Italian, Mediterranean Recipes
49 recipes found
Parmesan Cups With Orzo 'risotto'
Cracked Farro Risotto (Farrotto) With Parsley and Marjoram
Finally, a way to make something as comforting as an Italian rice risotto using farro. The chef Barry Maiden revealed this ingenious method to me. Soak the farro, drain and then crack the grains slightly in a food processor. This allows the thickly hulled wheat berries to release their starch, creating the creamy sauce that defines the dish. Farro has so much flavor and the resulting farrotto is much more robust than a rice risotto. It needs little more than fresh herbs as embellishment, but of course you could add any vegetable you like to use in risotto.
Risotto with Tomatoes and Corn
This colorful risotto serves as a luxurious showcase for summer’s bounty of tomatoes and corn. This is about as colorful and summery a risotto as you can get. The tomatoes and broth team up as a rich medium for the rice. Don’t add the corn too soon, or it will develop a starchy texture like the rice. But cook it long enough to bring out its sweet flavor. Simmer the corn cobs for about 20 minutes in your broth to get a great sweet corn flavor.
Radicchio With Walnut Anchovy Sauce
I am tempted to call the sauce for this seared radicchio bagna cauda because that is what they called it in the London restaurant I used to frequent that inspired the recipe (11 Park Walk, now closed). It is really more of a walnut-thickened anchovy vinaigrette, and it is perfect with the radicchio. When you cook radicchio some sweet flavors emerge, but bitter is still the prevailing taste. The salty anchovies, pungent garlic and nutty walnuts – which also have a bitterness all their own – go together beautifully. The sauce is substantial, and will thicken as it sits, so serve the dish right away if you are spooning it over the radicchio so it doesn’t become stodgy; or serve the sauce in ramekins and dip the radicchio into it.
Penne With Radicchio and Goat Cheese
I sauté most of the radicchio in this recipe in olive oil with garlic and chile flakes, but I hold some back to add at the end for color and texture. The cooked radicchio sweetens a bit but still has a bitter edge. Just before tossing with the cooked pasta I ladle in some cooking water from the pasta, which you should be careful not to over-salt, add the goat cheese and stir until it has melted. The result is irresistible. It will work just as well with other bitter greens like endive and dandelions, as well as with blanched greens like kale.
Three-Greens Gratin
This is a Provençal style gratin, or tian, dense with greens and bound with rice and egg. You can play around with the mix of greens; switch out beet greens for spinach, or some of the chard for kale (kale will require a minute or two more of blanching). I have kept the seasonings to a minimum as you have plenty to prep, but a Provençal cook would probably add chopped parsley and perhaps savory or rosemary. You won’t be using the chard ribs here, but keep them to use in other dishes.
Whole Grain Macaroni and Cheese
This is a macaroni and cheese that's not too heavy and benefits mightily from the use of whole-wheat pasta and the addition of broccoli. You can assemble it ahead and bake it when you need it, or bake it ahead and reheat. There are a number of excellent whole wheat macaroni products on the market now. Check out Community Grains and MagNoodles. When you cook the macaroni, be sure to cook it for less time than usual so that it is more al dente; otherwise it will become too soft and may fall apart when you bake it in the final casserole.
Winter Squash, Leek and Farro Gratin With Feta and Mint
A delicious, and simple, winter squash gratin. This tastes like the filling of many Greek winter squash pies I have made, but it is a simpler dish. The squash is roasted, which gives it great depth of flavor. I love the sweetness of the squash against the salty feta, and the chewy farro against the tender squash. Most of the elements for this gratin can be prepared ahead if you want to go about this piecemeal – farro freezes well and keeps for a few days in the refrigerator; roasted squash keeps well in the refrigerator for a few days as well.
Polenta With Corn, Tomato And Red Onion Sauce
Zuppa di Pesce
Spaghetti With Swordfish
Spaghetti With Shrimp, Kale and Tomatoes
I like to use black kale for this. I blanch it in the pasta cooking water, then I add the chopped blanched leaves to the tomato sauce at the end of cooking, just so they will heat through and soften a little more. I sear the shrimp and make the tomato sauce in the same pan. You can toss shrimp in the tomato sauce or just top each serving with them, which is the way to go if there are vegetarians at the table.
Mimmetta's Peppers, Smoked Salmon and Pasta
Farrotto With Fava Beans, Tomato And Marjoram
Broccoli Rabe and Sausage Pizza
Dandelion And Fava Puree
Millet Polenta With Tomato Sauce, Eggplant and Chickpeas
Millet polenta is as comforting as it gets. In season you can use fresh tomatoes in the topping, but canned will work just fine. You could also make this dish with cornmeal polenta.
Lamb With Tomatoes And Olives
Orzo with Summer Squash and Pesto
There’s still plenty of summer squash in the market. I like to dice it small for this dish, cook it with a little garlic and marjoram or mint and toss it with orzo, a pasta that looks like rice but tastes and feels like pasta. I love the textures of the two, and the pesto completes the dish. Make sure to dice the squash small so the pieces aren’t much bigger than the grains of orzo.
Lamb Chops With Black Olives
Roasted Root Vegetables With Polenta
In this comforting, perfect winter dinner I roast the vegetables and make the polenta in the oven at the same time. To accommodate the temperature requirements of each element of the dish, I use a slightly higher temperature than I usually use for polenta and I roast the vegetables at a lower temperature for longer. I top the polenta with a ladleful of marinara sauce, and spoon the vegetables on top. You could serve the polenta with only the roasted vegetables as well, so I have made the marinara sauce optional.
Pasta With Mushrooms and Broccoli
Broccoli stems and flowers can be prepared and cooked separately, like two different vegetables. For this pasta I used a vegetable peeler to shred the broccoli stems into thin ribbons, which I cooked briefly with the mushrooms. I sliced the crowns very thin and blanched them briefly with the pasta. The result is a dish with different textures and shades of green: the stems should be crisp-tender, their color faded. The crowns will be bright green, and 2 to 2 1/2 minutes cooking will render them tender but not mushy.
Spaghetti With Cauliflower, Almonds, Tomatoes and Chickpeas
Pasta with cauliflower comes in many variations throughout Italy. This one is all about texture -- crunchy almonds, tender (but not mushy) cauliflower and plush chickpeas. The original version of this recipe called for quinoa spaghetti (and if you're into that, go for it!), but we've found it's just as tasty with the traditional sort as well.
Summer Squash Ribbons with Cherry Tomatoes and Mint/Basil Pesto
The texture of these squash ribbons can be as satisfying as pasta if the squash is cooked just until flexible, about two to three minutes. The dish is quite beautiful, and once you’ve shaved the squash – which really doesn’t take that long – it comes together in no time. The best tool to use for tossing and stirring the squash and the cherry tomatoes is tongs. Serve as a light main dish or as a side.