Italian Recipes
1418 recipes found
Slow-Roasted Tomato Sauce With Pasta
Instead of standing over a bubbling cauldron all day long, wondering how many dots of sauce you can collect on your apron, let the oven do all the work. You’ll want to use canned tomatoes here, rather than fresh ones, because you can trust that the canned ones were picked at peak season, their flavors amplified by being preserved in a can with a little salt. By roasting them in a low oven for a few hours, you’re effectively adding umami to an already umami-packed ingredient. Well, the oven is. You’re not doing a thing except boiling some pasta, and eventually, marveling at how such a rich red sauce came from such humble, any-season ingredients.
Artichoke Carbonara
Like most traditional Italian dishes, pasta alla carbonara, quintessentially Roman, employs a minimum of simple ingredients to create a hearty and delicious meal. Guanciale provides salt and fat, while Pecorino Romano and egg yolks mixed with pasta water — a prized Italian secret — help create the velvety sauce. To truly gild the lily, consider a raw egg yolk on top of the pasta. Artichokes, a Roman favorite, come to this dish to soak up the flavors of the guanciale while melting into the pasta. The traditional pasta used in trattorias is tonnarelli, but spaghetti or bucatini are perfect substitutes.
Green Bean and Tomato Salad
This simple summer salad pairs beautifully with practically any grilled meat or fish, and it's quite easy to make. Just blanch the green beans until crisp tender, then toss with wedges of ripe tomato and a bright vinaigrette of Dijon mustard, red wine vinegar, garlic, shallots and olive oil. A shower of chopped fresh basil across the top finishes it off.
Quick Ragù With Ricotta and Lemon
Meat ragù traditionally requires a long simmer over low heat, but this 45-minute version owes its slow-cooked flavor to a hefty dose of red-pepper or chile paste, which yields a complex, hearty sauce. (This recipe calls for sambal oelek, which is easy to find, but Calabrian chile or Hungarian paprika paste would work well, too.) Spoon the ragù over cooked, broken lasagna noodles and top it with a dollop of creamy ricotta, a sprinkle of toasted fennel and a few curls of lemon zest. This recipe uses beef, but you could also prepare it with spicy Italian sausage, or ground pork or turkey — though you may want to amplify the flavor by tossing in a little fennel seed and red-pepper flakes with the onion and garlic in Step 1.
Shortcut Guanciale
There is an edge of obsessiveness to carbonara — and I gave in to it completely by starting to make my own guanciale, the cured pig cheek central to most Italian versions of the dish. There’s no real need to; it’s available online, but I was inspired after eating a wonderful meal at Vetri Ristorante in Philadelphia, and buying a cookbook, “Rustic Italian Food,” by its owner, Marc Vetri. He made it sound easy — and it is. It’s also satisfying. Guanciale is generally cured for a week, then hung to dry for about three weeks, which is how I usually make it. A fireplace is perfect. But Mr. Vetri has a version that cures for only three days, then is baked. If you order raw cheeks, they need to be trimmed. You want to end up with a neat, flat slab, roughly an inch and a half thick. The key is to cut off the glands, down to the first level of meat, and all excess fat. Here is Mr. Vetri’s recipe:
Fastest Pasta With Spinach Sauce
The very best pasta is often the simplest. Jack Bishop, the author of “The Complete Vegetarian Cookbook,” has refined his technique for pasta and vegetable sauce to breathtaking efficiency: He cooks the greens with the pasta and adds the seasonings at the last minute. While the pasta is cooking, Mr. Bishop prepares the seasonings. Allow at least a gallon of water to a pound of pasta, because you need a large pot to accommodate the greens and because, if there is too little water, the addition of the greens will slow the cooking too rapidly.
Pasta Alla Brontese (Creamy Fettuccine With Pancetta and Pistachios)
This easy weeknight pasta honors the town of Bronte, Sicily, renowned for its green pistachios harvested from the volcanic soil of Mount Etna. They’re famous for their flavor and bright green color. The simple pan sauce has only a few ingredients: ground pistachios, grated cheese, heavy cream, a splash of wine and pancetta. Perfect for a weeknight but interesting enough for a dinner party, this dish is as rich and comforting as fettuccine alfredo, with additional texture and depth of flavor from the crispy pancetta bits and nutty pistachio crumble.
Salami Pasta Alla Gricia
Pasta alla gricia is among the most versatile Roman pastas, and arguably foundational: Add tomato for amatriciana, add egg for carbonara or remove the pork for cacio e pepe. As one origin story goes, shepherds in Amatrice brought guanciale, pecorino and pasta on their journeys, and made these dishes for sustenance. Guanciale (cured jowl) isn’t especially common in the United States, so, in the spirit of the shepherds using what was available to them, this recipe uses salami. Like guanciale, salami gives off deeply flavored fat to build the pasta sauce on. But salami provides even more crispy bits of meat to stud this rich, silky, deceptively simple pasta.
Cauliflower and Tuna Salad
I have added tuna to a classic Italian antipasto of cauliflower and capers dressed with vinegar and olive oil. For the best results give the cauliflower lots of time to marinate.
Raw Artichoke Salad
In Italy, a favorite way to serve fresh small artichokes is raw, dressed with oil and lemon. It couldn’t be a simpler presentation, and it’s sensational. Slice the trimmed artichokes as thinly as possible, then season and toss with fruity extra-virgin olive oil and lemon juice. Serve over arugula and add curls of Parmesan.
Asparagus and Mushroom Salad
I’ve eaten antipasti like this all over Italy. Sometimes celery is substituted for asparagus, but there’s no need at this time of year. Both thick and thin stems will work.
Creamy Vegan Polenta With Mushrooms and Kale
While it may be difficult to imagine many classic Italian dishes without a generous sprinkle of Parmesan, polenta’s creamy nature means it’s easy to make without butter or cheese. Nutritional yeast, when used in moderation, mimics the nutty flavor of Parmesan, but use too much, and it can overpower. Just a tablespoon or two does the trick here, along with a few tablespoons of vegan butter. (You can use olive oil, but vegan butter works best to achieve the richness of traditional polenta.) The red wine braised mushrooms and kale take the place of meat, but the polenta would be equally delicious served with simply sautéed greens or roasted root vegetables. Leftover polenta can be reheated over medium-low with a splash of broth or water.
Tricolor Salad Alla Splendido
An Italian restaurant standard is kicked up a few notches in this recipe from Mario Carbone, the chef at Carbone restaurant in New York. If you find it hard to track down Italian frisée or various types of radicchio, you can substitute the usual trio of arugula, endive and radicchio. A helping of poached tuna adds richness and a hint of a salade niçiose.
Pasta, Beans and Tomatoes
Many vegan dishes (like fruit salad and peanut butter and jelly) are already beloved, but the problem faced by many of us is in imagining less-traditional dishes that are interesting and not challenging. Here is a more creative option to try.
Pan Pizza
The pizza authority Anthony Falco, once czar of the oven at Roberta’s in Brooklyn and now (literally!) an international pizza consultant, grew up in Austin, Tex., eating his great-grandmother’s Sicilian grandma pies, which he liked a great deal, and personal pan pizzas from Pizza Hut, which he loved unreservedly. This recipe, he told me in 2018, pays homage to that buttery, high-lofted pie, with a crisp bottom crust, a slightly sweet sauce and an enormous amount of cheese. Slices of pepperoni make a beautiful topping, cupping in the heat of the oven and drizzling crimson oil across the edges of the pie. The dough takes a long time to proof and the recipe delivers a lot of it, so making the recipe is a great excuse for planning a pizza party. Cast-iron pans are best for the baking, but square or rectangular baking pans with high sides will do nicely in a pinch.
Rigatoni Alla Zozzona
Rigatoni alla zozzona combines the ingredients of the four pasta dishes for which Romans are famous: amatriciana, cacio e pepe, carbonara and gricia. While many Italian meals are typically the result of simple flavors — “neat” preparations where only a few ingredients shine — rigatoni alla zozzona (which loosely translates to a big mess) is more of a kitchen sink approach, marrying the ingredients of the four pastas (tomato sauce, black pepper, egg yolks, cheese and guanciale) with sausage. Rigatoni’s sturdy tube shape provides the perfect vehicle to carry — and stand up to — the many components of the sauce.
Spaghetti With Fresh Tomato and Basil Sauce
This recipe came to The Times in 2003 from the chef Scott Conant, who was then cooking at his restaurant L'Impero in Manhattan. It is simple, classic Italian fare that makes the most of summer's tomatoes, but you can also make it with hothouse offerings and it will be delicious.
Pasta With Mint, Basil and Fresh Mozzarella
In this green pasta dish, basil, mint, Parmesan and garlic are blended into a smooth pesto-like sauce, then tossed with pasta, creamy mozzarella and crunchy pine nuts just before serving. Marinating the mozzarella in some of the sauce as the pasta cooks imbues the mild cheese with flavor, and allows it to start softening so it melts in contact with the pasta. Serve this hot or warm, when the cheese is supple and a little runny.
Pasta With Prosciutto and Whole Garlic
This pasta dish, known as maccheroni alla San Giovanniello in Italy, is amazing in the summer months, when there are good fresh tomatoes around. But you can make it any time of year with canned tomatoes. You could also make it with much less prosciutto, really just enough to season the oil — a quarter cup or so. No matter how much you use, start with a hunk of prosciutto so you can dice chunks; you don’t want little thin slices. If you've got great basil, you can even skip the cheese. If you use fresh tomatoes, you can blanch and peel the tomatoes if you don't like the skins, but it's not really necessary.
Pesce all’Acqua Pazza (Fish in Crazy Water)
This classic Neapolitan dish involves poaching fish in a liquid that Marcella Hazan explained as being “denser than a broth, looser, more vivacious and fresher in taste than any sauce.” It’s made by simmering chopped extra-ripe tomatoes with water, garlic, chile and other flavorings. Once the water tastes like tomato, fish fillets are poached in it. This foolproof method prevents overcooking, so it’s ideal for all kinds of delicate seafood. Some think “crazy” refers to the broth’s spiciness, while others think the name comes from the fact that fishermen made the dish with seawater (but it could also simply reflect that water is the key ingredient).
Simple Marinara Sauce
Recipes hardly come easier. This marinara sauce is similar to our fresh tomato sauce recipe, but canned tomatoes stand in for the fresh ones so you won’t have to peel the tomatoes or put them through a food mill. If you buy chopped tomatoes in juice, you won’t even have to dice them.
Classic Pasta Alla Norma
This is down-home, primal Sicilian cooking, using inexpensive and commonly available ingredients: olive oil, eggplant, tomato and pasta. A showering of grated ricotta salata and toasted bread crumbs adorns this humble yet justly famous dish. The Sicilian composer Vincenzo Bellini adored it with such a passion that it was eventually named after his 19th-century opera "Norma" — or so goes the story.
Pasta With Butter, Sage And Parmesan
Like many simple sauces, this one takes less time to prepare than the pasta itself. Fresh, fragrant sage is my choice of herb here, but substitutions abound. Try parsley, thyme, chervil or other green herbs in its place. Or cook minced shallot or onion in the butter until translucent. You may even toast bread crumbs or chopped nuts in the butter, just until they're lightly browned. In any case, finish the sauce with a sprinkling of Parmesan, which not only adds its distinctive sharpness, but also thickens the mixture even further.
Amatriciana on the Fly
This is a no-recipe recipe, a recipe without an ingredients list or steps. It invites you to improvise in the kitchen. Here’s a half-hour challenge that’s no challenge at all. Set a large pot of salted water on the stove, over high heat. In a pan, sauté chopped bacon — slab bacon, if you can get it — in a glug or two of olive oil until it’s crisp. Remove the bacon and add chopped onion to the fat, cooking until it’s soft and fragrant. Figure the equivalent of a slice of bacon and half an onion per person. Meanwhile, boil water for enough pasta to feed your crowd, and cook it until it is just shy of tender. While it cooks, add some canned chopped tomatoes and the cooked bacon to the onions, and stir it to make a sauce. Drain the pasta, then toss it with a knob of butter, and add the pasta to the sauce. Slide all that into a warm serving bowl, then top with grated pecorino. A scattering of chopped parsley is never going to be a bad idea here, but you can omit it if the clock’s ticking. Serve with red-pepper flakes and extra cheese on the side. Sam Sifton features a no-recipe recipe every Wednesday in his What to Cook newsletter. Sign up to receive it. You can find more no-recipe recipes here.