are so appetizing that it’s difficult to stop eating them.

I adore zucchini flowers. They’re are a symbol of summer with their brilliant and warm colors, just gazing at them makes my day happy. They have a delicate but distinctive taste, and are suitable to many preparations. I often make simple fried zucchini flowers especially when I have guests or risotto with zucchini flowers a [...]

This is my grandma’s recipes. When my sister and I were little we used to help her cutting the semolina mixture into disks. We were eating half of it raw while we were cutting it.

Add the flavor of rosemary to your pork chops.

Sabbiosa means sandy and you’ll understand when you taste it. It’s a classic cake from Veneto, so classic and old that it’s not well known by the younger generations anymore. I’ve always heard of it but I have no memories of me eating it. The first time I tasted it was only few years ago [...]

This is a variation of a salad with oranges. There are many ways to make this Sicilian salad, this one in particular I find very good.

Smoked salmon is often eaten during Christmas season and this is one of the classic appetizers served during the holidays. In our family we usually prepare it on the main festivities, Christmas’s eve, Christmas Day or New Years’ eve.

Santa Lucia is celebrated on the 13th of December every year. However, the fun for children starts days before as the stands selling seasonal sweets come to Piazza Bra in the center of Verona. The typical cookie during this period is, Pastafrolle di Santa Lucia.

This is a classic pizza from Liguria, particularly from the Imperia area and San Remo. It’s a really flavorful pizza due to the anchovies and garlic.

This is a tasty soup that will warm up a cool winter evening. It has a has a lot of cabbage and not as much liquid as you might expect in a soup. My mom told me that when she was little and you had the flu they used to prepare rice and savory cabbage soup to make you feel better. I don’t know if it worked but it certainly makes you feel warm and cozy after you finish it.

If you can find this cabbage you’ll have to try this recipe. It’s so easy to prepare and so tasty too. This is a winter cabbage in Italy and we so make this often every winter.

The recipe is made with scorpion fish, a very delicate Mediterranean fish if you cannot find it you can substitute with other delicate salt water fish.

Semifreddo means “semi-cold” in Italian and it refers to semi frozen desserts. They actually taste a little bit like ice cream but they don’t need any machine to be prepared. Most of them have whipped cream and egg whites.

Shrimps and arugula are the main ingredients of this tasty dish but you’ll be surprised by the combination of the flavors. Last but not least also the presentation could be choreographic served on a lettuce leave maybe placed on a christal glass.

I don’t know how “Italian” this recipe is, but it is something Italians make often so I wanted to include it in the site. It takes just a couple of minutes and it’s so good whenever you have some jumbo shrimp on hand this is a great recipe. I don’t know if they are available in your area but I usually use “Black Tiger” shrimp.

This famous pasta recipe can be found at the table of most any Italian home. I had to learn this dish by myself because my mother wasn’t interested in it as she preferred risotto more than pasta. Since then it has become a regular at our house.

This is a really famous dish from Naples and a great recipe if you like anchovies.

This is a classic in the Veneto region. We make it a bit differently here in Verona we don’t in fact add onions. I prefer the Venetian version because is more delicate. The dish has a very interesting name. Bigoli means Spaghetti in the Veneto dialect. Salsa simply means sauce, but in this case everyone [...]

This pasta dish has the basic ingredients of the Mediterranean diet: ripe cherry tomatoes, extra virgin olive oil and pasta, few basil leaves to give the sauce a fresher taste.

Spaghetti con le vongole is a classic of the Italian cuisine. It’s not difficult to prepare at all just follow the instructions and in no time you’ll be able to enjoy it. Make it only if you have fresh clams.

This is definitely not a dieters dish but it sure is good. If you like walnuts you’ll love this recipe.

Here’s a simple way to give spinach a new twist.

This is a great winter minestra and it’s so healthy too!

Here’s a good way to get your kids to eat their spinach.

This is a very common dish in Italy and has many variations. This one I chose to publish for you is a simple one.

Strangozzi, stringozzi, strangolapreti, strozzapreti all these names and many more to define this rustic home made pasta typical from Umbria. Strangozzi seems to refer to stringhe which means shoe laces, while strozzapreti means to strangle priests.

Squash is the vegetable that I cook the most during the fall and winter season. Thanks to its sweet, rich and nutty flavor squashes are amongst the most versatile of vegetables and ideal in many preparations.

Not a typical beef stew as this this recipe is an all meat dish cooked in red wine.

This is a classic Italian recipe that takes just 15 minutes to get on the table. It was one of my favorites as a child.

When strawberries hit the market this is a great and refreshing dessert for adults.

By definition Tiramisu should only refer to the traditional recipe, however reality is people are making a lot of varieties with fruit and other ingredients. The fruit version is lighter and very refreshing especially during the summer. You should also try my Pineapple Tiramisu recipe.

The exact translation for Bauletti would be, “little trunks.” This dish presents itself well on the table and is good too.

For hot summers this is a real refreshing alternative. I don’t remember a summer of my entire life without these stuffed tomatoes. They taste better if prepared ahead of time so the flavors blend well. I usually prepare extra tuna-fish sauce in case I have unexpected guests.

A light second dish that is good whenever you can get fresh zucchini. This is one of those kind of dishes my mom made every so often.

This is the basic recipe for home made pasta that can be then cut in different shapes and width. Verona my hometown has the tradition to add to the tagliatelle chicken liver previously cooked in butter and flavored with few leaves of sage.

Tartine is the perfect appetizer for every occasion, loved by adults and adored by children. There are many versions of tartine from the most simple to the most fancy and refined ones. These particular ones are often prepared in our family and I can assure you once they appear on the table they’ll gone in minutes.

I’m not that crazy about eggplants. The only way I like to eat them is in parmigiana di melanzane, fried or in caponata. That was until I tasted my auntie’s recipe during my last visit in Piedmont. I never would have imagined I’d like eggplants like this. She added a simple ingredient that is unrecognizable when you [...]

In Italian Tiramisu means, “pick me up.” If you are feeling down maybe this famous Italian dessert will do the trick: layers of luscious mascarpone cream and savoiardi dipped in scented Marsala wine coffee can cheer up anyone.

A summer salad that will brighten up your day with its vivid colors. Mozzarella pearls, fresh ripe tomatoes, black olives and capers make up one of the most common salads in Italy. This particular recipe is extremely tasty thanks to a drizzle of balsamic vinegar.

This is a nice twist on the classic Garlic Bruschetta. It’s a refreshing appetizer especially during the summer season. You can prepare bruschette as a side dish for your barbecues, it’ll be a hit for sure and you can snack on them while you’re grilling.

Quick and easy salad that is wonderful in the summer when the ingredients are fresh. I learned to prepare this salad in Tropea, a little village in Calabria located in the south of Italy. This area is really famous for its red onions which are known world wide.

In the North of Italy this is a classic during the summer.

Ripe tomatoes filled with creamy goat cheese, diced tomatoes and flavored with fresh herbs like chives, basil, arugula or spiced up with Calabrian red hot chili pepper. The combinations are endless but it’s important to find the right  cheese. In Italian this particular goat cheese is called, “caprino” and you can find it in most [...]

If you like Amaretto cookies you love this dessert. In Italy you can find this cake in most every bakery or pastry shop.

Quick, clean, tasty and easy way to prepare trout.

This is a super quick, easy and flavorful salad. It can be prepared ahead of time, refrigerated for a couple of hours and then served.

Delicate tuna-fish balls enriched with ricotta and Parmesan cheese. They can be served as an appetizer but also as a main course accompanied by green salad. Take care when frying them as they will tend to fall apart.

This is an old recipe for meatballs when people couldn’t afford to buy meat that often and turned frugality into an art. Meat in fact was mainly eaten on Sunday and Monday was usually the day for meatballs using the leftovers from the previous day.

This is a really tasty way to prepare veal.

Thin slices of veal filled with prosciutto, Parmesan cheese and cultivated mushroom slivers. They can be prepared hours ahead and refrigerated until ready to be cooked.

A classic recipe with Marsala wine. I learned to make it when I was six years old.

The famous dish from Lombardia is usually served with Milan style Risotto. if you don’t want to serve them with risotto polenta is a nice alternative.

This is the base broth for many risotto recipes in my site.

This recipe is simply delicious and really easy to make. The best way to serve them is with polenta.

A great Venetian recipe that my mother makes often. Its taste is so delicate that even kids like it. The best way to serve Fegato alla Veneziana is with polenta.

This is a salad that I often serve as an appetizer but it could be easily a light alternative for your main course. The Parmesan basket certainly gives a special touch to your appetizer presentation and it’s also good to nibble while tasting the salad.

Yogurt cake is one the most common Italian cakes, and I should add the one of the easiest to prepare. With this cake you can measure everything with the yogurt tub as a measuring cup and the cake is done in a blink of an eye. What I personally  like of this cake is its [...]

This dessert is very well known in Italy. This hot cream is very good alone with some dry biscuits or it can also be served cold with fresh fruit. In my family we like to serve it over a slice of Traditional Christmas cake called, “Pandoro.”

A plentiful summer vegetable which can be on the table in minutes.

Zucchini in carpione are zucchini marinated in vinegar and wine,  it’s a tasty appetizer from the Piedmont region. My auntie taught me how to make this dish during my last visit there. There are different versions of this recipe with slight differences. It’s usually prepared early in the morning and ready to be served in [...]

Zucchini is a delicious and versatile vegetable to have in the garden, but if you ever plant them you will quickly discover that the plants produce an enormous amount of fruit. My relationship with them always starts out pleasantly with zucchini flowers and the first small delicate zucchini. It’s a wonderful time of year with [...]

Zuppa inglese is a nice dessert that was very popular with English tourists. They love sweets with liquor. Thus its name, Zuppa Inglese (English Soup).