BEST ITALIAN RECIPES

Homemade Italian Food Recipes from Scratch

I have listed a taste of the Best Italian Recipes, check it out below:

Italian Pasta Recipes

Authentic Italian Tomato Sauce Recipe

Outstanding Toasted Ravioli Recipe

Welcome to my homemade Italian recipes from scratch. Here you will find a wonderful blend of old fashioned Italian food recipes and modern day wonders. Authentic Italian food recipes from Italy. Simply delicious.

I have included many Italian terms and dish names at the end of the page for your convenience.  Enjoy.

Make it Fresh and from Scratch

If a recipe calls for a 28 ounce can of tomatoes:

**To use fresh Roma tomatoes, you will need between 8 to 12 per 28 ounce can. If you will use Beefsteak or another large tomato variety, you could probably get away with between 4 to 6, again, depending on how large they are.

Italian Pasta Recipes

Italian Chicken Recipes

Chicken Marsala Recipe left

Italian Beef Recipe

Homemade Lasagna Recipe

Fettuccine Alfredo Recipe

Spaghetti Recipes

Linguine Recipes

Is your mouth watering yet?

Catering for a accumulation of tastes, my best Italian food recipes include pasta sauce recipes, Italian chicken recipes, pizza, homemade pasta, - and that's just for starters.

Whatever your preferences, you can be sure to find great easy Italian recipes from scratch which will soon become a family favorite. Now on to more of my best Italian recipes.

Baked Ziti Recipe above

Seafood Lasagna Recipe

Homemade Spaghetti Sauce Recipe

Spaghetti and Meatball Recipe

Chicken Carbonara Recipe

Chicken Piccata Recipe

Chicken Alfredo Recipe

Chicken Parmesan Recipe

Italian Chicken Pie Recipe

Italian Sausage Pie Recipe

Italian Braciole Recipe

Fresh Tomato Sauce Recipe left

Bolognese Sauce Recipe

Pizza Sauce Recipe

Pizza Crust Recipe

Marinara Sauce Recipe

Mushroom Sauce Recipe

Spaghetti Sauce Recipe

Cacciatora Sauce Recipe

Pesto Sauce Recipe

Pasta Sauce Recipes

Basic Pasta Dough Recipe left

Agnolotti Pasta

Cannelloni Pasta Recipe

Cappelletti Pasta

Fettuccine Pasta

Manicotti Pasta

Ravioli Recipe left

Tortellini Pasta

Pasta Filling Recipes

HOMEMADE LASAGNA RECIPES

This recipe from Italy is for lasagna rolls. These are fantastic and another one of my best Italian recipes.

OLD FASHIONED ROLLED LASAGNE RECIPE

2 cups ricotta cheese
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup Romano cheese, grated
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp homemade garlic powder
1/2 tsp homemade onion powder
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 lb lasagna pasta, cooked and placed in cold water
4 cups homemade tomato sauce

PREHEAT oven to 375 degrees and grease a 9x13 baking dish.

Combine all of the ingredients except for the lasagna and tomato sauce. Mix well and spread cheese filling on a strip of lasagna and roll up. Place in the baking dish.

Continue this process until all the lasagna is used up. Pour the sauce over the noodles. Cover firmly with foil and bake for 45 minutes.

You may sprinkle shredded mozzarella on top of the sauce if you wish.

Another one of my homemade Italian food recipes. You may add these meatballs to spaghetti or make meatball subs.

RECIPE FOR ITALIAN MEATBALLS

1/2 lb ground beef
1/4 lb ground veal
1/4 lb ground pork
4 slices stale bread, soaked in water, squeezed dry and torn into pieces
3 eggs
1/2 cup Romano cheese, grated
2 TBS fresh chopped parsley
2 garlic cloves, minced
1-1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp fennel seed

PREHEAT oven to 375 degrees.

Place the meat in a large bowl and add the torn bread. Add the remaining ingredients and lightly mix well - with your hands (over-worked meat produces tough meatballs).

Oil your hands and form the meat mixture into 12 balls. Place on a cookie sheet and bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until meatballs are browned and cooked through.

This recipe makes approximately 10 to 12 large balls, 30 medium balls and 50 small balls. Bake the medium balls for 18 minutes and the small balls for 12 minutes.

ITALIAN TERMS and DISHES

This list sure comes in handy when reading a menu or recipe. I usually just post my best Italian recipes using English words to describe the recipe.

Acciuga: Anchovy

Aceto Balsamico: Balsamic vinegar, a sweet-and-sour, dark-brown vinegar traditionally made in Modena. Real balsamic vinegar reads "aceto balsamico tradizionale di Modena" on the label and is quite expensive. In the supermarket, you will find aceto balsamico de Modena, which is not made by the same method at all; it is simply a sweetened wine vinegar but fine for use in Italian cuisine.

Affumicato: Smoked; used to refer to smoked meats and fish.

Al Dente: Italians cook pasta "al dente," which means "to the tooth," meaning that it still has a little bite.

Agrodolce: Sweet and sour

All'aglio e Olio: A dish with this name is made with garlic and oil. A famous, easy-to-make pasta dish is spaghetti all'aglio e olio.

Al Forno: In the oven

Antipasto: A little something that is served before the meal, or as an appetizer.

Arista: Loin of pork

Arrabbiata: A tomato sauce flavored with chili to make it spicy.

Biscotti: Means "twice-cooked" and refers to a type of cookie for which the dough is cooked twice: usually first in a log, which is then sliced; the slices are cooked again until dry and crisp.

Bistecca: Steak, usually beef, but can also refer to pork or veal.

Bocconcini: Means a bite-sized piece of food. You're likely to see it referring to small balls of fresh mozzarella cheese.

Alla Bolognese: Means in the style of Bologna, and usually refers to a slow-cooked meat sauce with vegetables and tomato.

Botarga: Intensely flavored dried mullet or tuna roe, cut into thin shavings for use in salads and pastas.

Branzino: Sea bass

Braesaola: Air-dried beef fillet, served thinly sliced and uncooked in salads and antipasti.

Brodo: Soup

Bruschetta: Toasts, usually served with a topping of some sort as an antipasto. While the two words may be used interchangeably, bruschetta are typically larger pieces of toasts, while crostini are typically smaller.

Burridda: A fish stew or soup.

Burro: Butter

Calzone: A savory pie made from a yeast dough that is rolled to a round like a pizza, filled, folded over to make a half-circle and baked.

Cannoli: Crisp, deep-fried pastry tubes that are filled with cream.

Caponata: A traditional Sicilian vegetable dish made with eggplant and tomato.

Alla Caprese: In the style of Capri, meaning made with tomato, basil, olive oil and mozzarella cheese.

Carpaccio: A dish of raw beef sliced very thin, often seasoned with lemon and olive oil or mayonnaise, served as a salad or antipasto.

Ceci: Chickpeas

Contorno: Vegetable side dish, usually served alongside the main course.

Crema Pasticcera: Pastry cream, a thickened cream of milk and egg used in desserts.

Crespelle: Crêpes, both sweet and savory.

Crostata: Flat, open-face tart, sweet or savory.

Crostini: Toasted bread like a crouton, usually served with a topping of some sort, or sometimes just a drizzle of good olive oil.

Crudo: Uncooked. You will likely see it in reference to a raw fish appetizer.

Fagioli: Beans

Farro: Spelt, a grain used in soups, breads and risotto-like preparations. Barley may be substituted.

Fontina: A cow's milk cheese made in the Valle d'Aosta region in Northern Italy.

Formaggio: Cheese

Frittata: An open-face omelet, made entirely on top of the stove, or started on top of the stove and completed in the oven; usually flavored with vegetables, herbs, meats or cheeses.

Frutti di Mare: Seafood

Gamberi: Shrimp

Gelato: Italian ice cream

Alla Genovese: In the style of Genoa, which means "with basil, garlic and oil."

Gnocchi: Dumplings. We're most familiar with those made with potatoes and flour, but, in Italy, they are also made with semolina, ricotta or breadcrumbs.

Gorgonzola: A type of cow's milk blue cheese from the town of Gorgonzola, in the north of Italy.

Grana Padana: Hard cow's milk cheese from Northern Italy.

Granita: An icy, granular frozen dessert.

Grissini: Breadsticks

Integrale: Whole wheat

Marinara: A tomato sauce with garlic, olive oil and oregano.

Mascarpone: A fresh Italian cream cheese with a very soft, creamy texture and buttery flavor. Mascarpone is used in both sweet and savory dishes.

Al Mattone: A technique by which an ingredient is cooked under a brick so that it lies flat for sautéing or grilling.

Minestra: Soup

Mozzarella di Bufala: Cheese made from the milk of water buffalo. Mozzarella is also made from cow's milk (much more commonly found here in the States), in which case it is called Fiore di Latte. Both spoil quickly and should be used as soon as possible after purchase.

Nocciola: Hazelnut, widely used in Italian cuisine in both sweet and savory dishes.

Olio di Oliva: Olive oil. Extra-virgin oil, made from the first pressing of the olives, is the highest quality.

Panzanella: A traditional salad made with stale bread, fresh tomatoes, cucumbers, basil and olive oil.

Parmigiano-Reggiano: An excellent hard cow's milk cheese originally produced in and around Parma. If you're in doubt, true Pamigiano-Reggiano will have those words stenciled on the rind.

Pecorino: A hard sheep's milk cheese made in the area around Rome (called Pecorino Romano), as well as in Tuscany, Sardinia and Sicily.Peperoncino: A hot chili pepper used in Italian cuisine.Pesto: A famous green sauce from Genoa, made with basil, olive oil, pine nuts and pecorino, traditionally mashed together in a mortar and pestle.

Pignoli: Pine nuts

Pizza: Open-faced pie made with yeast dough topped with savory toppings, originally from Naples.

Pizzaiolo: Fresh tomato sauce from Naples often used in pizza-making.

Polenta: Both an ingredient — cornmeal — and a porridge made from cornmeal.

Polpetta: Meatball

Polpo: Octopus

Pomodoro: Tomato

Porchetta: Spit-roasted, whole suckling pig.

Porcini: A meaty mushroom used both fresh and dried in Italian cuisine.

Primo: The first course of a traditional Italian meal.

Prosciutto: Although in America we think of prosciutto as a raw ham, in Italy the word simply means ham. Prosciutto cotto is cooked; prosciutto crudo is raw.

Provolone: A sharp cow's milk cheese.

Alla Puttanesca: A tomato sauce flavored with capers and anchovies, and often with olives, garlic and chile flakes, as well.

Ribollita: A soup made with white beans, vegetables, stale bread and cheese. Ribollita means re-boiled because the soup is to be cooked, then left to stand before it is reheated.

Ricotta: A fresh cheese traditionally made with whey that is drained off in the process of making another cheese (often Pecorino), and then cooked. Ricotta salata is dried, salted ricotta cheese used for grating and shaving; it has a much longer shelf life than fresh ricotta.

Ripieno: A stuffing or filling.

Risotto: A savory dish of rice cooked slowly in broth, served as a first course. Risotto is made with a special Italian rice that remains firm during cooking while it imparts its starch to the dish, thickening the broth to a creamy texture. Arborio, carnaroli and vialone nano are the varieties of Italian rice appropriate for risotto.

Salsa: Sauce

Saltimbocca: A dish of pounded-veal scallops rolled with prosciutto and fresh sage. The name means "leap into the mouth."

Salumi: A general word for cured meats including those made with ground meats, such as salami and mortadella, and whole, bone-in meats, such as prosciutto.

Scaloppina: A thin, pounded piece of meat, such as a veal scallop.

Secondo: Main course of a traditional Italian meal.

Semifreddo: The word means "partly frozen," and refers to an Italian dessert of molded custard or ice cream.

Sformato: A molded dish, sweet or savory.

Soffrito: A mixture of chopped vegetables, usually onion, carrot, celery and garlic, which forms the base of many Italian soups, sauces and stews.

Speck: A ham, traditionally from the Alto Adige region of Northern Italy, that is boned, cured and smoked. This is a rare example of a salumi that is both cured and smoked, and reflects the influence of Eastern European tradition on Italian cuisine.

Spiedino: A skewer, as in skewered, grilled meats.

Tartufo: A truffle, of which there are both white (bianco) and black (nero).

Tiramisu: A dessert of ladyfingers soaked in espresso and layered with a cream, often made with mascarpone cheese.

Zabaione: An egg custard made by beating egg yolks with sugar and wine over a water bath until fluffy.

Zeppole: Fritters, served sprinkled with sugar.

courtesy of Cooking.com

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