Recipes "Italy"

Pizza in teglia is Italian pan pizza: a wet, airy dough pressed into a well-oiled baking tin, topped with tomato, garlic and oregano, and baked until the bottom is crisp and almost fried. One tin…

Pizza marinara is the plainest of the Neapolitan pizzas: tomato, sliced garlic, dried oregano and olive oil on a thin dough, with no cheese at all. It costs almost nothing, it is vegan as it stands…

Pasta al pomodoro is pasta in a simple tomato sauce with garlic, olive oil and basil. It is the base of Italian home cooking: once you can make this sauce, you can make dozens of others from it…

Spaghetti aglio, olio e peperoncino is pasta tossed with garlic gently fried in olive oil and a little chili. It is the dish to make when the cupboard is nearly empty, when you come home late, or…

A calzone is a pizza folded in half before baking: a round of pizza dough filled with ricotta, mozzarella, Parmesan and basil, sealed into a half-moon and baked until puffed and brown, with a…

Pizza margherita is a thin yeast dough topped with crushed tomatoes, mozzarella, fresh basil and a thread of olive oil. Make the dough in the morning or at lunchtime and the pizzas take ten minutes…

Pizza quattro formaggi, four-cheese pizza, is a white pizza covered with mozzarella, gorgonzola, fontina and Parmesan, with no tomato. It is rich, so one pizza goes a long way: cut it into slices for…

Insalata caprese is slices of tomato and fresh mozzarella with basil leaves and olive oil, nothing more. With so few ingredients, everything depends on their quality: ripe summer tomatoes, soft…

Minestrone is a thick Italian vegetable soup with beans and a little pasta or rice. It is a meal in a bowl and a good way to use whatever vegetables are in season: there is no single correct recipe…

Risotto is rice cooked slowly in hot stock, stirred so its starch makes a creamy sauce, then finished with butter and cheese. With mushrooms, it is an autumn and winter favourite. It is not hard, but…

Pesto alla genovese is a raw green sauce of basil, pine nuts, garlic, cheese and olive oil. Tossed with pasta, it is a summer dish that needs no cooking apart from the pasta. In Genoa it is served…

Pasta al tonno is spaghetti in a quick tomato sauce with canned tuna, garlic, capers and parsley. Everything in it keeps in the cupboard, it costs very little, and the sauce is ready in the time the…

Pesce all'acqua pazza is white fish poached in a light broth of water, olive oil, garlic, cherry tomatoes and parsley. It cooks in one pan in about twenty minutes, and the broth that is left is…

Ragù alla bolognese is a thick meat sauce, cooked slowly for hours, with only a little tomato. It is the real ancestor of what the world calls "spaghetti bolognese". In Bologna it is served with…

Carbonara is spaghetti coated in a creamy sauce made only from egg yolks, cheese, crisp pork and lots of black pepper. There is no cream: the creaminess comes from the eggs, the cheese and the pasta…