For some, cooking at home is an occasional thing, often reserved for making one particular meal. Yet, for around 36 percent of Americans, cooking at home is a daily event.
Of course, the reality of cooking dinner every day is that most people fall into a routine. They have 10 or 15 staple meals that they make at least once a month and often several times a month. It’s efficient and practical but can make mealtime dull.
If that sounds like your situation, then keep reading for some fun, easy, and delicious Italian recipes that you can add to your cooking rotation.
Pizzette
Probably better known as mini-pizza, this dish is more of a snack or a side dish than a full-blown meal. Still, it’s one of the easiest and tastiest Italian dishes.
All you really need for this recipe is some pre-made pizza dough from the store and some toppings. You can cut out rounds from the dough with a cookie cutter, pop them onto a baking sheet, and top.
Popular toppings include:
- Fontina cheese
- Cherry tomatoes
- Parmesan cheese
- Olive oil
- Prosciutto
- Basil
Not sure where you can grab some prosciutto? Then you can click for prosciutto.
Risotto
Risotto is a staple of Italian cooking, but this rice dish doesn’t show up as often in American kitchens. That’s a shame because it’s an incredibly versatile dish. Once you learn to cook risotto to the proper creamy consistency, you can get inventive and start experimenting.
You can add in proteins like chicken, shrimp, or sausage to give it some heft as a meal in itself. You can also add fresh ingredients, such as peas, asparagus, red bell pepper, and zucchini, for a vegetarian dish.
For the cheese lovers out there, you can even throw in some cheddar and broccoli for an easy side dish.
Cheesy Pasta Florentine
While pasta is common in most homes, cheesy pasta florentine puts a new spin on the pasta dish for most home cooks. It’s a little harder than basic spaghetti, but still a quick meal.
You can make it with almost any kind of pasta, although linguine or penne work well. You’ll need some milk, mozzarella, parmesan, and flour to make the sauce. You’ll also need some fresh spinach and roasted bell peppers.
Once the pasta is done, you mix it with the spinach, peppers, and sauce. If you want something a little heartier, you can add sliced chicken breast or shrimp for a little protein kick.
Bottarga
A Bottarga, in the opinion of Italian Chefs, is a piece of Mediterranean caviar it is usually produced using a fish roe. Consisting of a lengthy coastline, the Italian specialties usually include seafood in maximum foods. Tuna roe sacs, as well as Swordfish, are the ones mostly consumed in the region.
However, the quality of the fish depends completely on the area it is found in. Unlike other fish roe dishes, this ultimate snack is salted to give pleasure to your tastebuds. A lot of egg layers are pressed, cured, and eventually air-dried before serving you.
The dish is served in various ways and is usually either grated or thinly sliced over other dishes such as Parmesan or truffles. On sprinkling it over meat, risotto, and vegetables, the salty flavor is extremely versatile to improve your meal.
Canederli
Italy is a country full of delectable dishes, and the northernmost cuisine is proof. Nobody talks about the coastal vistas anymore, it is the Dolomite ranges surrounding the entire town. As a result, the dining options are slightly different from what you will find in Italy.
Canederli are usually made from flour, eggs, stale bread, speck, and milk and are usually shaped like a dumpling. They are usually easy to prepare and require limited ingredients. It is always fun to try this out whenever you have the ingredients at home.
Serve them alongside gravy or stew, accompanied by grated cheese and melted butter on the top. It originated as a thrifty farmer’s meal. However, it offers a lot of nourishment.
Bolognese
Both meatballs and spaghetti are purely American-Italian foods, but how can we forget to mention the ragu alla Bolognese? It is the ultimate source of inspiration, and the name is derived from Bologna, the city of its origin.
One of the pope’s chefs prepared this dish which eventually became everybody’s favorite. It consists of a ragu of minced meat, although you can replace it with a meat of your choice. Besides you can also add carrot, pancetta, celery, wine, onion, salt, tomatoes, and milk until you cook it at a low temperature.
It is a classic meal that has been prepared for centuries. The recipe was initially registered around 1982 and has remained everyone’s favorite since.
Are Italian Dishes Easy To Prepare?
When it comes to dining, Italians take immense pride in the culinary heritage they bear. Italian dishes are all about adding the right ingredient, at the right time, in the right quantity. The flavors are extremely intense, and you have to add fresh ingredients if you want the food to taste just like you want.
Italian cuisine is infamous for acquiring fresh ingredients from the closest source possible. This includes every small destination, right from the farmer’s garden to the local fishmonger. It might sometimes be difficult to replicate the same Italian dish you saw in a youtube tutorial or in a Masterchef episode.
And it’s not only because of the cooking but also because of the presentation. Italian food preparation is an art, from balancing the spices and herbs to the right cooking technique. In comparison to food from other cultures, Italian dishes surely demand significant attention and time.
Italian Recipes And You
Some Italian recipes can prove challenging, but there are plenty of easy and delicious ones that you can make at home. For very fast and simple, you can make pizzettes. Try out different toppings to find a mix that works for your family. Italian food is a delight to your taste buds, make sure you get it right with this article. Thank you for reading it!
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