When we talk about Italian food, who doesn't know about pizza, pasta, etc... Beside almost everybody like the taste, it's also easy to make and fast. There are so many recipes of them, but I am sure that these recipes below are worth to try.
Serve 4-6 persons
Cooking time: 45 minutes
Salsa di pomodori is not used just in pasta dishes, but also needed, for example, when preparing pizza, various different meat dishes, and fish stews. The outside sine qua non here are tasty tomatoes that have ripened on the vine. Only they have the right note of fruity sweetness. Elongated plum tomatoes are the most suitable. In late summer, most Italian households stock up on the basic ingredients for making tomato sauce at home. Whole family even get together to cook pounds of tomatoes to a purée, called passato. Outside the summer months, it is a good idea to use pelati – Italian tomatoes. The best come from the regions of Naples or Parma. Of course, it is also possible to use other canned tomatoes.
INGREDIENTS:
1 kg ripe
tomatoes
1 carrot
1 stick celery
2 cloves garlic
2 tbsp olive oil
1 spring
fresh rosemary
1 bunch basil
1 pinch sugar
Salt
Freshly ground pepper
HOW TO MAKE:
1. First, skin the tomatoes. To do this, make a cross-shaped cut into the skin, then blanch in boiling water. Plunge the tomatoes into cold water and remove the skin with a knife. It is also possible to use canned, skinned tomatoes.
Coarsely chop the tomatoes. Finely chop the carrot, celery, and garlic.
2. Sauté the vegetables in the heated oil. They should take on just a hint of color and not be allowed to brown too much. Add the tomatoes and spices. Cook over medium heat for about 30 minutes. The sauce should eventually have the consistency of mush and be quite viscous.
3. Press the sauce through a sieve, or purée it in a blender, and mix in the chopped basil.
Serve 4-6 persons
Cooking time: 45 minutes
The basic recipe originated in Bologna, as its name indicates. Here, the sauce is cooked with a mixture of chicken liver and ground meat. But pasta bologna can of course be cooked without liver and made, for example, with ground beef. Other cooks leave out the celery and thicken the sauce with cream.
When all is said and done, the main rule with this dish is: prepare it whichever way you prefer! Or rather; if it tastes good, that is the way to cook it!
INGREDIENTS:
1 onion
1 carrot
1 stick celery
50 g pancetta or streaky bacon
2 tbsp olive oil
400 g mixed ground meat (beef/pork)
125 ml dry white wine
125 ml meat stock
500 g skinned tomatoes
Salt
Freshly ground pepper
HOW TO MAKE:
1. First peel the onion, carrot and celery, then wash and dice. Cut the pancetta into small cubes.
2. Sauté the vegetables lightly in the heated oil. Add the pancetta and fry until glazed.
3. Add the ground meat. Stirring and turning constantly, fry until it disintegrated into little pieces.
4. Add wine, stock and tomatoes, season to taste, cover, and allow to simmer for about 30 minutes.
COOKING TIPS:
The savor of a ragú bolognese can be enhanced by fresh herbs, for example a spring of rosemary, added to the mixture as it simmers.
Serve 4 persons
Cooking time: 15 minutes
Pesto is now enjoyed throughout Italy. This traditional pasta sauce from Liguria is also often used to spice up minestrone and other tasty soups.
INGREDIENTS:
4 big bunches fresh basil
3 cloves garlic
4 oz (100g) pine nuts
2 oz (50g) freshly grated parmesan or pecorino cheese
7 tbsp (100ml) olive oil
Salt
HOW TO MAKE:
1. First wash the basil and shake it dry. Peel the garlic and finely chop.
2. Put he basil, together with chopped garlic and pine nuts into a mortar and grind with a pestle. The order in which you add the ingredients is of no importance. To save time and effort, you can also use a blender to grind the ingredients. This is particularly easy to do when you have a so-called “universal blender” and a suitable fitting.
3. When the ingredients have been sufficiently ground, first add the cheese and then gradually, the oil. The pesto should eventually take on a slightly vicious consistency. The quantity of oil added is of decisive importance, so it is best not to add it all in one go, but spoon it in gradually, keeping a close eye on how the consistency is developing. Finally, add salt to taste.
STORING TIPS:
Pesto can easily be made in great quantity and then stored in the refrigerator for several days. The most suitable is a jam jar that can be tightly sealed. To prevent the pesto from drying out, drizzle it with oil once it has been put in the jar.
Serve 4-6 persons
Cooking time: 15 minutes
Rich and at first glance not typically Italian, this simple cream sauce is a nice and rather different alternative to the well-known salsas and sugi. So salsa di alfredo enjoys great popularity throughout Italy and, in different guises, is often used as the basis for vegetable sauces; e.g with mushroom. One of its great advantages is that it is very quick and easy to prepare – the sauce is ready to be served straightaway with pasta.
INGREDIENTS:
500
pasta
100 g butter
150 g freshly grated parmesan
350 ml light cream
1 bunch flat-leaves parsley
Salt
Freshly ground pepper
Fresh thyme to garnish
HOW TO MAKE:
1. Cook the pasta al dente in a big saucepan of bubbling, salted water.
2. At the same time, melt the butter in a skillet and add the parmesan and cream, stirring constantly over low heat. Allow the sauce to thicken slightly.
3. Add the parsley, season the sauce with salt and pepper to taste, and stir well.
4. Drain the pasta and keep it warm in a saucepan. Add the sauce and mix together well.
COOKING TIPS:
Salsa di alfedo is light and relatively colorless. When you want to create a feast for the eyes too, it is a good idea to used colored pasta to brighten up the meal a little. Red pasta works well. Fresh herbs such as thyme, rosemary, oil basil are very suitable for the garnish.
Serve 4 persons
Cooking time: 60 minutes
When exactly a classic marinara, however, is difficult to say. For centuries, Italians cooks have worked with whatever could be freshly fished – for example, octopus, squid, mussels, crabs, scampi, clams, and whiting. There are no exact recipes for a marinara. So from one region, village, or kitchen to another, quite different sauces are prepared, all with completely different tastes.
Which seafood you choose for your sauce is thus down to individual taste – or whatever is available on the fresh fish counter at the time. Tinned seafood can also be used, if preferred.
INGREDIENTS:500 g
pasta 2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion
2 cloves garlic
120 ml red wine
2 tbsp tomato paste
500 tomatoes
1 small bunch fresh basil
1 small bunch fresh oregano
12 mussels
30 g butter
120 g squid
120 g filleted whiting or cod
200 g shrimp (shelled)
Salt
Freshly ground pepper
HOW TO MAKE:
1. Wash the mussels and remove their beards. Finely chop the onion and herbs. Blanch and skin the tomatoes, remove the cores and seeds, and cut the flesh into the small cubes. Cut the fish fillets into small pieces.
2. Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan, add the onion and garlic, and brown over low heat.
3. Pour in red wine with tomatoes and tomato paste, simmer for about 10 minutes over medium heat, until the sauce has thickened slightly. Stir several times.
4. Stir the herbs into the sauce and season to taste with salt and pepper. Keep warm.
5. Meanwhile, heat a sufficient quantity of water and boil the mussels for about 5 minutes, until they open. Take the mussels out, discard any that are still closed, and set the others aside. Add some of the cooking water from the mussels to the tomato sauce and bring to the desired consistency.
6. Melt the butter in a skillet and sauté the squid, fish fillets, and shrimp in succession for 1 to 2 minutes, until soft. Add to the warm tomato sauce and stir.
7. While cooking the mussels, cook pasta al dente in a big saucepan full of bubbling salted water. Drain well.
8. Mix the sauce into pasta, add mussels and serve.
COOKING TIPS:
Mussels that are already open should not be cooked or eaten – they may betoxic. Discard them immediately.
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