Oh, how I love to eat here in Italy. What is it that makes it all so delicious? Unlike the misconceptions, “Italian food” is NOT all “pizza and pasta”. There’s so very much more!
The freshness of the ingredients is a big part. Also, the regional traditions and specialties, changing every 50 kilometers, makes exploration so tantalizing.
And, my trust in the food origin and quality makes a huge difference (…but perhaps I’m naive and mistaken?). I can’t remember the last time I’ve eaten raw beef in the U.S. I wouldn’t trust it! But it was absolutely delicious yesterday, and I had no hesitation. The provenance of the meat is important and known here. I don’t find that in the U.S. except in very refined restaurants or meat sources.
Part of my reason for posting images of what I’m eating is to inform about the very broad world of what constitutes “Italian Food”. If you come to Italy, I encourage you to order the regional specialties… order something even though you don’t know what it is. It’s a great, wonderful, edible world here.
After you’ve devoured the images below, here are a few additional food smorgasbords to drool over:
Italian Food: Hungry? Eat this!
Italian Food: Eating the South
Pizza con nduja, provolone, cipolla caramellata e pistacchi
Ravioli stuffed with squash, topped with just-shaved white truffle
Aperitivo platter at Bugandè
Salame, coppa, speck
Warm “salad” of octopus, potato and taggiasche olives. My favorite
Squash pudding with porcini sauce
Mozzarella knot “nodino”. Yes, it can be untied.
Swordfish “spada”
Baked orata with bottarga (dried roe)
Prawns and artichoke
Sardegnan pastries
Lightly sweetened lemon ricotta
Saltimbocca con patate
Macchiato at Cioccolat Italiani
Panna Cotta
Tagliolini con Ragu
Salad of thin-sliced, grilled octopus, with avocado, corn, cherry tomatoes, basil and lime
crostini topped with warm goat cheese, shaved beet and sun-dried tomato
Homemade chicken soup, with bok choy
On Isola Pescatore: Deep fried “red trout”, “white trout” and aquadelle fish from the lake. (Always choose what’s local.)
On Isola Pescatore: Panna cotta with raspberry sauce and shortbread
Arancini, filled with speck and pistacchio
Arancini, deep-fried rice balls filled with meats, cheese, sauce
Chicken Mirabella for New Year’s Eve dinner
Chicken Mirabella prepped for New Year’s Eve dinner
Tortelli filled with squash, with black truffle
Papardelle with fresh porcini mushrooms
Il tris di Carne Cruda di Garronese
Marinated eggplant
Pisarei e Fasò
Il Ganassino
Un Caffè Normale
Argentine beef, with cod “in umido”
Pickled onions and “chiodo” mushrooms
Un caffè normale
Tortelli di zucca (squash) with butter and sage
Mirto and Sardegnan pastry
Smoked tuna
Pane carasau, octopus and potato, smoked tuna, scallop
“Alici”, fresh anchovies with lemon juice and EVOO
Shrimp, tomatoes, pane carasau
Mussels
Mirto, Sardegnan liquore of myrtle leaves and berries
Gnocchi with black truffle
Cauliflower. Foamy, and neither soup
Bread platter at Al Pont de Ferr
Linguine with teeny, tiny “seppiolini”, little squid
My Christmas breakfast of sautéed veggies, egg, cheese, pears, taralli
A great big salad
Biscotti
Roasted artichokes
Shrimp and squid skewers
Salame, pate and egg-crab bites
Donna Fugata Anthilia
Pear cognac
Bread with zabaglione spread
Macedonia da Rizzotti
Filet with roasted brussels sprouts
Tajarin al ragu with quail and black truffle
Gorgonzola dolce with walnuts
Burrata
Octopus tentacle with garbanzo puree
Escarole with pine nuts and raisins
Grilled scamorza affumicata cheese with zucchini
Eggplant parmigiana to-go
Risotto con Tartufo Bianco
Orecchiette, cima di rapa, burrata
