Making Italian Dishes At Home Is Fun And Easy

People in most countries come across archetypal Italian-American dishes that derived from the dishes of Southern Italy. These Italian-American dishes consist of thick tomato sauces, pizza and pasta. Sadly, this is how people from all over the world view Italian cuisine. In reality, however, Italian food has many varieties, as each area of Italy has its own uniqueness.

One must understand that Italian food is not just about pizza and pasta. The Italians have exceptional techniques of cooking rice, vegetables, seafood, and meat. The finest thing about Italian food is its simplicity. They efficiently use fresh seasonal herbs, fruits and vegetables. None of the dishes need more than eight to nine ingredients. With proper equipment, skill, and love for the food, anyone can cook Italian dishes at home. It is a guarantee that the dishes will taste as good as in any quality Italian restaurant.

Following are the basic equipment one must have in the kitchen to prepare Italian food:

· Pasta Machine: It is usually made of stainless steel, and comes with various attachments. Rolling out of pastas in different shapes and sizes depends on the type of the attachment.

· Pasta Pot: It is a typical pot for cooking pastas.

· Mezzaluna: It is a sharp, half moon-shaped knife. It has its handles at the ends of the blade. It is extremely proficient in giving finely cut vegetables and herbs.

· Grater: Italian dishes use lots of cheese. A grater is perfect to give you finely grated cheese.

Italian cuisine is simple and very easy to make at home. Following are the recipes of the three most popular Italian dishes:

Bruschetta:

Buy French or Italian bread, which has a thick and crispy crust. Grill or toast them. Slice one fresh garlic and brush a little on one side of the bread with it. Pour tomato purée over the bread. Place a slice of mozzarella cheese. If you are a vegetarian, you can top the bruschetta with slightly fried veggies like zucchini and eggplant. If you are not, top the bruschetta with anchovy fillet or chicken slice. Pour some extra-virgin olive oil, salt, pepper and chopped olives to finish the dish.

Pasta:
Take 2 cups of semolina flour (for best results) in a mixing bowl and crack three eggs into it. Knead it for 15 minutes. If it is lumpy, add a little water. Roll and make a dough ball. Wrap it in a plastic and keep it for 30 minutes. Put a little flour on the surface where you need to roll it. Make sure the roll is extremely thin. Stretch it and let dry for a while. Now, pass the sheet through the pasta machine. Boil the pasta slices in salted water for about 5 minutes. When the pasta floats to the top, drain the water and add the sauce. There are many pasta sauce recipes on the web. Use the one you like the most.

Risotto:

Chop onions and garlic, and cook them in olive oil until they are brownish. Put in chopped green pepper, and mushrooms (you can use any ingredient - both vegetables and meat). Add wine and a little vegetable stock. Now, add risotto rice (one with high starch amount). Keep on adding water slowly until the rice soaks it. When the rice is perfectly cooked, top the dish with Parmesan cheese and serve it hot.

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The Three Cheese Garden Pizza Recipes

Few great recipes from my nonna

The Three-Cheese Garden Pizza

The three-cheese garden pizza is a fast and easy meal that is not only deliciously mouth-watering, but it is made with ingredients that are very easy to get hold of. This recipe yields 8 servings and it is best that individuals make use of smaller zucchinis, rather than large ones, since they tend to be tenderer.

To start off with, it is important to gather all of the ingredients, which includes;

1 10-ounce pizza crust
1 small, chopped onion
1 small to medium, sliced zucchini
A cup of sliced mushrooms
2 sliced plum tomatoes
2 pressed garlic cloves
4 ounces of shredded mozzarella
4 ounces of shredded cheddar
1 ounce grated parmesan
A teaspoon of Pantry Italian Seasoning Mix

Directions:

Start off by preheating the oven at about 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Roll the pizza crust onto the large round baking stone and bake the crust for about 7 minutes. When the crust is removed from the oven, store it on a cooling rack. Scatter the garlic over the crust before sprinkling mozzarella and cheddar cheese evenly on top. Afterwards, evenly spread the onion, mushrooms, zucchini and tomatoes onto the top of the pizza and grate some parmesan over the toppings. Just before you put it back into the oven for another 15 to 18 minutes, sprinkle over with the seasoning mix. Remove from the oven and serve.

Fruit 'n Oat Scones

Fruit 'n Oat Scones are a delicious and healthy way to either start the day or simply to eat as snacks and they are simple to make with the help of pizza stones.

To start off this recipe, gather the following ingredients;

1 ½ cups of all-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup of rolled oats
¼ cup of packed brown sugar
½ cup milk
1 tablespoon sugar
1/8 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
½ cup of diced dried fruit
1.2 cup of margarine or butter

Directions:
Start off by preheating the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Using a large bowl, combine the brown sugar, oats, salt and baking powder. Cut the butter in slices and add it to the mixture; mix until the mixture appears as coarse crumbs. Add in the dried fruit before slowly adding in the milk, until the mixture is moist.

Flour a surface and start kneading the dough about 8 to 10 times in a gentle manner. Roll out the mixture onto a medium pampered chef pizza stone (which is about 9 inches in diameter). The mixture should be about ½ inch thick. Cut the dough into 12 wedges and separate each one slightly. After combining the sugar and the cinnamon in a shaker, sprinkle it over the dough and bake in an oven for about 15 to 17 minutes. Remove the scones when they turn a golden brown color. This mixture makes 12 scones.

Looking for a New Dessert Idea? Try These Italian Desserts

Italian food definitely has its fans and one of the many tasty varieties of Italian foods are the desserts. Italian deserts generally come in a wide assortment of choices from cakes to cookies to yummy desserts that are prepared for adults with wine and liquors. If you are looking to prepare an Italian masterpiece for dessert, here are two excellent recipes whic I learnt from my nonna.

Tiramisu

Ingredients to Use:

- 1 pound of mascarpone cheese

- About 40 lady fingers

- 3 cups Italian coffee

- 6 eggs

- ¾ cup of Marsala wine

- 12 tablespoon of sugar

- 4 tablespoon of coca (power form)

Preparation:

Use an electric mixer to combine both the egg yolks and sugar until the mixture becomes light and fluffy. Save egg whites for use later in the recipe. Add mascarpone cheese and stir it in to this mixture as well. Once these three ingredients are well combined, now add the 6 egg whites. Add the 4 tablespoons of cocoa and mix it in as well. Once it is all mixed place half of the ingredients into a cake dish.

Dip lady fingers into Italian coffee and then place them on top of the mascarpone cream. Cover this up with more contents to create layers. You will want to create about two layers. Once you placed two layers of lady fingers in the cake dish spread with remaining cream. Sprinkle some cocoa powder on the top of the cream. Set the cake dish into the refrigerator for about 24 hours. Enjoy!

If this dessert is created for kids, sub the Marsala wine with just the coffee.

Coconut Balls Cookies

For those wanting a great dessert cookie to go with your Italian Coffee or supper, Coconut ball cookies are extremely flavorful and very easy to make. Below is the recipe.

Ingredients to Use:

- 3 large eggs

- About 3 cups of shredded coconut (packaged is fine)

- 3 cups of graham crackers

- 1.5 cups of sugar

- 1/3 cup of cocoa

Preparation:

To prepare this tasty Italian dessert recipe, combine together the butter and sugar in a large bowl. Make sure they are well blended. Add in your 3 eggs. It is best to add each egg in one at a time and stir well before adding the next in. Now add the 1/3 cup of cocoa, shredded coconut and graham crackers. Before adding the graham crackers make sure they are crushed. Mix all ingredients well and shape them into small balls. Once shaped, refrigerate for about 2 hours before serving. Many people also might want to add a little rum, generally a recipe such as the one we've listed requires about 1 to 3 tablespoons of rum.

Some Reasons Why Italian Food is Good For Your Health

Italian cuisine was developed over centuries, influenced by cuisines of neighboring countries. Joint Italy appeared on the map of Europe just over 100 years ago, thanks to which Italy's national cuisine has absorbed the best of the Liguria, Milan, Sicily, Naples, Calabria and other cuisines. Contemporary Italian cuisine can be conditionally divided into north and south, the main difference - seasonings used northern and southern chefs to cook the same dishes.

Although Italian cuisine is mostly based on pizzas and pastas, Italians almost never get fat and even live longer in comparison with others. Strange thing right? Let's try to make everything clear by talking about some inevitable products of Italian cuisine.

Among specialists, nutritionists are waging a brutal battle on the admissibility of pasta for a healthy diet. Majorities is strongly against. Pasta is accused that she contributes to obesity, contain "empty" calories and is in general useless. And yet this product does not disappear from the table of athletes, including bodybuilders.

Like other flour products, pasta is a primarily source of carbohydrates. Most of them are starch, having a glycemic index of medium to high. However, its value depends strongly on the composition of pasta, varieties used for making flour and cooking regime. Adding protein and especially the eggs dramatically reduce the glycemic index, and slow down digestion of starch and reduce the increment in insulin levels. Unfortunately, there is no fiber in pasta, with the exception of products made from durum wheat flour.

Different varieties of pasta can contain up to 12 percent protein. Alas, this is largely inferior vegetable protein, deficient in lysine. However, the addition of eggs increases its nutritional value, practiced as well as enrichment of pasta with protein. Naturally, noodles, made from other grains, will have a slightly different amino acid composition.

The content of fat in the pasta is usually low. Exception - Chinese Kuksa or its analogues, produced in Vietnam. The energy value of pasta is very high. In addition, various additives can optimize the composition of the diet. This introduces a variety of food needed. For athletes are suitable mainly those sorts of pasta, in which there are protein supplements. Also, it makes sense to use products made from flour of the lower classes with a high content of fiber.

Another famous Italian product is the olive oil - the only oil that is absorbed by the body to 100 percent. First, olive oil is an excellent natural remedy for prevention of cardiovascular diseases. It contains a complex of vitamins (A, D, E) and monounsaturated fatty acids, which can reduce the level of harmful cholesterol. Secondly, due to the presence of vitamin E and other antioxidants olive oil effectively prevents premature fading of the organism. And welcome, both internal and external use it. Third, the oil helps to heal stomach ulcers and duodenal ulcers, improves the activity of the stomach, intestines, pancreas and liver.

Overall, the appearance of Italian food as being unhealthy is very deceptively.

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