Italian Recipes: Traditional Roman Soup

Italian cuisine is perhaps the most widely recognized and famous globally - nearly every civilized country has assimilated pasta and pizza alongside their own national dishes, and one can always find an Italian restaurant. But I wonder how much of what is regarded as "Italian food" actually comes from authentic Italian recipes. Pizzas are the most obvious example, having undergone major changes to accommodate to the American palate.

However, when you go back to it's roots, Italian recipes are essentially about good, healthy food - olive oil, vegetables and bread being the most common ingredients.
Today, I'd like to introduce you to a traditional Roman soup, to be served with warm bread. A simple French bread will suffice.

Ingredients
1 lb potatoes
1 litre of water
Garlic
Chilli pepper
Salt
5 oz Pelati tomatoes (or sauce)
1 lb of chicory
Extra virgin olive oil
Bread

Preparation
Pour the water into a hot earthenware pot (a large sauce pan will suffice).
Cut the potatoes into thick slices, and crush two cloves of garlic. Add this to the water, along with the chilli pepper, 1 table spoon of salt and the tomatoes. Bring to a the boil, then reduce the flame and simmer for 15-20 minutes.
Finally, add the chicory and simmer a little longer unless the soup thickens.
Drizzle the olive oil on the bread and serve.
This is a simple but delicious recipe, but it isn't so filling that no one will have room for dessert. May I suggest a little Tiramisu perhaps?

You can find more authentic, healthy Italian recipes at this website.

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Looking For a Great Italian Meatball Recipe?

Looking for a great Italian meatball recipe? Wrap your lips around this one.

This recipe was given to my by my 105 year old Sicilian great-grandma. This is the real deal.

The Best Meatball Recipe

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Ingredients

1 pound combined beef, veal, pork (must be fresh)

3 large eggs

1 cup grated Romano Locatelli Cheese

1 cup bread crumb

1 clove garlic - minced

1 teaspoon salt

Preparation

(All mixing is done be hand)

In a large bowl mix beef/veal/pork with eggs. Then add bread crumb, cheese, and salt. Finally add minced garlic in stages. Add a little garlic, then mix. Add some more, then mix. This way all the garlic does not end up in one meatball. Now, it's time to roll up the balls. Average size is roughly 2 inches in diameter. I usually get around 18 to 20
meatballs per pound.

IMPORTANT! Do not cook meatballs in your pasta sauce! Meatballs cooked in sauce loose their flavor. The real key to a tasty meatball is cooking the them in an oven. So, heat oven to 375. Place meatballs on a rack - then on a cookie tray.

Bake for 12 minutes on one side then 10 minutes for the other.

BEWARE If you choose to fry your meatballs make sure you are alone. The aroma is so overwhelming that anyone in smelling distance will be steal your meatballs right out of the frying pan.

I freeze the meatballs in plastic bags and take out what I need per dinner. I just drop the meatballs into the sauce as if heats up.

Buon Appetito!

Paul Altobelli is an internet marketing specialist experienced in strategic planning, lead generation, website development, search engine optimization, internet sales and marketing program development. He also loves to cook. For more of Paul's Italian recipes visit http://www.paulaltobelli.com or email Paul directly at altobelli@gmail.com.

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Food Processor French Bread With Italian Herbs

A piece of crunchy bread can make the simplest meal - soup, stew, an omelet - into a fancy meal. Many restaurants are serving frozen bread these days. This bread is often under-baked or lacking in flavor. Instead of hearing a crunch when you bite into the bread you hear nothing. Even worse, the bread feels squishy in your mouth.

What a disappointment.

The way to avoid disappointment is to bake your own bread. Your first reaction, I would wager, is that you don't have time to bake bread. Well, this recipe for French bread hardly takes any time at all and tastes as good as bakery bread. If you have a food processor you can have French bread in a flash.
Serve it straight from the oven and your family will say "Ahhhh."

INGREDIENTS

2 cups bread flour

1/2 cup wheat flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano leaves

1/2 teaspoon dried basil leaves

1 teaspoon active dry yeast

Assemble ingredients in food processor. Pulse. Add 1 cup warm water and process on high for 1 1/2 minutes. Place dough in bowl that has been coated with cooking spray. Cover with a towel and let dough rise until it almost reaches the top of the bowl.

Sprinkle a bread board with cornmeal. Turn dough out onto board and cut in half with a serrated knife. Pull and stretch each half into a long, thin loaf. (You may have to roll the dough a bit.) Slash the tops of the loaves with a sharp knife or scissor. Place loaves in a nonstick baguette pan.

Put the pan on the top rack of a COLD oven. Put a pan of ice cubes on the bottom rack. Set the oven temperature to 450-475 degrees. Bake for 20 minutes until the tops are light brown and the bread sounds hollow. A 1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder may be added to this recipe for even more flavor.

http://www.harriethodgson.com http://www.healthwriter.blogspot.com

Harriet Hodgson has been a nonfiction writer for 27 years and is a member of the Association of Health Care Journalists and the Association for Death Education and Counseling. Before she became a health writer she was a food writer for the former "Rochester Magazine" in her hometown of Rochester, MN. Her 24th book, "Smiling Through Your Tears: Anticipating Grief," written with Lois Krahn, MD, is available from http://www.amazon.com A five-star review of the book is posted on Amazon. You will find another review on the American Hospice Foundation website under the "School Corner" heading.

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How to Make Italian Garlic Bread Fast and Easy

First things first... Italian garlic bread does not have to be on Italian bread. You can use french bread, sour dough bread or Italian bread. I like french bread and even baguettes sometimes. The goal here is to make it fast and simple and yet have it look like it took an authentic Italian chef to make it taste so good.

Ingredients you will need: 2 cloves minced garlic, 3- 4 Tablespoons olive oil, 2 Tablespoons butter and a loaf of suitable bread.

If you have those you are all set and in about 10 minutes it will be ready.

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. NOTE: As with most of my recipes, I always promote flexibility. If you are concerned 450 is too high choose a lower temperature such as 375 and simply bake longer.
Slice the loaf of bread lengthwise on its side so you have 2 long pieces of bread side by side.
Melt the butter and mix with the olive oil and the minced garlic.
Use a brush or spoon to spread the mixture over the bread as evenly as possible.
Place bread face up on baking pan and place in oven. Some people will wrap the bread in foil leaving the face of the bread exposed. This will take longer, but is a good tip for preventing the bread from becoming too crispy on the sides.
Bake about 5 minutes or until it is done to your desire. Keep a close eye on the baking so you do not end up with burnt toast!
When finished, remove from the oven and slice into desired thickness. 1 inch thickness is fairly standard.

TIP #1: If the bread is done before you are ready to serve, wrap it in foil to keep warm.

TIP #2: I recommend doing the bread when you do not have a zillion other things going on at once. Simply because it is easy to forget about it until the smoke alarm goes off. Use a timer to remember to check the bread!

Tip #3: If you are trying to reduce the caloric intake, simply use olive oil and leave out the butter.

Enjoy and Mangiamo!

2009 Copyright. Elizabeth Krause

Elizabeth Krause grew up in an Italian home, however it wasn't until later in her busy life when she began to appreciate the benefits of using simple ingredients to make simple Italian dishes. Take advantage of other simple Italian pasta dishes on her website. Each week she posts a new Italian recipe along with helpful tips in the hopes others will benefit from her learning experiences. Join her Newsletter to receive more Simple Italian Cooking recipes and tips directly to your inbox.

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Italian Panini Sandwich

Great sandwiches are hard to find and that is why Italians are really proud of their panini sandwich since it is becoming the talk of the town nowadays. There is something different about the taste of a grilled sandwich that makes those sandwich lovers go crazy for grilled panini.  Once you grill panini, the taste easily blends with all the stuffing inside that creates a distinct taste which differs from an ordinary sandwich. Panini are easy to make and you can even make your own blend anyway you want.
The usual ingredients of an Italian panini sandwich are the bread, meat, vegetables, and the press. Although, Italians aren?t fussy about the bread itself, they do care if the bread is dense enough to hold the stuffing inside and if it would be enough to grill evenly.  The most common breads used for panini are the Foccacia and Ciabatta breads.
Salami, pepperoni, and prosciutto are commonly used for this grill cooking method since they are already cured. However, it is also important to slice the meat thinly so that it all heats up evenly. You can even add thin slices of cheeses and mustard or mayonnaise. 
Vegetables are also an important factor with the panini sandwich. To add more flavor to your choice vegetable, you can grill them up first and then put it in your panini. Do not load your panini with too much lettuce since this is not an ordinary sandwich and it is meant to be hot.  Instead, add your lettuce after the grilling is complete so that the lettuce is cool and crisp when the panini are served.
You can find hundreds of different ways to make mouth watering panini. The best way to grill them is undoubtedly in a panini press.  If you don?t have one, it is a great investment and can cost anywhere from about $35 and up. The prices of panini grills are usually reasonable since the makers want to cater to the family budget. However, if you still don?t have the right budget for a panini grill, you can still use an ordinary burner with a two layer fire burning in low direct heat over your well oiled cooking surface. Just place your panini over the low heat area of the grill and close the lid. Open the lid after less than a minute and press the sandwich with a spatula for ten seconds then turn it over. And do the same thing again with the other side. Another option is to use a grilling pan on the stovetop.  Place a weighted object over your panini to press them down.
You can serve Italian panini for any occasion you want, including breakfast, lunch and dinner.  If you cut them up, you can even serve them as hors d?oeuvres. You can be certain that everyone will be satisfied and you will look like a gourmet chef.

For more great panini recipes and tips, visit http://www.easypaninirecipes.com. Easy Panini Recipes contains over 50 easy to follow, step-by-step panini recipes that will make anyone look like a gourmet chef!

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Food Processor French Bread With Italian Herbs

A piece of crunchy bread can make the simplest meal - soup, stew, an omelet - into a fancy meal. Many restaurants are serving frozen bread these days. This bread is often under-baked or lacking in flavor. Instead of hearing a crunch when you bite into the bread you hear nothing. Even worse, the bread feels squishy in your mouth.

What a disappointment.

Bread Pan

The way to avoid disappointment is to bake your own bread. Your first reaction, I would wager, is that you don't have time to bake bread. Well, this recipe for French bread hardly takes any time at all and tastes as good as bakery bread. If you have a food processor you can have French bread in a flash.
Serve it straight from the oven and your family will say "Ahhhh."

INGREDIENTS

2 cups bread flour

1/2 cup wheat flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano leaves

1/2 teaspoon dried basil leaves

1 teaspoon active dry yeast

Assemble ingredients in food processor. Pulse. Add 1 cup warm water and process on high for 1 1/2 minutes. Place dough in bowl that has been coated with cooking spray. Cover with a towel and let dough rise until it almost reaches the top of the bowl.

Sprinkle a bread board with cornmeal. Turn dough out onto board and cut in half with a serrated knife. Pull and stretch each half into a long, thin loaf. (You may have to roll the dough a bit.) Slash the tops of the loaves with a sharp knife or scissor. Place loaves in a nonstick baguette pan.

Put the pan on the top rack of a COLD oven. Put a pan of ice cubes on the bottom rack. Set the oven temperature to 450-475 degrees. Bake for 20 minutes until the tops are light brown and the bread sounds hollow. A 1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder may be added to this recipe for even more flavor.

Food Processor French Bread With Italian Herbs

http://www.harriethodgson.com http://www.healthwriter.blogspot.com

Harriet Hodgson has been a nonfiction writer for 27 years and is a member of the Association of Health Care Journalists and the Association for Death Education and Counseling. Before she became a health writer she was a food writer for the former "Rochester Magazine" in her hometown of Rochester, MN. Her 24th book, "Smiling Through Your Tears: Anticipating Grief," written with Lois Krahn, MD, is available from http://www.amazon.com A five-star review of the book is posted on Amazon. You will find another review on the American Hospice Foundation website under the "School Corner" heading.

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How to Make Italian Garlic Bread Fast and Easy

First things first... Italian garlic bread does not have to be on Italian bread. You can use french bread, sour dough bread or Italian bread. I like french bread and even baguettes sometimes. The goal here is to make it fast and simple and yet have it look like it took an authentic Italian chef to make it taste so good.

Ingredients you will need: 2 cloves minced garlic, 3- 4 Tablespoons olive oil, 2 Tablespoons butter and a loaf of suitable bread.

Bread Pan

If you have those you are all set and in about 10 minutes it will be ready.

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. NOTE: As with most of my recipes, I always promote flexibility. If you are concerned 450 is too high choose a lower temperature such as 375 and simply bake longer. Slice the loaf of bread lengthwise on its side so you have 2 long pieces of bread side by side. Melt the butter and mix with the olive oil and the minced garlic. Use a brush or spoon to spread the mixture over the bread as evenly as possible. Place bread face up on baking pan and place in oven. Some people will wrap the bread in foil leaving the face of the bread exposed. This will take longer, but is a good tip for preventing the bread from becoming too crispy on the sides. Bake about 5 minutes or until it is done to your desire. Keep a close eye on the baking so you do not end up with burnt toast! When finished, remove from the oven and slice into desired thickness. 1 inch thickness is fairly standard.
TIP #1: If the bread is done before you are ready to serve, wrap it in foil to keep warm.

TIP #2: I recommend doing the bread when you do not have a zillion other things going on at once. Simply because it is easy to forget about it until the smoke alarm goes off. Use a timer to remember to check the bread!

Tip #3: If you are trying to reduce the caloric intake, simply use olive oil and leave out the butter.

Enjoy and Mangiamo!

How to Make Italian Garlic Bread Fast and Easy

2009 Copyright. Elizabeth Krause

Elizabeth Krause grew up in an Italian home, however it wasn't until later in her busy life when she began to appreciate the benefits of using simple ingredients to make simple Italian dishes. Take advantage of other simple Italian pasta dishes on her website. Each week she posts a new Italian recipe along with helpful tips in the hopes others will benefit from her learning experiences. Join her Newsletter to receive more Simple Italian Cooking recipes and tips directly to your inbox.

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Focaccia Bread - It Is One Of The Staples Of Northern Italian Cuisine

Focaccia it is a bread that is made in Northern Italy. You can add any ingredient that you prefer, to make it one of your own recipes. I will give you the list of ingredients that I prefer to use, and the technique to make Focaccia. Then you are off on your own to individualize the recipe for your taste requirements.

List of Ingredients:

For the Herb Oil

1 Cup of Olive Oil













1-2 T Basil chopped













1-2 T Thyme chopped













1-2 T Oregano chopped













1-2 T Rosemary chopped













3-4 cloves of Garlic you can add an additional clove/cloves, if you like more garlic













1 T of good sea salt or Kosher Salt













1/2 - 1 tsp of cracked Pepper

To make the Herb Oil for the bread: Combine all of the fresh herbs in a mixing bowl and mix thoroughly. Just let it hang out until you are ready for it, but do not refrigerate.

Ingredients for the Focaccia Dough:

6 cups of Bread Flour













2-3 tsp of Sea Salt













2 tsp of instant yeast













7 tsp of olive oil













2 1/2 cups of water Make sure you water is not too hot between 105 - 115 degrees so it will not kill the yeast

To make your dough:

Combine all of the ingredients, other that the olive oil into a dough mixer. You could do this by hand if you want it will just double your mixing time. Mix until dough is all incorporated and together which will be about 3-5 minutes, and then add a little Olive Oil, just about 3-4 tsp. Then you will continue to mix the dough about an additional 1-2 minutes. You will remove the dough and add to a clean bowl. First you will coat the bowl first with about 1 tsp of Olive Oil, and then you will place the dough ball into the coated bowl. You will the let the dough rest for about 10-15 minutes at room temperature. Then you will punch/push/knead the dough down with your hands in a folded fist manner. You will not actually be punching the bread, it is just the name of the technique. After you do this process for around 1-2 minutes you will do the same thing over. Coat the bowl with about 1 tsp of oil, and this time you will cover with saran wrap and let the dough double in size. You want to keep an eye on the dough so it does not over ferment.

After it has double in size you will preheat your over to 400 if it is gas and 425 if it is electric. You are going to get your Focaccia bread prepped to bake. You will need a half sheet baking tray, and you will need to use some olive oil on the bottom of the pan to prevent sticking, and to help achieve a firm bottom crust. Transfer the dough to the greased sheet pan, do this gently, so it will not start to work the dough. Use your fingertips to start spreading the dough but do not puncture it while spreading. You will eventually work the dough out to the corners of the sheet pan. At this time you will let the dough rest for about 5-10 minutes. Make sure that your dough has not shrunk in, if it has punch it back out at this time. Add your Herb Oil and generously cover the bread. Next you will add the ingredients below.

Ingredients for the bread before baking:

1/2 - 1 cup of Sun Dried Tomatoes julienne strips


1 cup Parmesan Cheese shredded


1/2 cup of Olives that you prefer, I like the Kalamata Olives, but use your favorite

Your bread is almost ready to go in the oven, and this is the last step. Add these final ingredients, or ones you choose, and then put Focaccia Bread into the preheated oven. You will bake for around 8-10 minutes and turn 1/2 way or 180 degrees through the baking process and then cook until done, which could be an additional 10-15 minutes depending on your over. The top and bottom will be crisp, and it will have a slight golden or very light brown color. You will need to remove the bread at this time and add to a cooling rack to keep the bottom of the bread from getting soggy. Cool for about 15- 20 minutes before serving.

Chef Shelley Pogue, a Cum Laude, Le Cordon Blue graduate and Executive Research and Development Chef, for Vertical Sales and Marketing, San Ramon, CA.

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How to make quick and simple Italian bread garlic

First ... Italian garlic bread should not be the bread in Italian. You French bread, sourdough or Italian bread. I like French baguettes, and even sometimes. The goal here is fast and easy and still look like authentic Italian cuisine to make it so good.

Necessary ingredients: 2 cloves garlic, chopped 3-4 c. tablespoons olive oil, 2 tablespoons of butter and breadbread properly.

If you are that you are all together and in about 10 minutes, will be ready.

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Note: As with most of my recipes, I always flexibility. If you think 450 is too high, choose a lower temperature such as 375 and easier to cook.
Cut the bread lengthwise on its side to have two pieces of bread.
Melt the butter withOlive oil and chopped garlic.
With a brush or spoon to a possible spread of the mixture evenly on bread.
Place the bread on the side plate and place in oven. Some people wrap the bread in paper, leaving the face uncovered. This will take longer, but it is good advice for the prevention of bread too slow and crunchy on the sides.
Bake approximately 5 minutes or until cooked to your request. Keep an eye on the cheeks, sonot end up with burned toast!
When done, remove from oven and cut into desired thickness. 1 inch thick, fairly standard.

Tip 1: If the bread is finished until ready to serve, wrap in plastic wrap to keep warm.

Tip # 2: I recommend the bread if you have a zillion different things simultaneously. Simply because it is easy for them until the smoke detector will be forgotten. Use a timer to remindCheck the bread!

Tip 3: If you try to reduce the calories, just use olive oil and omit the butter.

Have fun and eat!

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