Category: Italian Recipes

Popular Italian Food Restaurants

Italian food is one of the most popular cuisines in the world. It has long been an American favorite and there are countless Italian food restaurants throughout the United States. While Italian food was first brought to this country by immigrants and ma and pop shops, like everything else in this country Italian food franchises are quickly defining this country’s perception of Italian food.

Probably the first and most well known of these franchises is the Olive Garden. The Italian food served here is heavy on spices and thick, creamy sauces. The salad is dressed with Italian dressing and served with breadsticks. Popular dishes include ravioli, lasagna, and minestrone. While this restaurant has done a great job of introducing people to the concept of Italian food, the food served here is a far cry from the real thing. The salad dressing and breadsticks served here would never be found in Italy. Since the menu is the same year round fresh ingredients are not a priority and hence the dishes are heavily seasoned to hide the fact that the underlying ingredients hold little flavor. Sadly, many people’s views of Italian food and the stereotypes surrounding this cuisine are only furthered by this Italian food restaurant.

However, there are other large chain Italian food restaurants. Places like Macaroni Grill, Carino’s, Buca di Beppo, and Carrabba’s give a much better Italian food experience. While the Italian food served at these places certainly doesn’t live up to the high standard of Italian food set by those who originated it, the food is still quite good. The ingredients at these restaurants are of a higher quality and the dishes are closer to an authentic flavor. Carino’s is a great restaurant to go to for a casual meal. Macaroni Grill and Carrabba’s are a little nicer and are great restaurants for an Italian food date.

These restaurants don’t rely on pastas with overly seasoned heavy sauces to convince you that you’re eating Italian food. They use a wider variety of ingredients that are more true to the spirit of Italian food. Buca di Beppo is a great family Italian food restaurant. The dcor is that of an Italian home and the meals are served family style. It is recommended that you find some friends or family that enjoy Italian food to share with because the portions are quite large.

While Italian food chains are certainly not the best way to experience Italian food, they have come a long way and more and more restaurants are raising the standard to bring good quality Italian food to the general public that can’t afford a plane ticket to Italy. More chefs are venturing out and trying new things with Italian food and the results are absolutely mouth watering. Italian food will always be popular in the United States. Just realize that when eating out at franchise restaurants you will never be able to replicate the flavor and quality of authentic Italian food made by Italians using recipes that have been passed down through the generations.

Popular Italian Food

When people think of popular Italian food they most likely think of spaghetti, lasagna, or tortellini. However, the popular Italian food in Italy is actually a little different and much more diverse.

A very popular Italian dish is the minestrone soup. This soup makes excellent use of one of the most popular ingredients in Italian food, beans. Beans are widely used in Italian food and are the feature ingredient in many soups, not just the minestrone. Along with beans are nuts as another popular ingredient. The main nut preferred for Italian food is the pine nut. This nut is used to not only accent pasta dishes, but also as a main ingredient in popular desserts. But, the most common and popular use of the nuts is in pesto sauce. Nothing says Italian food like a good pesto sauce.

Another popular Italian food ingredient is rice. By far the most popular use for this ingredient is in the signature Italian food dish of risotto. Here rice is mixed with broth, vegetables and spices to make a very unique and flavorful dish. Risotto is widely known as the most popular appetizer in Italian food and different regions take great pride in their individual risottos. Rice is also used in many different soups and stews throughout Italy.

The most ubiquitous of all popular Italian food ingredients is olive oil. The best olive oil is known as extra virgin olive oil and many Italian food chefs rely strictly on extra virgin olive oil. The difference between extra virgin olive oil and virgin olive oil is the acidity. In order to be classified as extra virgin the olive oil must not contain more than one percent acidity. Virgin olive oil on the other hand cannot have more than two percent acidity. Extra virgin olive oil is by far the most popular in Italian food where it is used not only to cook food in, but also as a dressing for salad and a dipping option for bread.

When discussing popular Italian food it is essential to talk about the most popular breads and pastries. Breads serve an important role in Italian food. They can be used as appetizers, sides to a meal, and desserts. The most popular breads are flavored with herbs, cheeses, and sun-dried tomatoes. An excellent dessert bread in Italian food is the biscotti which means “twice baked”. This popular dessert is more like a biscuit or cookie and is often flavored with almonds and spices. Fruit can be added to the biscotti and a popular choice is cherries. Biscotti are very versatile in Italian food, being served for breakfast with coffee or as an after dinner treat.

There is much more to Italian food than just pasta and sauce. Italian food is a cuisine of diversity. When traveling in Italy it is often amusing to see the stark difference between what Italian food is popular in America and what Italian food is popular in Italy. If you want to try some different Italian food you certainly can’t go wrong with these time tested favorites.

Making Italian Food With Pasta

For many Italian food lovers and aspiring Italian food chefs, the first dish to be attempted from home is typically a pasta dish. Pasta is known as an Italian food that is easy to make. However, homemade Italian food dishes with pasta often end up falling flat. Here are a few things to keep in mind when preparing pasta at home.

First of all, your attempt at Italian food will only be as good as the pasta you use to make it with. When shopping for your pasta make sure you are buying a good brand that uses only quality ingredients. For instance, if buying dried pasta you should only buy brands that use just semolina flour. Any other type of dried pasta will taste like counterfeit Italian food. A good quality pasta will have a rough surface. The texture of the pasta will determine if it will be able to hold onto the sauce that it is served with. Smooth pasta is an instant indicator that you are dealing with an inferior brand. It is also important that the pasta be dense and heavy for its size.

If the pasta is too light it will fall apart when it is cooked. You want to make sure to avoid the mass produced and cheap pasta; otherwise your Italian food will not be satisfying. When shopping for fresh pasta you want to make sure that you pay attention to the expiration date, unlike dried pasta, fresh pasta does not have a long shelf life. Take a look at the pasta and if it looks cheap then it is. If it looks to have a good quality color and texture and is heavy, then that is the pasta that will give you the best tasting Italian food. The best bet when shopping for pasta is to see if there is a bakery that specializes in Italian food. Many such bakeries make pasta fresh daily and the quality will far out do anything that you will find at the store. The best way to get authentic Italian food is to get it from Italians.

Once you have bought your pasta you are halfway to enjoying good Italian food. The most important thing to remember when cooking pasta is to not overcook it. Mushy pasta is never good. For good tasting Italian food you want the pasta to be tender, yet firm to the teeth. Fresh pasta will take less time to cook than dried pasta. You want to make sure and use a large pot with an abundance of water. Bring the water to a boil and then liberally add salt. If you don’t salt the water then the pasta will taste bland compared to the sauce it is served with. After you’ve salted the water it is time to add the pasta. If you have plenty of water that is brought to a vigorous boil before adding the pasta then you shouldn’t have problems with the pasta sticking and it should cook evenly. Good Italian food sauce makes use of the water that was used to boil the pasta, so make sure to save a cup of it to add to the sauce. Also, don’t ever rinse the pasta after you’ve cooked it, otherwise you will be stripping away the flavor of your Italian food.

Hopefully these tips will help you make better Italian food. If you haven’t tried preparing Italian food yourself then give it a try starting with the most fundamental Italian food, pasta.

Lombardy – The Other Side of Italian Food

There are many different factors that merge to create the style of Italian food eaten in a particular region of Italy. A great example of this is the Lombardy region. The land here dictates what ingredients are used in the Italian food and hence what type of dishes will emerge.

The biggest feature of this region is the vast plains. These plains allow for an abundance of cattle and these cattle greatly affect the type of Italian food found in this area. For instance, while most people think of olive oil in conjunction with Italian food, in this region butter is much more popular. There is also a lot of cream used in the food here; again not something most people associate with Italian food. These distinct differences from the general ideas of Italian food are due to the abundance of cattle found in the region.

Cheese is a very important ingredient in the Italian food here. One important cheese is the robiola. This cheese is part of the Stracchino family and is a soft-ripened cheese that is distinctly Italian. It is made from a blend of cow, goat, and sheep’s milk. The proportions of the different milks are distinct to different areas of the region and so it is possible to taste several different samples of the cheese, each with its own distinct flavor. Grana padano is also a very important cheese to the region. This is a hard, grainy cheese made from cows milk and aged anywhere from eight to twenty-four months. This cheese is important in the history of Italian food. It was invented by monks who used ripened cheese as a method of preserving extra milk. By 1477 this cheese was one of the most famous cheeses in the world and it certainly hasn’t lost any luster with the passing years.

Another distinct feature of this area’s Italian food is the use of single pot dishes. These are dishes which take less work to create and are therefore more popular amongst the working class of the area. Polenta is very popular as is rice. There are many different risottos that are common in the area as well as rice based soups. A popular version of risotto here is flavored with saffron. Another dish that is immensely popular and has made the region famous is its traditional ravioli with pumpkin filling. While ravioli is popular with Italian food lovers most have never had it with pumpkin filling. It is also served with melted butter and is often followed by turkey traditionally stuffed with stewed meats or chicken. True to the picture of Italian food the area boasts yet another unique pasta dish, this one with a twist as well. It is a dish of buckwheat pasta with potatoes, Swiss chard, butter, and Bitto cheese.

Of course you can’t overlook the importance of desserts in the Italian food of Lombardy. The region boasts a few sweet dishes. They make a traditional Christmas bread made with yeast dough and dotted with candied citrus peel, raisins, and candied fruits. An even sweeter Italian food creation is torrone. This nougat confection is made from honey, sugar and egg white. It is then coated with crushed, toasted almonds. The last unique dish to the area is actually a condiment made of boiled fruits seasoned with mustard. This region really does expand a person’s view of Italian food.

Learn to Make Italian Food

Italian food has long been amongst the most popular food in the world. Everyday people all over the world sit down to meals of fresh Italian food that tastes so good it’s hard to imagine making it yourself. However, there are some people who are up to the challenge of learning to make quality Italian food. For some it is not just enough to enjoy Italian food, they need to create Italian food. There are many options today for learning to cook Italian food. Some people live in areas where there are no Italian food cooking classes. Others may feel too self conscious in order to go to an Italian food class. But there is an option for everyone that wants to learn to cook Italian food whether they want to become a world class chef or if they just want to not be intimidated by a pot of boiling water and a handful of spaghetti. The great thing about Italian food is that it has great dishes that are simple to make for the beginner and complex dishes that take world class chefs years to master. There really is something for everyone.

The first option to learn to cook Italian food is cooking classes or cooking school. If you want to become a professional Italian food chef then you will want to attend an accredited cooking school. There are many different culinary institutes in the United States and around the world that can help you specialize in Italian food. Research the different options and decide which will be best for you and will help you meet your goals. Some things to consider are tuition and location. You can attend school abroad or in your local area. If you want to start work right away after graduation at an Italian food restaurant, then see what kind of help the different schools give in job placement after graduation.

Going to school to become a professional Italian food chef is very challenging but in the end it is extremely rewarding to know that you can craft some of the finest Italian food in the world. For those not wanting to necessarily become professionals, you can look into local cooking schools or community centers that offer lessons in cooking Italian food. You can learn to make specific regional Italian food or just take a few classes to teach you how to cook a meal for a special occasion to impress friends or family.

Another great option in today’s world is to learn how to cook Italian food right from home. Today it is possible to take classes in cooking Italian food off of the internet. This is a great option for people who are self conscious or like to take things at their own speed in a comfortable environment. There are both paid and free cooking classes online that can help you with your Italian food skills. Research the different programs available and see what is right for you. Be sure to also check out reviews of online programs and see if previous students feel that they really learned how to cook Italian food from the course.

You can never be too careful online, but once you find a school that you like that has good reviews, don’t hesitate to jump right in. Before long you’ll cooking up fabulous Italian food dishes that previously seemed impossible.