Archive for category Italian Food
Why Italian Cuisine Is So Popular
Posted by adoex in Delicious Food, Food, Italian Food on December 30, 2011
Italian cuisine is popular in many countries, and particularly in North America. Pasta is a staple in many households. Many Italian meals are easy and economical to prepare yourself, with ingredients commonly found in many households. In addition to this, children usually love to eat such things as pizza, ravioli and spaghetti. For these reasons, Italian cuisine is a good choice for dinner at home.
Like many countries in Europe, the cooking methods vary from one region to the next, but all areas have a few things in common. Cheese is a common ingredient, particularly parmesan and mozzarella, as well as olive oil and a variety of pastas.
Pasta meals are often served with a rich tomato sauce. Italy grows wonderful plum tomatoes which add great flavor, and are considered to be the best tomatoes to use for making a delicious sauce. A lighter meal is the primavera, served with lots of vegetables, olive oil and Parmesan cheese. This is usually a vegetarian meal, but may include chicken or sausage. The pesto sauce uses basil and oil and goes well with one of the smaller pastas such as penne.
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Introduction to Italian Food
Posted by adoex in Food Recipes, Italian Food on December 28, 2011
In 100 BC the Roman poet Horace commented that Italy was almost one big orchard, as the climate is very well suited to fruit trees such as pears, plums, apricots peaches and so on. It is also good for nuts and vegetables such as the globe artichoke and cardoon and the aubergine, which is actually a fruit like the tomato, and tomatoes grow very well in Italy especially in the southern region of Calabria. Italian cuisine is based on fresh produce which is seasonal and is one of the healthiest cuisines in the world, being as it is one of the homes of the Mediterranean diet.
When people think of Italian food some go no further than the ubiquitous pizza and pasta, and while these are very good they are not what regional Italian cooking is all about. Pasta is certainly a staple, and there is nothing better than ravioli stuffed with seasonal vegetables or seafood. Italians are lovers of this type of food and excel when it comes to dishes with baby clams, octopus, and squid, as well as fish of course.
The Parma hams that hang in many kitchens come into play when guests arrive unexpectedly and these can be sliced at a moments notice, and with buffalo mozzarella and a few slices of tomato and fresh bread, make an ideal light lunch when a little Italian olive oil is added. We can easily buy Mortadella but this is not considered the best of Italian meat products, a good salami is hard to beat, and the pastrami is wonderful too.
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