Summer
Panzanella o Fresella
Bread and Tomato Salad
This is a typical summer dish from the region of Campania, combining a salad and a snack. The bread content is a twice-baked granary bread called “fresella”, which has a delicate toasty taste. The genuine product can be found in good Italian delicatessens, or you can make it yourself at home.
Peperoni Mandorlati
Almond Peppers
This is one of many ways of preparing peppers in Sicily, where they are also served raw, roasted, sauteed and even air-dried.
Pesche Ripiene al Forno
Baked Stuffed Peaches
A typical recipe from Piedmont where peaches grow in abundance. You will need those lovely big ripe peaches with the yellow or white flesh (or you could use nectarines). This dish can be made well in advance as baked peaches are excellent cold, but not straight from the fridge.
Pizza alla Napoletana
Neapolitan Pizza
This classic pizza is both one of the simplest to prepare and the most tasty. In Naples it is customary to eat pizza in one's hands.
Pizza Margherita
Tomato and Cheese Pizza
This is an absolute classic - and is very easy to prepare. It was reputed to have been created to honour Queen Margherita of Italy. In fact its colouring is rather Italian, the red of the tomatoes, the white of the mozzarella and the green of the basil echoing the colours of the Italian flag.
Salsa Verde
Green Sauce
There are several versions of this Piedmontese sauce, which is derived from bagnet verd. It accompanies many different dishes, including batsoa and bollito misto. Chopped chilli is sometimes added.
Sorbetto di Campari e Frutto della Passione
Campari and Passion Fruit Sorbet
Campari is probably the best-known Italian aperitif the world over. With its intense red colour and its sophisticated bitter taste, produced by the infusion of various herbs, it can be used in cocktails as well as drunk by itself. Combined with the intense flavour of passion fruit, the result is deeply exotic. (I admit passion fruit doesn't grow in Italy, but I've made this one exception!) I created this sorbet many years ago, and it has become a much appreciated, refreshing finale to a meal.
Spaghettini con Frutti di Mare
Seafood Spaghetti
Seafood pastas are basics of Italian gastronomy, but vary enormously from region to region: the spaghetti vongole from Naples, the Venetian black spaghetti with cuttlefish, pasta with mussels and limpets from Positano and spaghetti and sea urchins from Puglia. The most important thing to remember is that the seafood must be the very freshest possible. It is the liquid the clams or mussels produce in cooking that contributes enormously to the flavour.
Tagliolini con Gamberetti
Tagliolini with Shrimp Sauce
The theme of pasta and fish is used endlessly in recipes from the coastal regions in Italy. This dish, with just its few ingredients of shrimps, garlic, tomatoes, parsley and basil, is a treat. You can use fresh home-made or bought fresh or dried pasta for this recipe. Tagliolini resembles very thin tagliatelle.
Zucchini e Melanzane alla Scapece
Fried and Marinated Courgettes and Aubergines
In the South, and particularly in Campania and Puglia, antipasti are almost always served with some pickled vegetables such as giardiniera or some fried and marinated vegetables such as these courgettes and aubergines. They make a delicious snack or accompaniment to cold roast meat.