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Many people associate Italy with spaghetti bolognese, pizza “Margarita”, lasagna and other popular dishes that everyone knows. But this is only a small part of the vast Italian cuisine. There are no less interesting dishes in it, unfairly deprived of attention. They will be discussed in our article. We present a selection of Italian recipes at home, about which you have not heard much.
Florentine steak
Steak lovers will be delighted with the Florentine steak. After all, it is prepared from a piece of meat weighing at least 1 kg and up to 5 cm thick. Most often, this is the front fillet of the carcass with a rib. We offer an adapted home recipe. First, fry a large beef steak in a hot frying pan with oil for a minute on each side. Then we put the grill on the baking dish, put the meat on top and keep it in the oven for 10 minutes at 200 °C. At the end, we transfer the steak to the bottom of the mold and leave it to “rest” for 5 minutes. Before serving, cut the steak into portions, sprinkle with balsamic and sprinkle with coarse salt with your favorite spices.
Ossobuco with gremolata
The ossobuco recipe is a veal drumstick stewed in sauce. And it is prepared like this. Fry 2 drumsticks in a deep frying pan until golden brown. Pour in 150 ml of dry white wine, evaporate by half. Separately, we pass the onion, carrot, 2 stalks of celery. Add 2 tomatoes without skin and a crushed clove of garlic, simmer the sauce for a few minutes and pour the shanks. Pour in a glass of meat broth, cover with a lid and simmer for a couple of hours. Add more as needed. Ossobuco is usually served with gremolata, a popular seasoning in Italy. Grate the lemon zest on a fine grater, finely chop the garlic clove, chop the parsley leaves. Mix all the ingredients, season with salt and pepper — the gremolata is ready.
Arrosticini
The Italians prepare arrosticini kebabs from any meat, most often from lamb or lamb liver. At the same time, the meat is not marinated, but immediately fried on coals. Only for this it should be as fresh, juicy and soft as possible. We cut the lamb meat into even cubes 1 cm thick, tightly impale it on wooden skewers and fry it in a well-heated grill pan on each side. In total, this will take no more than 5 minutes. In Abruzzo, the birthplace of arrosticini, fresh slices of bread are served with a portion of kebabs, which are usually dipped in olive oil.
Panzerotti
Panzerotti — small pies with deep-fried filling. We offer the most common option. We make a sourdough from 200 ml of warm water, 1 tsp of sugar and a bag of dry yeast. Sift 400 g of flour with a slide, put salt in the recess, pour in the sourdough and 50 ml of olive oil, knead the dough, leave for 2 hours. The filling for the pancerotti recipe will be like this. Remove the skin from 4 tomatoes, knead with a spatula in a frying pan with olive oil and simmer until you get a thick sauce. We roll out the dough and cut it into circles with a diameter of 10-12 cm, lubricate it with tomato sauce, put a thick slice of mozzarella, make crescent pies. Fry them in a large amount of oil until golden brown.
Orecchiette with peas
Orecchiette is a kind of pasta in the form of “ears”, from which the Italians prepare a delicious pasta. Boil 150 g of orequiette until al dente. Fry 2 crushed garlic cloves, chopped onion and 70 g of green peas in a frying pan. Season the roast with salt, black pepper and Italian herbs. Pour in 100 ml of cream and, stirring constantly, simmer for 2-3 minutes. At the end, add the finished paste and mix everything together. We will serve pasta orecchiette with basil sauce. Combine 200 g of basil leaves, 3 tablespoons of olive oil, the juice of half a lemon, a clove of garlic in the bowl of a blender. Salt and pepper the mixture, carefully puree and serve the sauce with pasta.
Gnocchi with mushroom sauce
Italian gnocchi resemble our dumplings, which are supplemented with different sauces. Make a puree of 3 boiled potatoes, add an egg and 100 g of flour, knead the dough. We roll out the sausage and chop it with circles, giving an oblong shape. Cook gnocchi in salted water with 1 tablespoon of olive oil for no longer than 3 minutes. In one frying pan, fry the onion with 200 g of champignons in wide plates. In another frying pan, melt 1 tbsp. l. butter, dissolve 1 tbsp. l. flour, pour in 100 ml of cream and simmer until thickened. We leave a few slices of mushrooms for decoration, transfer the rest of the roast to a frying pan with sauce. We give it to sweat a little more and puree it in a blender. Pour the sauce over the gnocchi, garnish with slices of mushrooms and spinach leaves.
Grissini with prosciutto
Grissini are crispy breadsticks that are great as a snack. They are baked from a simple yeast dough. We dilute 10 g of dry yeast and 1 tbsp of sugar in 250 ml of warm water. Add 50 ml of olive oil, gradually add 500 g of flour, knead the dough and leave it alone for an hour. Then we divide it into several small lumps, roll it into neat flagella, bake for 15-20 minutes at 200 °C. For our recipe for Italian grissini, you will also need about 200 g of prosciutto ham in thin strips. We will wrap the rosy sticks in them to make them even tastier.
Cassata with ricotta and candied fruits
We turn to home baking, namely to the recipe of the Italian cassata dessert. This is a layered sponge cake with cream. Beat 6 yolks with 100 g of sugar into a smooth mass. Separately, beat 6 proteins with 100 g of sugar into strong peaks. We combine everything together, add 130 g of flour and lemon zest, bake a sponge cake for 40 minutes at 180 °C. We mix the cream from 350 g of ricotta, 100 g of candied fruits, 50 g of crushed chocolate, powdered sugar to taste. The cooled sponge cake is cut into wide slices, half of it is spread on the bottom of a glass mold and soaked with orange liqueur. Next, we distribute the cream evenly, cover with the remaining biscuit and again impregnate with liqueur. We tighten the form with food wrap, put it in the refrigerator to freeze. You can cover the cake with marzipan mass or whipped cream with fruit, the Italians themselves usually decorate the cassata brightly and festively.
Crostata with apricot jam
The recipe for Italian crostata will appeal to sweeteners no less. We chop the frozen butter into cubes, rub it with 100 g of sugar and 2 yolks. Add a little 300 g of flour with a pinch of salt and knead the elastic dough. We separate about a third. The remaining part is rammed into a round baking dish, align the sides and pierce the entire surface with a fork. Spread an even layer of thick apricot jam. From the postponed dough, we cut strips and make a “grid” on top of the filling. We will bake such a pie for 20-25 minutes at 180 °C. When the crostata cools down, you can take it out of the mold.
Limoncello
In addition to traditional Italian dishes, it is worth mentioning drinks. And it will be a citrus liqueur limoncello originally from Sorrento. Pour boiling water over 6 lemons, wipe dry and remove a thin layer of zest with a vegetable peeler. It is extremely important not to touch the white part, otherwise the drink will be bitter. Pour the zest of 700 ml of vodka in a three-liter jar, close the lid tightly, stand in a dark place for 15 days. The infusion is filtered through cheesecloth in several layers. We cook the syrup from 450 g of sugar and 300 ml of water, mix it with lemon infusion and seal it in bottles. Limoncello can be drunk in its pure form or added to cocktails.
Now you know what to cook from Italian cuisine, and at the same time you can expand the horizons of your family and friends. These dishes will enliven the usual menu and become a decoration of the festive table. If you want to delve into the study of the unknown cuisine of Italy, take a look at the category of national recipes. And if you have your favorite Italian dishes that are not so widespread, tell us about them in the comments.