Italian Recipes

Valentine’s Day is a time to express how much you care for your special someone, and what’s more romantic than an elegant dinner for two? And choosing the perfect food resembling a traditional Italian recipe will surely set the mood.  The Ravioli Lasagna which combines the pasta and ricotta in one step, and uses a bottle of spaghetti sauce to save time.  It’s a pretty basic recipe, yet you can do variations, depending on what you like or what you have at hand. You can add ground beef to mix with the sauce, or use ground turkey or chicken instead, just to keep that personal touch.

Here are the Ingredients:

1 (25 ounce) package frozen cheese ravioli

1 (26 1/2 ounce) bottle spaghetti sauce

2 1/2 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded

Directions:

In 9×13-inch dish spread a little bit of sauce at bottom (to prevent sticking).Put on ravioli, as many as will fit without being “tight”. Put on more sauce and then cheese. Repeat until all ravioli is gone. Bake at 375 for 20-30 minutes.

Felice Festa di San Valentino !

Time:
preparation: 10 minutes
cooking: about 20 minutes Difficulty:
easy recipeNutrition Facts (amount per serving):
Calories: 423 (kCal) – 1769 (kJ)
Protein: 12.6 (g)
Total fat: 12.5 (g)
Total carbohydrate: 69.3 (g)
Sugars: 3.7 (g)

Ingredients:
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
8 anchovy fillets
2 tablespoons capers in vinegar, well drained
1 tablespoon fresh parsley (or frozen), finely chopped
2 tablespoons dried chives
1 teaspoon dried marjoram
75 ml (3 fl oz – 1/2 C) dry white wine
1 hot red pepper, if you like
3 tablespoons dry breadcrumbs
325 g (11 oz) spaghetti
Salt

This sauce is very easy and quick to do. You can make it while your spaghetti are boiling.
Add the olive oil, the anchovy fillets, the capers, the fresh and dried herbs, the wine and the hot pepper (if you like) in a frying pan. Season with salt and cook over a fierce heat for about 5-10 or until the anchovies are melt and wine is evaporated.
Meanwhile cook your spaghetti, drain them while still very much al dente and turn into the pan with the sauce. Sprinkle with some tablespoons of dry breadcrumbs, stir, return to a high heat, sauté them and serve very hot.

Time:
preparation: 15 minutes
cooking: about 20 minutes Difficulty:
easy recipe Nutrition Facts (amount per serving):
Calories: 427 (kCal) – 1784 (kJ)
Protein: 13.7 (g)
Total fat: 19.7 (g)
Total carbohydrate: 51.7 (g)
Sugars: 8.0 (g)

Ingredients:
350 g (12 oz) short pasta (fusilli or penne)
7 ripe but firm tomatoes, peeled and cubed
85 g (3 oz) black olives, stoned
4 fillets of anchovies, chopped
2 tablespoons dried or fresh chives
1 1/2 mozzarella cheese, cubed or 20 cherry mozzarella cheese
12 leaves of fresh basil
6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Bring to the boil abundant salted water and cook pasta according to the instructions on the package.
Meanwhile prepare the dressing. Put all the ingredients in a large bowl and stir.
Cook pasta “al dente”, drain it in the colander and run under cold water in order to stop the cooking. Add pasta to the mixture and stir well. Let chill at least 2 hours before serving but bring back to room temperature to serve.

Time:
preparation: 15 minutes
cooking: about 20 minutes Difficulty:
easy recipe Nutrition Facts (amount per serving):
Calories: 476 (kCal) – 1990 (kJ)
Protein: 12.3 (g)
Total fat: 17.5 (g)
Total carbohydrate: 70.8 (g)
Sugars: 6.1 (g)

Ingredients:
450 g (1 lb) frozen mixed vegetables (carrots, potatoes and courgettes)
4 anchovy fillets, in oil, chopped
1 tablespoon capers in vinegar
1 tablespoon dried chives
1 teaspoon dried tarragon
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon chilli olive oil
2 tablespoons dry breadcrumbs
200 g (7 oz) Italian “spaghetti”
Salt

Cook the frozen vegetables in 4 tablespoons olive oil, in a frying pan, according to the instructions on the package.
Meanwhile bring to the boil the salted water, necessary for cooking Italian “spaghetti”.
Place the rest of olive oil, included sharp olive oil, anchovies, herbs and capers in a second frying pan.
Add the cooked vegetables, season with salt and simmer for some minutes.
Cook the pasta “al dente”, drain very well and turn into the pan with the vegetable mixture.
Sprinkle with dry breadcrumbs, sauté over a high heat for few minutes.
Serve very hot.

Thank you to those who invented frozen ravioli’s! How much did this make Italian easier! And who hates Ravioli? I love Ravioli specially that this has cheese in it. My son eats anything that has cheese so this is a really nice way to make him eat veggies!

Ingredients
U.S. Metric Conversion chart
1 package(s) (20-ounce) frozen cheese ravioli or tortellini
6 teaspoon(s) extra-virgin olive oil, divided
4 clove(s) garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon(s) salt
1/8 teaspoon(s) crushed red pepper
1 bag(s) (16-ounce) frozen chopped or whole-leaf spinach
1/2 cup(s) water
1/4 cup(s) freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Directions

1.Bring a large pot of water to a boil; cook ravioli (or tortellini) according to package directions.
2.Meanwhile, heat 2 teaspoons oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add salt, crushed red pepper to taste, spinach and water. Cook, stirring frequently, until the spinach has thawed, wilted and heated through, 5 to 7 minutes. Divide among 4 bowls, top with the pasta and drizzle 1 teaspoon of the remaining oil over each portion. Serve immediately with a sprinkle of Parmesan.

Dairy products are hard to resist especially by your growing kids. By preparing fast and nutritious meal, their food requirements are easily met. You just need few ingredients for this one:
• 1 lb. of Cheddar Cheese
• 1/2 cup fresh milk
• 10 oz. Macaroni Noodles
• 1 quart of water

Directions:
On a pot, boil water in high heat and place the noodles. Cook noodles for about 10-12 minutes and drain the water off. Mix the noodles with cheese and milk. Better to serve hot.

Even if it’s not holiday season, make your day a special one by preparing a fast but luxurious pasta meal with this recipe. It will surely captivate your senses and make you miss it.

What you will need are the following:
• 14 oz can tomato juice
• 6 oz can tomato paste
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon table salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 1/2 teaspoon red pepper
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• Lard
• 1 pack Italian sausage

Directions:
Set the stove on low heat. Combine the tomato juice and paste in a pot and place it on the stove. Add in minced garlic, condiments and spices while stirring. In another pan, heat the lard until medium cooked. Add in the Italian sausage and fry thoroughly. After frying, mix with the contents of the pot and cook for 3 hours. Better serve with cooked noodles.

Comfort Food at its Best – Authentic Italian Meatballs
The good old meatball spaghetti is a classic. Each family has its own that every kid grows up with and will always be what’s best to them. I will suggest you try to change one thing. The meatball itself. No need to change the sauce but I suggest you try making your meatballs this way.
Ingredients:
2 lb Ground beef — *
2 ts Garlic; minced — **
2 ts Parsley
1 medium Onion — finely chopped
1 ts Salt
1/2 ts Pepper
1 cup Progesso Italian Flavored
Breadcrumbs
1 Egg
3/4 c Parmesan Cheese
Your good old tomato sauce

Directions:
Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl with your hands making sure everything is well mixed.
Form into meatballs and fry in a large skillet with about 1/2 cup olive oil over medium high heat .
Turn on all sides to brown and cook through.
When all the way cooked, add them to your sauce and let them cook slowly for about 1 hour.

Kids always love pasta dishes and cheese. It seems that anything that has pasta, macaroni or cheese is simply divine for them. Thus, it has become a delight and an interest to look for recipes to serve my little angels. Today, I found a baked macaroni and cheese recipe that my kids enjoyed. I am sharing this with you.

BAKED MACARONI WITH CHEESE by Alton Brown
Ingredients
• 1/2 pound elbow macaroni
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 3 tablespoons flour
• 1 tablespoon powdered mustard
• 3 cups milk
• 1/2 cup yellow onion, finely diced
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 1 large egg
• 12 ounces sharp cheddar, shredded
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• Fresh black pepper
Topping:
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1 cup panko bread crumbs

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Cook the pasta to al dente in a pot of salted boiling water. Melt the butter in a separate pot. Whisk in the flour and mustard and keep it moving for about five minutes until it is free of lumps. Add the milk, onion, bay leaf, and paprika and simmer for ten minutes. Remove the bay leaf. Add the tempered egg and ¾ of the cheese while stirring. Put salt and pepper then fold macaroni into the mix before pouring into a 2-quart casserole dish. Top with remaining cheese.

Melt the butter in a saute pan and toss the bread crumbs to coat. Top the macaroni with the bread crumbs. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and rest for five minutes before serving.

Being an Italian food aficionado, I have always appreciated anything Italian. Even my sons share this fascination with Italian food. So, I am really pleased to read about January 17th being celebrated as the International Day of Italian Cuisine. This is hosted by the chefs of the Virtual Group of Italian Cooks or GVCI.

To showcase the importance of maintaining standards of traditional and authentic Italian dishes, Italian chefs around the world will prepare a traditional dish of Tagliatelle al Ragù alla Bolognese. This dish is a popular contribution of the City of Bologna in Emilia Romagna.

Cesare Casella, Dean of the Italian Culinary Academy, will host the two day event in New York City participated by Chicco Cerea, Mario Batali and many other Italian chefs from around the world. Anyone can join the celebration and be part of the festivity.

Food lovers who believe in the authentic way of preparing Italian recipe can register and participate in the celebration or can try preparing Ragù alla Bolognese at home. There are many variants of traditional recipes of this dish but one can look up Tagliatelle al Ragu alla Bolognese recipe of Chef Mario Caramella, GVCI president.