Dairy

Spaghetti carbonara has humble roots in the Apennine hills of central Italy, not far from Rome, and was the shepherds’ favorite as they roamed the hilly pastures following the movement of flocks, a practice known as the transumanza. They carried with them some bacon, and made the cheese as they went along. Eggs were used only if available; of course they render the dish richer and creamier, but it is delicious with or without them. Of all of the pasta recipes that I have served in my restaurants throughout the years (starting with Buonavia in 1971, to today’s Felidia, Becco, Lidia’s KC, and Lidia’s Pittsburgh), spaghetti carbonara is definitely the crowd pleaser. It has some of the flavors loved most by Americans: bacon, eggs, cheese, and of course pasta. I’ve added some chopped scallions for freshness; I hope you like it.

As the impoverished residents of Amatrice moved to Rome in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, this recipe came along with them; today it is as Roman as the Colosseum, but you would never know it. Throughout America, 99 percent of Italian restaurants have this tubular-spaghetti dish on their menus, so it might as well be American now. You can use garlic here instead of onions, as the original recipe calls for. But unless your amatriciana contains guanciale (cured pig jowl), you are not even close to the original. Since pig jowl is not found in every corner store, making the dish with bacon or pancetta will yield delicious results as well. In this recipe I used onions, as in most of the American amatriciana recipes, but the bay leaves are my addition. The precursor to amatriciana sauce is sugo alla gricia, which does not contain tomatoes. The dish seems to have roots before the discovery of the New World; tomatoes came back from there to Italy. The gricia sauce contains guanciale, coarsely ground black pepper, and grated pecorino cheese to dress the pasta. This dish is still made today and is very popular in and around Rome, where it is called pasta alla gricia.

Rollatini are a popular dish in Italy. They can be made with chicken, veal, or pork, and the stuffing can be just about anything you like, but do include cheese. The delight of rollatini is the oozing cheese when you cut into them. So, whatever you do, do not skimp on the cheese. This dish was very popular on the menus of Italian American restaurants in the sixties and seventies. Fontina has great melting qualities; when it is not readily available, Muenster cheese is often substituted.

This is one of those “I have nothing in the refrigerator” dishes. Well, look in the cupboard. Capers, the small unopened buds of the caper bush, have been used for thousands of years. They are mentioned as an ingredient in Gilgamesh, possibly the oldest written story known, which describes events dating back to about 2000 B.C., found on ancient Sumerian clay tablets.

Spaghetti aglio e olio is one of those basic recipes that just about every household in Italy, and every Italian American household, has made at one time or another. Searching for flavors of home, Italian immigrants could create a tasty dish with just pasta, olive oil, and flavorful garlic. The simplicity of these three ingredients and the technique used here is what makes it so good. Do not burn the garlic, and add pasta water to make it into a sauce—the secret is as simple as that. In my recipe, I have added some shredded basil, since I’ve found in my travels that the addition of basil to a garlic-and-oil sauce is quite common. I often add basil to recipes: when in season, it brings freshness and that pleasant garden bouquet to many dishes.

These cookies are moist and delicious and simple to assemble. In the Italian cuisine, ricotta seems to be able to resurface deliciously in every course. Since it is a by-product of making cheese, the shepherds had plenty of ricotta. Hence, many desserts are still made from it, like these delicious cookies.

The harmony of this salad is that both the radicchio and the endive are from the chicory family, sweet and slightly bitter at the same time.

This quick salad delivers a lot of flavor. The radicchio has a touch of bitterness, but the raisins bring in the sweet element, and the goat cheese the creamy complexity. It is a great appetizer, or can be a main course.

Radicchio belongs to the chicory family. Sweet and bitter at the same time, it is delicious in salads, braised alone, in risotto, and for making pasta sauces. On my recent trip to the Salinas Valley in California, I was astounded to see how radicchio prospered, and how much of it was being produced.

This is not an Italian salad at all, and you would not find it in Italy. Nevertheless, it was very popular in Italian American restaurants in the 1960s and ’70s, and has made a strong comeback today. You can find it in any deli or fast-food locale, often topped with grilled chicken, shrimp, or turkey. With all its different renditions and toppings, it is a great salad if made well. This recipe will produce a delicious, tangy Caesar salad.

Every region of Italy makes some form of these fried dough pastries called zeppole. They can be sweet or savory, with goodies embedded in the dough or stuffed after frying. Zeppole are especially prepared for St. Joseph’s Day (March 19), during Lent, for the Christmas Vigilia (Eve), and on holidays. When sweet, they are usually dusted with powdered sugar and served hot. You can find them in every Little Italy in the United States around the holidays.

Caesar salad (see following recipe) is not a traditional Italian recipe, and the grilled Caesar salad seems to be a recent phenomenon. Nino Germano, the presiding chef-owner at La Scala in Baltimore, told us how, purely by accident, he invented the grilled Caesar salad. During a busy evening in the kitchen, a cut head of young romaine lettuce fell on the grill. Nino, a frugal padrone, set it aside, and when the evening was over and it was time to have his dinner, he decided to dress that grilled romaine as he would a regular Caesar salad. And so the recipe was born.

I found the St. Louis pizza to be different from any other pizza I have had before. The crust has a texture between a cracker and shortbread, and the cheese mixture recalls the milky-velvety mozzarella cheese found in Italy. The pizza is cut into squares, which makes it easy to eat. Here is a recipe I developed after several visits to Imo’s in St. Louis, and I think it is quite close to the St. Louis original

One could call this dish pizza bread, and it is a cross between a focaccia and a pizza. In Sicily, they make a high pizza called sfincione, topped with tomatoes, oregano, and a few anchovies. It is sold in warm squares as street food from a cart. The idea for deep-dish pizza came from the early Sicilian immigrants who settled in Chicago, although the excessive toppings are not something one would find in Sicily.

This is a Cinderella dessert story. From simple leftovers—some coffee, leftover cake or cookies, an enrichment of cream or mascarpone—a prince of a dessert is born. Tiramisù is an Italian creation but its popularity in America began in San Francisco, and today it is as beloved in the United States as it is in Italy. In Italy this kind of dessert is categorized as dolce al cucchiaio (desserts to be eaten with a spoon), as is zuppa inglese. Tiramisù can be made in advance, keeps well, is great to serve big numbers, and can even be frozen and remain delicious.

This great and easy sandwich could serve you well for breakfast, lunch, or a picnic. Basically, it is scrambled eggs with onions and asparagus. I prefer thin asparagus for this dish, since I recall making it with wild asparagus that I would go and forage every spring with my grandmother. Here in the States, asparagus is farmed abundantly. Wild asparagus is more bitter than the farmed variety, but I love any fresh asparagus. I sometimes use scallions instead of onions, including two-thirds of the green part of the scallion stalks as well.

Italian cheesecake is one of the easiest Italian desserts to make, and, yes, one can add raisins, orange, or pine nuts. But I recall my grandmother’s simple version, made from goat’s-milk ricotta with minimal sugar, and it was delicious. In America, the cream-cheese version, of much smoother consistency, is common, but an Italian will willingly partake of the crumbly consistency of ricotta cheesecake, any time.

I picked up this simple, delicious, and very Italian cake on a visit to Angelo Brocato’s ice cream and confectionery in New Orleans. I am sure you will want to make this dessert over and over again. If you are going to freeze it, keep the taste fresh by wrapping it tightly in plastic.