Gourmet Italian

photo credit: thebittenword.com

Simple Italian soups are so welcome this time of year, and none are more comforting that Split Pea and Potato soup!    A nice warm bowl of soup, a crusty chunk of bread and a fireplace and I’m in heaven.  The addition of potatoes to the pea soup just make it that much more hearty.

I used to make this soup with beef broth.  However, I recently had some good homemade chicken broth, so I used it to make this simple Italian soup and I liked it better than ever.  I also used Yukon Gold potatoes and they added a nice dimension to the soup.

photo credit: HiMalta

I found this gourmet Italian frittata recipe years ago in the now sadly defunct Gourmet magazaine.  People go nuts over this recipe and it is really easy to make.

A frittata is kind of like an open face Italian omelet.  It is bulkier and sturdier than the delicate French omelet, and is therefore easier to make.  You can use any combination of meats, cheeses and herbs that you have handy.  People even include leftover pasta in frittatas with great success!  In Italy, people often take a wedge of leftover frittata with them for lunch!  It is really like a quiche – without the crust.  Hello Low Carbs!

We can most likely thank the Genoans for Pesto.  This quick Italian green mixture will brighten up any dish.  The name actually derives from the Latin word “pesta” – meaning to crush or pound.  Of course, the key ingredient in Pesto is basil.  Basil thrived throughout the region near Genoa, so it was widely used.  Pesto is basically pounded basil, garlic, olive oil, Parmesan cheese and pine nuts.  Basil also thrived beautifully in the region of Provence, France.  They make a similar sauce, but pine nuts – or pignoli – are not used in the French version.

photo credit: cayobo

Quick Italian Dishes are wonderful because they take little time, but are always full of flavor.  I love to cook shrimp and  I was surprised to learn that there are over 20,000 species of shrimp, but we only use about 300 of them.  Actually, the “real” scampi are actually lobsters found in the Mediterranean, Adriatic and Irish seas and is often called the Dublin Bay Prawn.  The closest thing to a real “scampo” – the singular version – in the United States is the Florida lobsterettes.   Most people in the United States have probably never eated a real scampo!

If you are looking for a quick Italian appetizer, you must try Bagna Cauda!  Craig Claiborne once said that Bagna Cauda is one of the most “Savory, delectable, and unlikely appetizers in the world.”  Although not everyone agrees on the origin of the name, the popular take on it is that it means “hot bath”, meaning the garlic and anchovies melt in a hot bath of butter and olive oil.