Cooking with Patty, my personal collection of Italian recipes

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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.

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 [...]

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 [...]

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.