The Wonderfful Range Of Italian Dishes
July 25th, 2010 by Sanjeev Kapur
Italian dishes have quite a reputation of being royal and inspirational. Best known for pizza and pasta, Italian food also includes many exemplary meat and seafood dishes, besides excellent cheeses, and fabulous desserts.
Food in Italy is a means of spending quality time and bond with family and friends. Italian cuisine is about attention to detail that goes to making each dish just perfect. Italian food varies from region to region and are generally simple and straightforward to prepare. A few of the popular ingredients used in lots of Italian recipes include potato, bell pepper and tomato. Cheese is regarded as a vital ingredient and is used in most Italian dishes.
It has often been noted that Italy is a place of great regional variations - and that’s certainly true, indeed the country was only unified in 1861 - and this fact is reflected in the diversity of Italy’s regional cuisine. Over the centuries Italy has been invaded many times by different countries, Italy has also been involved in heavy trade and indeed this shows in the variety and origin of its cuisines.
Lets take a short gander on some of the Italian cuisines:
- Northern Italy’s native products include balsamic vinegar, bolognese sauce (ragu), lasagna, mortadella (a heat-cured pork sausage, served as a cold cut) parmigiano (parmesan cheese) polenta (a dish composed of boiled cornmeal), prosciutto (dry cured ham) and tortellini (stuffed pasta). Rice is grown in both Lombardy and Piedmont (although they differ in these two regions), and used to make risotto.
- Tuscan cuisine used white beans, meat and bread.
- Mozzarella and pizza, in addition to sfogliatelle (Italian filled pastries) originate from Naples.
- Many Roman and Italian cuisines generously use cheese made out of sheep’s milk, also knows as pecorino.
- Calabria (the region likened to the “toe” of Italy) is renowned for its spicy variety of salami
- Pecorinio is a sweet dish that is common and popular in Italy. It is essentially a kind of cheese that is made from sheep’s milk. Its especially popular in Sardinia.
- Touch of Arab influence is noticeable in Sicilian cuisines that use plenty of pistachio and lemon. seafood is particularly good here with swordfish and tuna based delicacies being more prominent.
For more information and videos on pasta recipes and other Italian food please click Italian Recipes
- Posted in Women