Italian Food Recipes

This is the typical main course of Cremona in the north part of Italy. This is also the traditional recipes that in Italy is prepared in the occasion of the 31th December. You can prepare this recipe with cotechino or with zampone (pig’s trotter stuffed with minced pork meat and spices). It’s very good!

INGREDIENTS (for 4 people)
1 Cotechino (large boiled pork sausage)
600 g of Lentils
2 Carrots
2 Celeries
1 Onion
2 Stock-cubes
50 g of Tomato puree
3 Tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil

PREPARATION TIME: 10 minutes

COOKING TIME: 40 minutes

WINE: Barbera D’Asti (Red Wine)

PREPARATION
The day before place the lentils in a bowl with water.

Preheat the extra virgin olive oil in a pan. Peel and clean the carrots, the celeries, the onion, chop them, place them in the pan and let them brown for about 5 minutes.

Add 50 g of tomato puree and 2 stocks-cubes.

Then add the lentils, some salt, cover with water and cook for about 30- 40 minutes.

Place in a pan the cotechino with its wrapping, cover it with water and cook for 40 minutes.

When cotechino is ready cut the wrapping and cut it in slices.
Place in a platter 2 slices of cotechino with lentils and serve hot.
This is the result:

BUON APPETITO!

This is a another delicious Italian recipe of biscuits made of hazelnuts and cacao. As the other recipes of biscuits present in this website, this recipe is very simple and easy to realize in order to obtain biscuits ideal for a good Italian breakfast, in particular they are perfect dipped in a cup of milk or in a cup of hot chocolate!








INGREDIENTS (for 6 people)
250 g of Flour
120 g of Sugar
80 g of Butter
40 g of Cacao
150 g of Hazelnuts
1 Egg
30 ml of Milk
8 g of Baking powder

PREPARATION TIME: 15 minutes

COOKING TIME: 10 – 15 minutes

PREPARATION
Preheat the oven to 150°C. In a bowl place the sugar and the butter,

mix them until you obtain a kind of cream. Blend the hazelnuts, now add to the butter and sugar the egg, the blended hazelnuts, the cacao and the milk and mix all together.

At the end add the flour and the backing powder

and mix in order to obtain a dough as shown in the picture below.

With the help of a rolling pin roll out on a floured worktop the dough 1 cm thick and cut biscuits with cutter of different shape.


Place the biscuits on a baking pan and bake for 10 – 12 minutes.

This the result:

BUON APPETITO!

This is an Italian recipe made of eggs, bacon and Parmesan. Spaghetti is usually the pasta used to prepare this recipe but if you want you can use also types of pasta called vermicelli or spaghetti guitar. This is a rustic dish typical of Rome, simple to prepare and very good to eat.

INGREDIENTS (for 4 people)
350 g of Spaghetti
4 Eggs
200 g of Bacon
3 Tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
100 g of Parmesan
Salt
Pepper

PREPARATION TIME: 10 minutes

COOKING TIME: 15 minutes

WINE: Frascati Doc (White Wine)

PREPARATION
Let salted water boil for spaghetti. Cut the bacon into cubes.

Preheat in a pan the extra virgin olive oil, add in it the cubes of bacon and let them brown.

Place in a dish the eggs, the Parmesan, some pepper and beat them.


When water boils, add the spaghetti and cook them for about 6 – 8 minutes, after this time drain and place them in a bowl. Add the bacon, the beaten eggs and mix all together.
Serve hot.
This is the result:

BUON APPETITO!

Tomorrow is Christmas and in the Italian family many different kind of recipes are prepared. As for the Christmas Eve, for the Christmas Day it is my grandmother who prepares the lunch. She cooks delicious Italian dishes that they are typical of Salerno. In particular my Christmas lunch is traditionally made up with meat based recipes that you can find in this website! The menu that we are going to prepare is the following: click on every dish name to read the recipe that you can follow to prepare some traditional Italian dishes for this Christmas Day!

ELENA'S CHRISTMAS DAY MENU
Appetizer
Appetizer of Salumi

First Course
Christmas Ravioli

Main Course
Stuffed Capon

Dessert
Christmas Biscuits

BUON APPETITO!

Christmas is near and it’s time to start thinking about which dishes to prepare. In Italy a great number of families celebrate with two huge meals: the Eve dinner and the Christmas lunch. Usually I eat at my grandmother house: she prepares a lot of delicious dishes typical of Salerno, the city in the south of Italy where she comes from. The Eve dinner is traditionally made up with fish based recipes that you can find in this website! The menu that we are going to prepare is the following: click on every dish name to read the recipe that you can follow to prepare some traditional Italian dishes for this Christmas Eve!

ELENA'S CHRISTMAS EVE MENU
Appetizers
Fried Baccalà

Baccalà Salad

Tails of Lobsters with Oil and Lemon


First course
Spaghetti with Clams


Main course
Sea Basses in Foil with Potatoes



Dessert
Struffoli


BUON APPETITO!

This is the typical dessert that my grandmother prepares for the Christmas Eve and the Christmas Day. They are biscuits similar to ravioli and their filling is made with chestnuts, chocolate, coffee, milk, biscuits, raisins and candied fruits. This is the original recipe but if you want you can prepare a filling made only of chocolate, milk and biscuits.The preparation is a bit long but the result is delicious.
Merry Christmas








INGREDIENTS FOR THE FILLING (for 10 people)
1 Kg of Chestnuts
250 ml of Milk
125 ml of Coffee
100 g of Chocolate
25 g of Raisins
30 g of candied citron
1 Orange
2 Tablespoons of Sugar
6 - 8 Biscuit

INGREDIENTS FOR THE DOUGH (for 10 people)
500 g of Flour
4 Eggs
80 g Butter
150 g of Sugar
1 Glass of milk
1 Pinch of salt
Extra virgin olive oil to fry

PREPARATION TIME: 1 hours and 30 minutes

COOKING TIME: 45 minutes

WINE: Moscato d’Asti (White Wine)

PREPARATION
Preparation of the filling: place the raisin in a bowl with water for about 15 minutes.

Peel the chestnuts, place them in a pan with some water and let them boil for about 30 minutes. In the meantime make the coffee. When the coffee is ready place it in a pan, add the milk and the chocolate and let it melt.

Crumble the biscuits and add them to the coffee.

Then mince the raisin, the candied citron and add them to the coffee together with the grated peel of the orange.

When the chestnuts are cooked, let them cool, peel, blend them and add them to the coffee.

Mix all together and blend all in a mixer until you obtain a homogeneous mixture as shown in the picture below.

Preparation of the dough: place the flour and the sugar as a fountain over a worktop.


Add in the middle the eggs, the butter, the milk and the salt.


Knead for about 10 minutes until you obtain homogenous dough.


Then with the help of a rolling pin, roll the dough out on a worktop sprinkled with flour to a sheet of thin thick and with the help of a glass cut the pastry in discs.


Each biscuit is made of two discs of pastry one below and one over. Place the discs of the pastry on a worktop sprinkled with flour and put in the middle of them one teaspoons of the stuffing.


Then cover the stuffing with another disc and cut the border in triangles and raise one every two as shown in the following picture.


Place in a pan the extra virgin olive, lei it hot and fry in it he biscuits one at a time.

This is the result:

BUON APPETITO!

This is the typical side dish that my family prepares for the Christmas Eve. Baccala is cod preserved with salt. The recipe, presented below, describes a simple and fast way to cook a good dish. It is made of fillet of baccala cutted into big cubes and then fried. Baccala is served with boiled brocolli. Christmas Eve wouldn’t be Christmas Eve without baccala.

INGREDIENTS (for 10 people)
800 g of Fillet of baccalà (dried salt-cured cod)
200 g of Flour
Extra virgin olive to fry
400 g of Brocolli

PREPARATION TIME: 10 minutes

COOKING TIME: 15 minutes

WINE: Greco di Tufo (White Wine)

PREPARATION
1 or 2 day before the Christmas Eve place the baccala to soak in water in order to eliminate the salt in excess. Now and then change the water.

Remove the peel of the fillets of baccala, and then cut them into big cubes.


Flour the cubes of baccala.

Preheat the extra virgin olive oil in a pan, place in it the cubes of baccala and fry them for about 10 – 15 minutes.

You can serve fried baccala with brocolli. Clean the brocolli and remove the leafs, then cut them into pieces and place them in a pan with some water and let them boil.

When water boils let the brocolli cook for about 10 minutes.
Place the baccalla in the middle of a platter and put around them the brocolli. Serve hot.
This is the result:

BUON APPETITO!

This is the typical main course that is prepared in my family for the Christmas day, in particular it is typical of Campania in the southern part of Italy. The stuffing, with which you stuff the capon, is made of minced meat of veal and pork, eggs, Parmesan, raw ham and Bologna sausage. The capon stuffed is cooked in the tomato puree in order to obtain an excellent sauce ideal to dress the ravioli. The capon stuffed can be served with peas and raw ham.

INGREDIENTS (for 8-10 people)
200 g of minced meat of veal
200 g of minced meat of pork
200 g of raw ham
100 g of Bologna sausage
80 g of Parmesan
1 – 2 Eggs
80 g of Breadcrumbs
2,1 Kg of Tomato puree
1 Clove of garlic
400 g of Peas
e / 2 Glass of Extra virgin olive oil
Salt
Pepper

PREPARATION TIME: 45 minutes

COOKING TIME: 2 hours and 30 minutes – 3 hours

WINE: Costa d’Amalfi (Red Wine)

PREPARATION
Clean the capon, if there is some feathers remove them. Start preparing the stuffing. Preheat 3 – 4 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil in a pan, add the minced meat of veal and the minced meat of pork, sprinkle with salt and let them cook for about 5 minutes.

Move them in a bowl and let them cool. Cut the raw ham and the Bologna sausage in pieces; add them to the meat and mix.

Then add the Parmesan, the egg, salt and pepper and mix.

If the mixture is too soft add some breadcrumbs and mix.

If you want you also can blend all the mixture in a mixer. The stuffing is ready. Now stuff with it the capon and when it is full close the both side of capon with needle and cotton.

Now place 3 – 4 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil in pan, add the clove of garlic and let it brown. Then remove the clove of garlic and add the capon stuffed in the pan and let it brown for about 5 – 8 minutes.

Now add the tomato puree and let it cook for about 2 – 3 hours stirring from time to time.

You can prepare as side dish peas with pieces or raw ham. Put in a pan some water and the peas and let them boil for 5 – 10 minutes.

When they are cooked, move them in another pan with some extra virgin olive oil, add the cubes of raw ham and let them cook for about 5 – 8 minutes.

Serve them hot with the capon stuffed.
This is the result:

BUON APPETITO!

This is the typical first course that my family prepares for the Christmas day. In particular these ravioli are handmade by my grandmother, which is native of Salerno (Campania) in the southern part of Italy. The main characteristic of these ravioli is their dimension: indeed they are so much big that three or four of them are enough to be replete. Their stuffing is very good: it is made of minced meat of veal, minced meat of pork, provolone (typical Italian cheese), ricotta (typical Italian cheese), Parmesan (typical Italian cheese), eggs, raw ham and loaf. They are dress with the sauce of capon stuffed. I will write the recipe of capon stuffed in the next day.

INGREDIENTS FOR DOUGH (for 10 people)
900 g of Flour
7 Eggs
Salt

INGREDIENTS FOR THE STUFFING
350 g of minced meat of veal
350 g of minced meat of pork
100 g of Raw ham
400 g of Ricotta (Italian Cheese)
100 g of Provolone (Italian Cheese)
1 Loaf
2 Eggs
1 / 2 Glass of milk
70 g of Parmesan
3- 4 Tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
Salt
Pepper

PREPARATION TIME: 1 hour

COOKING TIME: 15 minutes

WINE: Costa d’Amalfi (Red Wine)

PREPARATION
In a pan preheat the extra virgin olive oil, add the minced meat of veal and the minced meat of pork and let them cook for about 5 minutes,

then move them in a bowl and let them cool. Blend in a mixer the raw ham and add it in the bowl.

Then blend also the provolone and add it to the meat and the raw ham together with the Parmesan, the ricotta, the eggs, salt, pepper, and mix.

Dip and crumble the loaf in the milk and add it to the mixture.

Mix all the ingredients and the stuffing of ravioli is ready.

Now prepare the dough for ravioli.
Place the flour as a fountain on a table, then sprinkle with salt, add the eggs and knead

until you obtain an homogeneous dough. Let it stand for about 30 minutes.


With a rolling pan, roll the dough out on a worktop sprinkled with flour to a sheet of thin thick. Now with the help of a glass cut the pastry in discs as shown in the picture below.


Each raviolo is made of two discs of pastry one below and one over. Place the discs of the pastry on a worktop sprinkled with flour and put in the middle of them one teaspoons of the stuffing.

Then cover the stuffing with another disc and with the help of a fork close the border.


Let salted water boil, add the ravioli and cook them for 10 – 12 minutes,

then drain them. Place three or four ravioli on a platter, as you desired, and pour the sauce over them. Serve hot and if you want add some parmesan.
This is the result:

BUON APPETITO!

The traditional appetizer that my family prepares the Christmas Day is salumi based.
We use typical Italian salumi like ham of Parma, raw ham San Daniele, speck of Alto Adige and salame Milan and serve them on a cutting board.

INGREDIENTS (for 10 people)
10 Slice of Milan Salame
10 Slice of Ham of Parma
10 Slice of Raw Ham San Daniele
10 Slice of Speck of Alto Adige

PREPARATIONE TIME: 10 minutes

WINE: Costa d’Amalfi (Red Wine)

PREPARATION
Place 1 slice of each kind of cold cut on a cutting board and serve them.
BUON APPETITO!

In my family the menu of Christmas Eve is fish based. One of the side dishes that we prepare is made of tails of lobster dressed with lemon and oil. This recipe is very simple to prepare and very good to eat.


INGREDIENTS (for 10 people):
800 g of Tails of lobsters
1 Glass of Extra virgin olive oil
2 Lemon
Salt
Parsley

PREPARATION TIME: 10 minutes

COOKING TIME: 15 minutes

WINE: Greco di Tufo (White Wine)

PREPARATION
Place the tail of lobsters in a pan with water and bring to boil.

When water boils, cook for 5 minutes and then drain the lobsters.

Let them cool and shell. Prepare a sauce made with the extra virgin olive oil, the juice of lemon, some salt and parsley. Place the tail of lobster on a platter and pour the sauce on them.
This is the result:

BUON APPETITO!

Struffoli are an Italian dessert typical of Naples. They consist of tiny fried pieces of dough simply made with flour, sugar, eggs, lemon and rum, completely coated with honey and colored confection. Their dimensions are important indeed the more they are small the more they are good because they absorb the sweet taste of honey. They are simple to cook and in particular they are prepared in the occasion of Christmas. In Naples Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without Stuffoli.










INGREDIENTS (for 10 people):
300 g of Flour
2 Eggs
1 Tablespoon of Sugar
1 Lemon
2 Tablespoon of rum or anisette
1 Pinch of salt
25 g of Butter
4 – 5 Tablespoons of Honey
Some colored confections
Extra virgin olive oil to fry

PREPARATION TIME: 40 minutes

COOKING TIME: 15 minutes

WINE: Meditandum (White Wine)

PREPARATION
Place the flour as a fountain on a table, in the middle of it add the sugar, the butter, the eggs, the rum, the salt and the grated peel of the lemon.


Knead in order to obtain solid dough and let it stand for about 30 minutes.


After the 30 minutes knead again the dough and divide it in small parts. Knead each part rolling it until you obtain loafs thin and long.


Cut the loafs into small squared pieces called struffoli.


Preheat the extra virgin olive oil in a pan and fry in it the small squared pieces until they become slightly golden, this takes about 5 minutes. Then drain them on a kitchen paper.


Now put in the middle of a platter an overturned glass and place the struffoli around it.

In a pan place the honey and let it melt then pour it over the struffoli. Remove the glass and sprinkle with colored confections.
This is the result:

BUON APPETITO!

This is the typical second course that my family prepare for the Christmas Eve. The recipe presented below is very simple and fast to prepare and good to eat. You can prepare this dish with sea bass or if you prefer with black sea bass and you can serve them with potatoes as presented in this recipe or also with brocolli.


INGREDIENTS (for 10 people)
10 Sea basses
400 ml of extra virgin olive oil
200 g of Parsley
3 clove of Garlic
50 Small potatoes
50 g of Provolone (Italian cheese)
Salt
Pepper

PREPARATION TIME: 15 minutes

COOKING TIME: 30 - 40 minutes

WINE: Greco di Tufo (White Wine)

PREPARATION
Preheat the oven to 180°C. Clean the sea basses, remove the scales and cut the tails.
Chop parsley and onion. In a dish put the extra virgin olive oil, add the chopped parsley and onion and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Place the sea basses over a sheet of foil paper, then with the help of a tablespoon pour the mixture inside and over the sea basses.


Close the fish in the sheet of foil paper and continue in this way for all the sea basses. When they are ready place them in a baking tin and bake for about 30 – 40 minutes.


In the mean time you can prepare the potatoes. Clean and peel the small potatoes, then cut them over the surface like a fan. Place them in a baking tin, sprinkle them with a drizzle of oil, salt and pepper. Bake for about 10 – 15 minutes.

Now cut the provolone into thin slices, when the 10 – 15 minutes are elapsed, remove the potatoes from the oven and place over the surface of each potato a thin slice of provolone.

Re-bake for other 10 minutes. When the sea basses and the potatoes are ready place them in a platter and serve hot.
This is the result:

BUON APPETITO!

This is another side dish that my family prepares for the Christmas Eve. Baccala is a kind of cod preserved with salt. This is a cold dish very simple to prepare, it is made of baccala, pickle olive, pickle yellow and red peppers.


INGREDIENTS (for 10 people)
800 g of Baccala
180 g of Pickle olives
180 g of Pickle yellow and red peppers
Extra virgin olive oil

PREPARATION TIME: 10 minutes

COOKING TIME: 15 minutes

WINE: Greco di Tufo (White Wine)

PREPARATION
1 or 2 day before the Christmas Eve place the baccala to soak in water in order to eliminate the salt in excess. Now and then change the water.

Remove the peel of the fillets of baccala,


and then cut them into big cubes. Place the cubes of baccala in a pan with water and let them boil for about 10 – 15 minutes.

Drain the baccala and let it cool. Then cut it in small pieces and place in it in a bowl. Cut the olives into washer and the peppers in fillet,

and add them to the pieces of baccala.

Mix all together and place them in a platter. Sprinkle with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and serve.
This is the result:

BUON APPETITO!

This is the first course that my family prepares for the Christmas Eve. Spaghetti with clams is an Italian recipe typical of Campania in the southern part of Italy. This recipe is made with fresh clams and tomato puree but there is also a recipe of spaghetti with clams without tomato puree. These two recipes are both very good and simple to prepare.

INGREDIENTS (for 10 people)
1 Kg of Spaghetti
1,5 Kg of Fresh clams
1,5 Kg of Tomato puree
3 Cloves of garlic
Extra virgin olive oil
Salt

PREPARATION TIME: 30 minutes

COOKING TIME: 30 minutes

WINE: Greco di Tufo (White Wine)

PREPARATION
Place the clams in a pan with water

and let them boil until the shells open, this take about 15 – 20 minutes.

Drain the clams, preserving their water and remove the shell of them but not of all.


Place a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and the cloves of garlic in a pan and let them brown. Remove the garlic from the extra virgin olive oil, add the clams and let them brown.

Then filter the water of the clams

and add some of it to the clams together with the tomato puree and some salt, cook for about 30 minutes.

Let salted water boil for spaghetti, cook them for 6 – 8 minutes and drain them. Place the spaghetti in a platter, pour on it the sauce and add the clams with shell.
This is the result:

BUON APPETITO!

Polenta with bruscitti is a typical Italian recipe from the northern part of Italy. In particular it is a typical Italian dish from Milan. It is made of meat of pork and of veal cutted roughly, a chopped of carrot, celery and onion, tomato puree and an excellent Italian red wine like Teroldego. This recipe is usually prepared in the winter period, in particular in November and December and you can find it in the Italian mountain hut.

INGREDIENTS FOR POLENTA (for 4 people)
500 g of Maize flour
2 liter of water
1 Tablespoon of salt

INGREDIENTS FOR BRUSCITTI (for 4 people)
300 g of Minced meat of pork
300 g of Minced meat of veal
1 Carrot
1 Celery
1 / 2 Onion
1 / 4 Glass of Extra virgin olive oil
1 Glass of Red wine (Teroldego)
700 g of Tomato puree
Salt
Pepper
1 / 2 Water

PREPARATION TIME: 15 minutes

COOKING TIME: 1 hour and 30 minutes

WINE: Teroldego (Red Wine)

PREPARATION
Chopped the carrot, the onion and the celery, place them in a pot with the extra virgin olive oil and cook them for about 5 minutes.
Add the meat and let it brown.
Then add the wine and let it evaporated.
Now add the tomato puree,
stir all together and add some water. Cook for about 1 hour and 30 minutes paying attention to don’t reduce too the sauce.

If necessary add some water or wine. In the meantime you can prepare polenta. In a pot of copper put the water and let it warm. Before water boils, sprinkle the maize flour into the water and begin to stir with a wood-spoon.


Continue to stir for about 40 minutes until polenta become thick.

Serve in a platter the polenta and bruscitti hot.
This is the result:

BUON APPETITO!

This is another delicious Italian recipe of biscuits made of macaroons and almonds. Also these biscuits, like cacao biscuits presented in a previous recipe, are perfect for Italian breakfast. In particular they are very good also with a cup of hot chocolate








INGREDIENTS (for 6 people)
250 g of Flour
120 g of Sugar
80 g of Butter
1 Egg
10 Almonds
8 g of Baking powder
5-6 Macaroons

PREPARATION TIME: 15 minutes

COOKING TIME: 10 – 15 minutes

PREPARATION
Preheat the oven to 150°C. In a bowl place the sugar and the butter, mix them until you obtain a kind of cream.

Now add the egg, the crumbled macaroons and the crumbled almonds and mix all together.

At the end add the flour and the backing powder and mix in order to obtain a soft dough.


With the help of a rolling pin roll out on a floured worktop the dough 1 cm thick and cut biscuits as shown in the figure below with the help of cutter of different shape.


Place the biscuits on a baking pan and bake for 10 – 12 minutes.

This the result:

BUON APPETITO!

This is a typical Italian way to cook the pork loin in order to create an excellent second course. This recipe is made of pork loin prepared with speck and fontina, that are two typical Italian ingredients of the northern part of Italy. In particular speck is a smoked ham typical of Tyrol and fontina is an Italian cheese typical of Valle d’Aosta.

INGREDIENTS (for 4 people):
8-9 Minute steaks of pork loin
8-9 Slices of speck
100 g of Fontina (Italian cheese)
Juice of 1 lemon
1 / 2 Glass of Extra virgin olive oil
Parmesan
Breadcrumb
Salt
Pepper
Parsley

PREPARATION TIME: 15 minutes

COOKING TIME: 20 minutes

WINE: Dolcetto di Diano d'Alba Doc (Red Wine)

PREPARATION
In a dish mix the lemon juice and the extra virgin olive oil and place in it the minute steaks of loin in order to marinade them for about 10 minutes.

In the meantime prepare the slices of speck and cut into thin slices the Fontina.


Combine in a bowl the breadcrumb, the parmesan, some salt, pepper and parsley and use this mixture to cover the both side of the minute steaks of loin.

Then on the side of loin make a layer with 1 slices of speck and another with 4-5 slices of fontina.

Roll up and close with a stuzzicadente as a roulade.
Place a drizzle of oil and the roulades in a pan and let them brown on low fire. Preheat the oven to 200 C° and when the roulades are browned add ½ cup water and bake them. Cook for almost 20 minutes.
Place 2 roulades onto a platter,with some cornetti e 3 sweet cherry tomatoes.
This is th result:

BUON APPETITO!

Polenta is a typical Italian recipe of the northern part of Italy. It is a dough made of water, salt and maize flour that is traditionally cooked in a copper pot for about 30-40 minutes