Italian Cooking Recipes Widely Available Online

Italian cooking has never been easier, with many great dinner recipes found on the Internet, and most being geared towards people who work during the day and do not have hours to spend in the kitchen. Now it is entirely possible to eat authentic Italian cooking, without having to spend a ton of money at an up-scale eatery. The whole family is now able to do their part in making one of the Italian cooking recipes with the many easy recipes that can be found with a single click.

One of our favorite Italian cooking recipes found online is Manicotti My Way, and only takes about an hour to prepare. This dish will require a chopped onion, two minced garlic gloves, three cups of chopped cooked ham and two cups of shredded Swiss cheese. Also needed will be ¼ cup olive oil, one cup grated Parmesan cheese, six tablespoons of each butter and flour, and three cups of milk.

First, add the oil, garlic and onion, and cook for about five minutes until tender, before adding the ham and Parmesan cheese. While doing this, be sure to get the pasta shells ready. The package will generally have directions, but they usually take no longer than about 10-12 minutes to cook. Next, cook the butter until it becomes foamy looking, while stirring in the flour and milk slowly, while continuing to stir until the sauce begins to thicken.

Finally, stir half the cheese into the sauce, while the other half should be stirred into the ham mixture. Then, fill each shell with the ham mixture and cover the bottom of a large glass baking dish with the cheese sauce. Next, place the filled shells into the cheese sauce, and pour any remaining sauce over the shells to finish of this Italian cooking recipe.

Following the directions on recipe closely and exactly will result in a great dinner for the whole family that will have everyone thinking hours were spent on preparation. However, with the Italian cooking recipes found online, dinner is now made simple with these easy recipes. From Italian cooking, to Chinese, to even Indian, there is something for even the pickiest of eaters.

Italian Ingredients

Do you love cooking, but are sometimes unsure of the ingredients. Well here is a guide to some of the more common Italian Recipe Ingredients.

Amaretto - A liqueur made from apricot kernels and bitter almonds. You will ofter find this used in dessert recipes.

Amaretti - Small, dry biscuits (cookies) similar to macaroons. Made with bitter almonds, almond essence and egg whites.

Baccala - is salted, dried cod. You will need to soak it for at least 24 hours and changing the water often.

Bocconcini - means 'little mouthfuls'. And that's what it is, little balls of fresh mozzarella cheese stored in water.

Campari - A crimson colored spirit.

Carta di musica - This is a crisp, twice baked flatbread. Can use toasted Lebanese bread or lavish as a substitute.

Ciabatta - A crusty bread that is airy on the inside. The best type is wood fired.

Dried Porcini Mushrooms - A type of mushroom used to add intense flavor to dishes. Choose light brown or tan ones that are not crumbly.

Limoncello - This is a citrus based liqueur. Made by infusing lemon rind in pure alcohol. Serve chilled as an after-dinner drink or a fabulous palate cleanser.

Mascarpone - This rich, smooth cream cheese that has a high fat content. Used in both savoury and sweet dishes.

Mozzarella - A stretched curd cheese known for its melting qualities.

Pancetta - This is dried pork belly. It is generally used like bacon.

Pappardelle - Is a pasta. It can be fresh or dried and is a wide flat ribbon.

Pecorino - A hard cheese made from sheep milk. It has a sharp flavor and is used to grate over pizza.

Pecorino dolce - Known as sweet pecorino, is less aged and has a milder flavor.

Prosciutto - Is a dried and salted (cured) ham, generally served in wafer thin slices.

Radicchio - A red leafed salad ingredient that has a slightly bitter flavor.

Risotto Rice - This is the rice used for making Risotto. It is a short grain rice that is capable of absorbing much fluid while still maintaining it's shape and firmness. This is what gives Risotto it's creamy texture.

Scamorza - Very similar to mozzarella. A slightly salty cheese made from cows milk. It can be hung and dried and is often smoked.

Taleggio - This cheese has a pinkish-brown rind and a soft creamy texture. It is made from cows milk, has a strong flavor and becomes acidic with age.

So next time you are cooking Italian, you will be sure to know what ingredient to reach for.

Happy Cooking!

Lisa "The Crock Cook"

Tips in Cooking Italian Recipes

If cooking burgers and barbecues, sunny-side ups and omelet, try cooking Italian food and you will find a fast portal to cooking with stress. Cooking Italian food is hard even with a recipe to guide you on your way.

Recipes of Italian food may contain a lot of words that you will not be able to find in ordinary dictionary. This is perhaps because Italian food is often being cooked by those who already have the experience in cooking.

But still, who's stopping you from trying out the different recipes that you will find in an Italian cook book? Who knows, you might even master one dish and another through practice.

One advantage of having a cook book is that everything is already laid out for you. This means that you already have a guide on what to do to make an Italian dish. All you need to do is prepare the ingredients and follow the cooking procedures to the letter. But this is of course easier said than done. Here are some tips that will at least lessen the hardships of coking Italian food.

Buy a good recipe book

A lot of the procedures involved in Italian cooking is sometimes very hard to comprehend in words. Sometimes you need a real life demonstration to go with it. Unfortunately, you don't have a real chef in front of you. All you have is a recipe book.

If this is the case then buy a recipe book that will at least explain the very basic procedures that you will encounter in Italian cooking. Some recipe books have a section that explains all that. Some even have illustrations and pictures of the procedure per dish so that readers will have an idea what it is being done.

TV Research

There are a lot of cooking shows on the market that will help you a lot with improving your skills in cooking Italian food. And with TV, you will have a first hand demonstration of what is being done with various ingredients. Even if you are not actually there with the chef, you can still see what he or she is actually doing.

Know the terms

Constant research and watching TV will expose you to a lot of terms of Italian cooking. This will help you a lot in terms of cooking the other dishes that are in the recipe book. Remember, the procedures are actually all basic and are being done in many of the dishes so all you need to do is master each one and you are already good to go.

Be precise In cooking, whether Italian food or other cuisines, you need to make sure that your measurements are correct and precise. The taste of your dish will depend upon the rightness of the ingredients that you put into it. A small difference in the ingredients can alter the taste. Too much salt will make it too salty. Too much flour in the sauce will make it gooey. Too much water will make it bland and thin. And it goes on and on. The flavorings that you put and the amount of the ingredients will factor a lot in the food that you are preparing so be cautious and use those measuring tools.

Italian Cooking - Let's Begin

Is there an Italian Chef hiding in you? If Italian cooking is one of your favorites, why not learn how to cook Italian cuisine yourself at home.

Your can find Italian cooking recipes online 24/7. You should be able to find enough recipes to prepare a different Italian cooking recipe every day of the year for many years to come. Some will be great, some will be not so great.The good news is that once you have sampled enough authentic Italian food at your favorite restaurants, you will know what is good and what isn't.

Another great free source for Italian recipes is cooking shows on TV. There are some great programs featuring professional Chefs preparing Italian cooking recipes that you can watch that will show you tips and techniques that sometimes would be hard to translate from reading the recipe.

AS with all ethnic foods, Italian food uses its own group of spices. The most popular spices used in Italian cooking are garlic, oregano, basil and thyme. Fresh spices add a really special touch to any dish, but if you can't find fresh and must used the dried spice, buy in small quantities and keep them stored in a cool, dark place, not over your stove on a rack. Dried spices do have an extended shelf life if properly stored, but they do not last forever.

You can buy cookbooks from many sources on Italian cooking. Most of them have pictures of the completed dish so that you will know what it should look like. That can be helpful if you have never seen the dish anywhere. It is usually best to follow a recipe when you first start to learn a new cuisine, but don't be afraid to start experimenting once you have the basics down.

The heart of Italian cooking is the use of ingredients that are in season. Fresh, Fresh, Fresh are the three words to remember most. These ingredients are used to transform ordinary items into works of art in the form of sauces, pastas, breads, side dishes, main dishes, soups and deserts. The possibilities are endless and exciting.

The subject of pairing pasta shapes with types of sauces in the world of Italian cooking is a fascinating subject all by itself. When you were a child in school, did your teachers ever have you experiment with a layered sandwich? You know, peanut butter on one side and jelly on the other. Take a bite with the peanut butter side down and describe the taste, then flip it and take a bite with the jelly side down and make note of the differences. It truly is amazing. Try serving a slow simmered tomato-based sauce with a perfect blend of ground veal, pork and beef and spices, the right showering of freshly grated Parmesan cheese on macaroni instead of spaghetti. A revolting development to say the least. Entire books can be written on this topic alone. It is a very important aspect of Italian cooking.

Choose the method of learning Italian cooking that suits you best and that you are most comfortable with. Don't be afraid of failures, they will be some of your best teachers. Think about the time when everyone will be asking you for your recipes because you will be the "Italian cooking expert". Now go to your kitchen, pull out that recipe, pick up that saucepan and go to work!

Campfire Cooking Recipes - Porterhouse Italian Marinated Steaks

Campfire cooking recipes are not complete without a great marinated porterhouse steak recipe. What could smell better than a couple of thick porterhouse steaks when you place them on hot coals with a dash of salt and pepper and roasted corn on the cob than an Italian marinated steak?

Depending on how hot your coals are you should always try to time your foods so everything should get finished cooking at close to the same time so everything stays hot and is at its peak flavor. Cast iron cooking can be fun in the open campfire and lets open fire cooking flavor your food with that great smokey flavor that everyone thinks of when they think of campfire cooking recipes. It makes your mouth water waiting for the vegetables you could be cooking in the dutch oven like celery and carrots with come finely chopped onion and garlic with sliced carrots.

Depending on how many people you have present to feed you should figure one large porterhouse steak per person but don't be surprised if a few end up splitting a porterhouse because they are big meaty cuts that are quite filling. To marinate your steaks it is best to either seal them in a gallon zip lock bag with about a 1/2 Cup of Italian dressing each and coat each steak thoroughly or place the steaks in a large cake pan and pour the salad dressing over the steaks. Wait about 20 minutes and then turn the steaks over and make sure to coat both sides. Just before you place the porterhouse steaks on the hot coals wipe off any dripping Italian dressing. Grill on the first side for about 5-7 minutes being careful not to burn them over to hot a campfire.

What are good campfire cooking recipes without a side dish to accompany a mouth watering steak like an Italian grilled porterhouse steak? Try roasting some asparagus spears wrapped in strips of bacon. A tasty treat to beat a plain potato would be to try roasting a sweet potato instead. You need to start the sweet potato about 45 minutes before you start your steaks though and make sure you wash them, coat them with a little oil and pierce the skins with a fork to hasten the cooking time and to keep the skin from drying out. The roasted sweet taste of a sweet potato is not to be missed.

Never forget the tried and true campfire cooking recipes queen of the campfire, the smores around a fire at night. Who can resist the temptation of chocolate, marshmallow and that yummy cracker? Can you just smell the sweet smell of a smore in the air? Campfire cooking recipes are endless with so many foods to choose from for ingredients.

Award Winning Italian Meatballs

Here is a recipe for Italian meatballs that helped win a cooking contest that I entered. The prize for the winner was a limo for the night for friends and family and a trip to San Francisco to a top notch Italian restaurant called Fior d'Italia. If you have a recipe for a dish that you love, you might consider entering a cooking contest. There are thousands of cooking contests around the United States.

Some of the winners receive money, prizes or their own cooking show on TV. The Food Network TV channel is always casting for a competition. Check out their web site for; The Next Food Network Star competition.

Here is my Italian meatball recipe. The recipe that won the award is called; "Rigatoni Pasta With Raisin Meatballs And Portabella Mushrooms Topped With A Fresh Tomato-Marsala Sauce."

Chef Vinny's Italian Meatballs

2 lb. Ground beef (chuck or regular) not lean

2 tsp of salt or more if you like

3 large garlic cloves minced

4 eggs

1 tsp of minced dry basil leafs

½ tsp of minced dried oregano

½ tsp of black pepper

¼ cup of fresh chopped parsley

¼ - ½ cup of plain breadcrumbs

¼ cup of grated fresh parmesan or Romano cheese

(Optional) ¼ cup of raisins makes great tasting meatballs!!

Mix all in large bowl with your hands and form meatballs. Place on an oven tray and bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until they become firm and slightly brown. Don't over cook.

When done place all the meatballs into your favorite pasta tomato sauce and let simmer or medium heat until the meatballs are cooked all the way through. Serve with your favorite pasta. Enjoy!

Simple Italian Cooking - The Best Eggplant Parmesan Recipe

My wife and I tend to get disappointed when we dine out anymore. Other than a choice few restaurants we dine in the vast majority of the time. We do this a lot because I know I can make it better and healthier at home in my own kitchen. Having managed Italian restaurants in the past, I have come to enjoy simple Italian cooking and have come up with what my wife, family, and friends consider to be the best eggplant Parmesan recipe ever! Couple this recipe with a simple roasted red pepper sauce and a simple pasta side dish and I guarantee a meal better than most of the Italian restaurants in town!

Parmesan Ingredients
1 -- Eggplant. You are looking for the best cylindrical shape you can here.
2 -- Large Eggs
1 and half -- Cups Italian Bread Crumbs
1- Cup all purpose flour
18 -- Slices Mozzarella Cheese (the fresher the better)
2 -- Tablespoons water
1/2 -- Cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1/2 -- Cup Parmesan Cheese

Sauce Ingredients
1 -- Red Bell Pepper
1 -- 16oz Can Diced Tomatoes
1/4 -- Cup Chopped, Fresh Basil
2 -- Teaspoons Dried Oregano

Putting it All Together
Halve and deseed the red bell pepper. Brush the surface of both halves lightly with olive oil. Place under a broiler until the skin starts to char (do not blacken!) and bubble.

Roughly chop the pepper and place in a blender with the diced tomatoes, half of the basil, and the oregano. Blend until well mixed and then place in a sauce pan, covered under low heat.

Heat olive oil in a deep frying pan until hot enough to pop a small drop of water (safely). Preheat oven to 425. Wash and slice the eggplant into quarter inch or thinner rounds. Vigorously mix the eggs with the water to make a "wash". Put flour and bread crumbs into separate, "dredgeable" pans (I use pie pans).

Dredge the eggplant first through the flour, egg wash, and the bread crumbs (follow this order). Fry the eggplant in the hot olive oil and set aside on paper towels when lightly browned.

In a baking dish put a light coat of the sauce you were heating on the bottom. Stack the eggplant and the Parmesan alternately (Should be about 3-4 rounds high with eggplant on top). Place in the oven and bake for 15 minutes or until cheese has melted and bubbly.

Serve lightly covered with sauce and garnished with Parmesan and basil. You should be able to yield 6 servings and have some eggplant left over that you can slice thinly, fry, and toss with freshly grated Parmesan as an appetizer later.

Cooking Brochutto - A Great Italian Recipe

The most exciting thing about Italian cooking is that there are so many delicious dishes to choose from and are a lot of fun to create. Most people have at least one favourite dish. You may have one yourself. If you don't already know how to prepare it, or you would like to really perfect it, you may consider looking through cookery books or online for more information. If you are really enthusiastic you could look into cookery classes that specialize in this kind of cooking or even in this particular dish.

Or, perhaps you would like to know if it is available in any shops or restaurants locally.
Whatever you do be assured that Italian cooking brochutto is great to prepare and can be a rewarding pastime.

You may have tried this wonderful dish in a restaurant or it has been served to you by a friend or member of your family and now that you have tasted it the need to recreate the experience is great! Italian cooking brochutto is a memorable dish that once tried needs to be repeated. If this is the case for you there are many ways to get all the information you need for this type of cooking at your fingertips.

The best place to source information for Italian cooking brochutto is one the internet. There are countless recipes for you to try. To create your own unique recipe may take some experimentation on your part. You might like to add various ingredients here and there until you create your own individual recipe for Italian cooking brochutto.

The internet is not the only resource available to you. There are excellent bookshops that have a comprehensive supply of cookery books to suit every taste, ethnicity and culture. You may even try your local library which has a wealth of information for you to browse. All this information may inspire you to take your cooking to a new level and to try out many different styles of cooking. You may discover that you have a talent that has never been revealed before.

If your heart is set on replicating the perfect Italian cooking brochutto why not visit a favourite Italian restaurant and try their version of this great dish. You may love the way it tastes and be able to decipher what particular ingredients were used in its creation. It could be a challenge for you to prepare this dish at home later using your memory of the one you had ordered in the restaurant. It could be great fun to prepare and interesting to see how it actually turns out.

Perhaps you have all the information and the enthusiasm but lack that little bit of confidence to try Italian cooking brochutto without some guidance. In this instance it is worthwhile attending a cookery course that offer classes that are devoted to Italian cooking Brochutto. Your teacher will have perfected the dish many times over in her classes so will be the ideal person to instruct you exactly how to perfect it for yourself. There may be many different variations of the way this dish is prepared and possibly a few techniques that you haven't heard of before. Going to cookery classes is a great way to get you on the road to becoming an expert in Italian cooking brochutto.

Sicilian Cooking - One of the Masterpieces of Italian Cuisine

Introduction
Sicilians have perfected the art of food presentation, where even the simplest dish becomes a work of art. Sicilian vegetable dishes are usually elaborate preparations, often with many ingredients added to the main vegetable to create complex flavours.

A kaleidoscope for the senses

The sun and soil both contribute to the excellence of Sicilian food and wine through the vivid colours and tastes it gives to the fresh local vegetables such as tomatoes, aubergines, peppers, zucchini, olives, oranges and capers. Sicilian food melds an incredible variety of styles and historic ingredients while remaining uniquely Italian and ultimately fantastic.

Aubergines, tomatoes and Mozzarella are the classic ingredients of any classic Sicilian sauce for pasta, and roasting the tomatoes and aubergines to get them slightly charred adds an extra flavour dimension.

Here is a Sicilian recipe using aubergines and Mozzarella.

Siciliano di pasta con melanzane e pomodore torrefatto - Sicilian Pasta with Roasted Tomatoes and Aubergines

Ingredients
8 oz (225 g) spaghetti
12 large tomatoes (roughly 2 lb/900 g)
1 large aubergine, cut into 1 inch (2.5 cm) cubes
2 large cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped
about 4 tablespoons olive oil
12 large basil leaves, torn in half, plus a few extra for garnish
5 oz (150 g) Mozzarella, cut into ½ inch (1 cm) cubes
salt and freshly milled black pepper
Pre-heat the oven to gas mark 6, 400°F (200°C).

Directions
o Put the aubergine cubes in a sieve and sprinkle them with salt and leave to stand for at least half an hour, weighed down with something heavy to squeeze out the excess juice.
o While waiting, pour boiling water over the tomatoes and leaving for 1 minute, then as soon as they are cool enough to handle, slip off the skins.
o Cut each tomato in half and place on one of the baking trays (cut side up), season with salt and pepper(prefera\bley freshly milled black).
o Sprinkle over the chopped garlic, distributing evenly, and follow with a few drops of olive oil in each tomato.
o Top each tomato half with half a basil leaf, turning each leaf over to give it a good coating of oil.
o Place the baking tray in the oven and roast the tomatoes for 50-60 minutes or until the edges are slightly blackened.
o While this is happening, drain the aubergines and squeeze out as much juice as possible, then dry them with a clean cloth and place them in the other baking tray.
o Drizzle 1 tablespoon of the olive oil over them and place them on the top shelf of the oven, above the tomatoes, giving them half an hour.
o In the last 15 minutes of the cooking time, cook the pasta.
o When the tomatoes and aubergines are ready, scrape them, along with all their cooking juices, into a pan and place it over a low heat, then add the cubed Mozzarella and stir gently.
o Drain the pasta, pile it into a warm bowl, spoon the tomato and aubergine mixture over the top and sprinkle over a few basil leaves

Cooking Recipe - A Great Recipe For Traditional Italian Baked Lasagne With Meat Sauce

This Lasagne recipe comes from a traditionally made lasagne from Bologna Italy. It has been handed down through the generations and it is still a common dish in that area.

A friend of mine who travels to Italy quite often has tasted many Lasagne recipes and he says this recipe is his favorite. We will prepare this meal in two parts. Firstly we'll prepare the bolognese meat sauce and then the Lasagne.

Bolognese Meat Sauce

Ingredients
1oz butter
4 tablespoons of olive oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1oz of unsmoked bacon, finely chopped
1 carrot, finely sliced
1 celery stick, finely sliced
4 medium sized mushrooms, sliced
1 garlic clove, crushed
12oz of lean minced beef
1/4 pint of red wine
4 fl oz of fresh milk
14 oz of canned plum tomatoes, chopped with juice
1 bay leaf
1/4 teaspoon of fresh thyme leaves
salt and ground black pepper for seasoning

Method

Heat a heavy saucepan with the butter and oil in it. Add the onion and gently cook for 3-4 minutes. Add the bacon and cook until the onion becomes translucent. Stir in the carrot, celery, mushrooms and garlic. Cook for 3-4 minutes until the vegetables become soft.

Add the minced beef, stirring into the vegetables until the meat loses its red color. Season with salt and pepper. Pour in the wine, raise the heat slightly and cook for 3-4 minutes until the mixture thickens. Add the milk and cook until it evaporates.

Stir in the tomatoes with their juice and the herbs. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to low and simmer for 11/2-2 hours, stirring occasionally.

Once you have done this you can start to prepare the lasagne.

Baked Lasagne

Method
(serves six)

Ingredients
14oz of dried lasagne
4oz of grated Parmesan cheese
11/2oz or 3 tablespoons of butter
salt and ground black pepper

For the bechamel sauce
11/4 pints of milk
1 bay leaf
4oz of butter
3oz of flour

Method

1- Butter a large, shallow baking dish. Pre-heat the oven to 200degC/400degF/Gas mark 6.

2- Make the bechamel sauce. First heat the milk with the bay leaf in a saucepan. Melt the butter in a separate saucepan.

3- Add the flour to the butter and mix in well with a whisk. Cook for 2-3 minutes. Strain the hot milk into the flour and butter and mix with the whisk. Bring to the boil, stirring constantly for 4-5 minutes adding salt and pepper for seasoning.

4- Bring a large pan of water to the boil, add salt and half the sheets of
lasagne. Cook for 4 minutes.

5- Cover a large work surface with a clean cloth. Take out the lasagne from the pan and drop into a bowl of cold water for about 30 seconds. Remove one by one and lay them out flat on the cloth carefully avoiding any overlapping. Repeat the process for the rest of the sheets.

6- To put together the lasagne have all the ingredients to hand. Firstly spread a thin layer of meat sauce over the bottom of the baking dish. Put a layer of pasta over the meat sauce. Cover with a thin layer of meat sauce, then one of bechamel. Sprinkle with a little parmesan.

7- Repeat the layers in the same order finishing with pasta layer coated with bechamel. Make up approximately six layers. Finally sprinkle the last layer with parmesan.

8- Bake the lasagne in the oven for 20 minutes or until it starts browning on top. Take out of the oven, leave for 5 minutes and then serve.

A great accompaniment with this meal would be a fresh green salad with a splash of olive oil and balsamic vinegar spread over it. Delicious.
And for those with a large appetite why not try some freshly prepared garlic bread.

Enjoy your fresh and tasty "Traditional Italian Baked Lasagne" with meat sauce.

Italian Cooking Classes - Ignite The Passion For Italian Dishes With Lydia's Cooking Classes!

Are you one of the many cookery lovers or an individual with who feels like a novice when faced with the task of preparing new and varied meals? Well, whichever category you feel you belong to, we have just the cuisine to delight you with and help you build up your recipe book with interesting, exotic dishes and raise your skill levels at the same time by igniting the latent passion for good food - Italian style!

In fact, even beginners in the kitchen can learn how to put together a great tasting, healthy meal to enjoy with friends and family and it's as simple as tuning in to a cookery show like Lydia Italian cooking demos! You learn by observing the techniques, tips and approaches the Lydia Italian cooking shows offer views and need to follow simple instructions for whipping up the same delicacies in your kitchen - and just await the praise that is bound to come your way with these value additions to your cooking skills!

If you are wondering where to find Lydia Italian cooking shows, you don't need to look further than your food network timings on the TV guide or you can choose to log on to the program's web site after entering the term into any major search engine. You'll not only get all the information of shows to come with highlights of the recipes to be covered, but useful recipe links, details of past shows and live demos too!

We all know that with a little bit of play-way learning, the whole process is made more enjoyable and that's the case with the Lydia Italian cooking show too: with an expert Italian chef guiding you all the way from picking the right ingredients, to mixing, cooking and presenting them just right and advise on entire menu planning, who knows what you can do with all the time and energy you will save on this easy to learn, enjoyable method of cookery schooling.

The best part about the Lydia Italian cooking show is the authentic recipes shown here along with variations of cooking techniques and an interesting, visual plus audio format that is easy to understand and recall; perhaps you could record some shows to watch at leisure too. Thus, it's easy to ignite that passion for cooking great tasting and varied Italian fare by simply tuning in to the Lydia Italian cooking demo.

With a friend, the learning process is double the fun, so perhaps you can find someone who shares your passion for Italian cuisine or simply cooking - and then recipe swaps with other friends is enjoyable too! Anyone who wants to learn to be a better cook can benefit from watching Lydia Italian cooking shows and new recipes - or traditional ones with a twist besides getting to exchange fun tales on the whole experience!

Cooking and Eating Italian Food - Delicious Food For the Family

Fresh ingredients:
Cooking Italian recipes depends upon one basic fact: the freshness of the ingredients. No processed foods are used in the creation of these delightful, elegant, yet deceptively simple meals.

Olive oil and garlic:
Staples of an Italian kitchen are olio d'oliva (olive oil) and aglio (garlic). Always choose extra virgin olive oil and fresh garlic. You will not see any garlic powder or garlic salt in a traditional Italian kitchen. Another common ingredient when in many Italian dishes is pomodori (tomatoes), which are used fresh in sauces, served in the antipasti or starter as a garnish over toasted bread, or in salads. Olive oil is used when Cooking Italian recipes for frying, sautéing, dressing on salads, and every other place where we would usually use shortening or vegetable oil.

Italians love their mealtime, and they take a long time to get through the entire meal. Dinner typically starts around 8:00 PM and is over around 10:00 PM. Family is key to Italians and you will often find children in the kitchen, learning to cook right along with the adults. The family comes together over the meal and large, boisterous meal times are not uncommon in an Italian household, with lots of shouting, laughter and good natured teasing accompanying the pasta. Cooking Italian recipes is something the Italians take very seriously.

The courses in an Italian meal:
The antipasti, or starter course mentioned earlier comes to the table on platters family style. It can be something as simple as a bruschetta (toasted garlic bread) with a variety of toppings to a more sophisticated dish made with zucchini flowers and grated parmesan cheese. By the way, when pronouncing Italian words, the 'ch' sounds like a 'k,' so the word bruschetta is pronounced bru-sketta. To get the 'ch' sound in Italian, put two c's together as in Gucci.

Following the antipasti, the primi piatti, or first course is served. This is usually a pasta course, but can also be a soup, crepe, polenta, rice, or gnocchi. Pasta is also a staple in Italian recipes, and you will usually find a pasta dish set on the table for every evening meal. Explore the Italian cookbooks for your favorite pasta or other starchy dish for your primi piatti.

The next course is the main course, or the secondi piatti. This is a meat course, served with a contorni or side dish. Beef, pork, veal, fish and poultry are all served and eaten with relish in Italy. Side dishes, or contorni, are sometimes salads, but often are starchy dishes like potatoes or beans.

Desert is not to be forgotten as a sweet, but not too sweet, end to your cooking Italian recipes experience. One of my favorite Italian deserts is contuccini. Contuccini is a small version of the popular Italian cookie called biscotti. These sweet, but hard, little almond cookies are served after a typical Italian meal with a sweet desert wine. Set shot glasses in front of your guests, fill each one with the desert wine and instruct them to dunk the contuccini in the wine before eating it. Delicicio!

Cooking Recipe - Do You Fancy a Tasty Italian Meatballs on Spaghetti Recipe?

Are you bored with preparing the same old meals week in and week out? Well here is a recipe for Italian Meatballs with Spaghetti. It's delicious, it looks good, it smells good and it tastes great. It will delight you and any guests you have invited around for a meal. The whole meal is inexpensive to make, it only takes a few minutes to prepare and the cooking only takes up to an hour. Let me first tell you about the pasta itself.

A good tip to get pasta the right texture is to remove a small piece from the saucepan and test it between your front teeth. It should be tender but still firm to the bite. Never simmer pasta but boil it in slightly salted water quite vigorously until it softens.

Then test it with your teeth after a few minutes. Always make the pasta towards the end when preparing this recipe. Do not leave pasta standing because it goes tough and unpleasant.

Ingredients (serves 2)

2 slices of thick bread (cut off the crusts)
2 table spoons of olive oil
1 red onion finely chopped
2 garlic cloves crushed
1 large tin of chopped tomatoes
8 basil leaves
3 table spoons of tomato puree
1lb of lean minced beef
1 table spoons of sugar
2 eggs
1 table spoons of fresh parsley chopped
1 table spoons of fresh basil chopped
12oz of dried spaghetti
salt and pepper
fresh grated Parmesan cheese to sprinkle over when serving

Method

Place the bread in a dish and soak with water. The water should just cover the bread and leave it for about 5 minutes, then drain off the excess water and squeeze the bread to remove all the liquid. Heat in a saucepan the olive oil, add the onion and half the garlic and occasionally stir while gently cooking over a medium heat. Add the tomatoes plus juice, basil leaves, tomato puree and sugar and then season with salt and pepper.

Bring to boil all the contents then reduce the heat to a simmer. After about 20 minutes this should reduce to a thickened and pulpy mixture. Using a large mixing bowl put in the bread, minced beef, eggs, parsley, basil and remaining garlic. Mix them all together using your hands and add a little salt to taste.

When this is done, make little balls of the mixture. Drop them into the saucepan containing your tomato sauce. Cook over a medium heat for 30 minutes. About 15 minutes before you are ready to serve your dish, boil some slightly salted water in a saucepan. Add the spaghetti. Boil for 10 minutes and test. Once it is ready, drain it well.

Put the spaghetti into a large shallow bowl. Place your meatballs on top. Gently pour the sauce over the meatballs and the spaghetti. Sprinkle on the Parmesan cheese and serve. If you find Parmesan a little strong, use a milder cheese of your own choice.

A nice green salad is highly recommended with this recipe. And don't forget a generous helping of a quality olive oil which goes well with any salad or cooking recipe in my opinion. To accompany this meal have a glass of red wine. Enjoy.