The Menu

Antipasto

TAssorted Italian style cold meats such as
Prosciutto, ham, and hard salamis.
Provolone, mozzarella, and other cheeses.
Marinated vegetables and roasted red peppers.

Italian Bread

Stracciatella

Superb, simple soup made with
chicken broth, eggs and cheese.

Lasagne al Forno

Flavourful and rich.
(Leave some room for the chicken!)

Pollo alla Cacciatora con Funghi

Chicken Cacciatore with Mushrooms

Roman Style Artichokes

For a special Italian meal, artichokes would be on the menu.
They're great too when you've finished most of your meal and
just want to nibble a little bit as you socialise.

Salad

Toss crisp, torn lettuce with a dressing made from three parts virgin olive oil to one part balsamic vinegar
that has been blended with one crushed garlic clove.
Add salt, pepper, and a pinch of Italian dried herbs to taste.

Desserts

Begin with a bowl of fresh, seasonal fruit, and a bowl of unshelled
nuts — plus a nutcracker !

Torta di Ricotta

Italian Cheesecake — a real nonna's recipe —will still
show you how it is from modern style.

Ginetti

Sweet cookie rings with lemon frosting.
These cookies are great any time of the day.

Cannoli

A great recipe here. But if there's too much
on your hands with this menu, you can buy cannoli
in a choice of ricotta, chocolate or custard fillings
at many delicatessens or a pasticceria or gelato shop.
If you do, please try the recipe another time !

Café Espresso

Wines

Reds preferred — like a traditional chianti or a sangiovese.
For white wine drinkers, a pinot grigio will delight.
See our Viva Vino section for ideas.

A Roman version of egg-drop — quite refreshing.

Here is a recipe, from Lazio. To serve 6:

• About 2 quarts (liters) broth
• 4 eggs
• 3-4 tablespoons semolina
• 3 tablespoons freshly grated Parmigiano
• 1 tablespoon very finely minced parsley (optional)
• A pinch of freshly ground nutmeg (optional)

Eggs and broth -- hard to devise a better match!

In the past, custom dictated it be eaten at least once a week, but its popularity has somwhat declined. However, it remains in the archives of authentic Roman cuisine, always ready to re-emerge if needed.

In a bowl, combine the eggs, semolina, grated cheese, and, if you're using them, nutmeg and parsley. Add a ladle of cold broth and beat the mixture lightly with a fork or whisk.

Bring the remainder of the broth to a boil. Add the egg mixture in one fell swoop, stirring vigorously with a whisk or fork so as to break up the egg, which will form fine light flakes, minute rags (straccetti in Italian) that give the soup its name. Simmer for another 2-3 minutes, stirring constantly, and serve, with a little more grated Parmigiano on the side.

dineItalian.net likes to let you sample many regional flavours of Italy. If you order lasagne in a restaurant in Tuscany you will be served something along these lines.

Making lasagne completely from scratch is time consuming because you have to make the meat sauce; however, if you have about two cups of frozen sugo alla bolognese on hand, it only takes about an hour.

Starting from scratch, you will need:

• An 8 ounce can minced plum tomatoes
• 1/2 pound ground beef
• 2 ounces prosciutto
• 1 ounce dried porcini (italian mushrooms)
• 1/2 an onion, minced
• A small carrot, minced
• A 6 inch stalk of celery, minced
• A few leaves of basil and a small bunch of parsley, minced
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/2 cup dry red wine
• 2 cups grated Parmigiano
• 2 cups milk
• 2 1/2 tablespoons of flour
• Olive oil
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• Nutmeg, salt, and pepper to taste
• A pound of prepared lasagne, either fresh or dried

Set the dried porcini to steep in a half cup of boiling water.

To make the sugo, start by mincing the prosciutto, onion, carrot, and celery. Sauté the mixture in two tablespoons of olive oil in a heavy bottomed pan till the onion’s translucent, then add the meat and continue cooking till it’s browned.

Drain and chop the mushrooms, straining and reserving the liquid. Add the mushrooms, the parsley and basil, the salt, pepper, and a pinch of nutmeg, and the red wine to the sugo, and simmer it over a low flame till the wine’s evaporated. Then thicken the sugo with a half tablespoon of flour stirred into the reserved mushroom liquid, let cook for a few minutes, and add the canned tomatoes. Check the seasoning and simmer the sugo over a low flame, for at least a half-hour.

Make a béchamel sauce by melting the butter and adding the remaining flour, stirring to keep lumps from forming. Cook until the flour begins to brown, then add the milk, a few drops at a time, stirring briskly to keep lumps from forming. Should they form anyways, remove the pot from the flames and stir them out before adding more milk. Add a pinch of grated nutmeg (optional) and continue cooking over a low flame till the sauce thickens somewhat. Set it aside.

Meanwhile, bring a pot of lightly salted water to boil, adding a tablespoon of oil to it to keep the sheets of pasta from sticking to each other. Butter an ovenproof dish while the first few sheets of pasta are cooking. Remove the pasta with a slotted strainer when it’s a little bit al dente. Drain it well and add some more sheets to the water. Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 385 ºF.

Lay the first layer of pasta in the dish, following it with a layer of sugo, another layer of pasta, a layer of béchamel with cheese, and so on, till the pasta, sugo, and béchamel are used up. Go easy on the Parmigiano with the top layer, because it can become bitter as it browns. Heat the lasagne through in the oven (they should be lightly browned) and serve them with more grated Parmigiano on the side.

Serves four to six.

Hunters' Chicken with Mushrooms

Though people now take chicken for granted in both Italy Australia, in the past chicken was a festive meat for Italians who didn't live on farms. Even those who did only ate hens that sickened or were too old to lay eggs. This variation on the classic and very simple pollo alla cacciatora is from Brianza, a town not far from Milano. It will serve about 6.

Ingredients

• 1 large chicken, cut into pieces
• Flour
• 1 heaping teaspoon tomato paste, diluted in a cup of water
• 1/4 cup (50 gr) unsweetened butter
• 1 ounce pancetta or seasoned lard, diced
• 1/2 ounce (10 g) dried porcini or more to taste, steeped for 20
  minutes in hot water and then sliced, or 3/4 pound (300 g) fresh
  cultivated mushrooms, sliced
• A small onion, sliced

Flour the chicken pieces.

Sauté the sliced onion in the butter until it begins to brown, then add the lard or pancetta and the chicken pieces, and brown them over a brisk flame.

Stir in the water and tomato sauce (If you're using dried mushrooms, you may want to use the water they steeped in, filtering it lest it contain sand), cover, and cook the chicken until it's done (the meat will begin to pull back along the drumsticks), stirring the pieces around every now and again lest they stick down and burn.

10 minutes before the bird is done stir in the dried mushrooms. If, on the other hand, you're using fresh mushrooms add them five minutes before the bird is done, and cook uncovered over a slightly brisker flame so the water they give off will evaporate.

Note: This recipe will also work with coniglio — rabbit.

Select themwith care. A fuzzy choke is a tremendous disappointment. A good artichoke will feel firm and solid when you pick it up. It shouldn't give if you squeeze it gently, nor should it feel light. If it does, pass it by. When you're home, stand them in a vase with water until ready for use. They are flowers, after all. You can keep them like this for a day or two, but they tend to toughen with time.

Preparing Artichokes:

The expert cook slices off the tough parts of the leaves, in other words the tops, with a sharp knife, beginning with the base of the artichoke where the leaves are most tender and working up. In the process the artichoke will become spherical. With regard to the outermost leaves, you must use your fingers to determine where the tough part begins and thus where to cut. If you are rushed, you can cut off the top of the artichoke and then trim the individual leaves.

When done with the leaves, clean the stalk, trimming away the ridged outer part while leaving the heart. If you look at the end of the stock you will see a ring; trim away the stem outside it. Drop the artichoke into water that's well acidulated with lemon juice so it doesn't blacken.

Now to carciofi alla romana, which is probably one of the best uses for really good freshly picked artichokes.

Once all the artichokes are trimmed take the first, whacks it a few times against the bench to loosen the leaves. Next pry open the centre so you can scrape out any fuzz with your knife. Slip in a piece of a garlic clove and a sprig of mint or, in its absence, parsley, together with an abundant drizzle of olive oil, salt, and pepper. It doesn't hurt to rub the outside of the artichoke with salt and pepper as well.

The artichokes thus prepared are stood upright in a pan, or preferably a terracotta dish/casserole, whose sides are high enough to keep the artichokes upright as they cook.

Pour enough olive oil to cover the artichokes half way, fill with water to cover, and set the pot to simmer until the water is completely evaporated.

Once cooked they're ready to be served hot, though they're also excellent cold. They should never be reheated, however.

Like all other traditional recipes, there are many variations to this, some simple and others quite complex. Here's a Neapolitan version that's a little on the complex side, but tasty !

For the crust:

• 2 1/2 cups (250 g) flour
• 2/3 cup (125 g) unsalted butter or rendered lard
• 2/3 cup (125 g) sugar
• 3 yolks

For the filling:

• 2/3 pound (300 g) fresh ricotta
• 2/3 cup (125 g) sugar
• The grated zest of half an orange
• 2 yolks
• 1/4 pound (100 g) finely minced candied melon peel -- you can use other candied fruit if need be
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Mix the four and sugar and cream the butter. Combine the ingredients of the dough, using a pastry cutter and working the dough as little as possible with your hands. Form it into a ball and let it sit in a cool place for an hour.

In the meantime, put the ricotta through a strainer, combine it with the sugar, and beat the mixture with a fork until it is smooth and creamy. Lightly beat the yolks and work them into the mixture a bit at a time, and finally stir in the minced candied fruit.

Divide the dough into two unequal pieces. Use the larger one to line a buttered 8-inch pie pan. Fill the pie with the filling, cover it with the second piece of crust, tamping down around the edges, and bake it in a moderate oven for about an hour. Let it cool, remove it from the pie pan, and dust it with powdered sugar.

• 1 1/4 pounds (1 k, 10 cups) flour
• 10 eggs; with three of the whites set aside
• 1/2 cup anise liqueur
• Lemon juice
• 4 tablespoons rendered lard (or unsalted butter)
• A pinch of salt
• 3 1/2 cups (350 g) powdered sugar

Make a mound of the flour on your work surface and scoop a well into the centre. Put all the other ingredients except for the reserved whites, the lemon, and the powdered sugar in the well, and work everything together, adding just enough water to obtain a firm dough.

Roll the dough into snakes, shape the snakes into rings, and nick the outer rims of the rings with a knife, then put them on a cookie sheet. (Make them about an inch thick.) Bake them in a hot oven (190 C, or 380 F) until golden. Remove them and let them cool.

In the meantime, whip the reserved whites to stiff peaks, then beat in the powdered sugar and lemon juice to taste to make the frosting. Brush the ginetti with the frosting, let them cool, and they're done.

Italian-American housewife's advice:
" When in a hurry I buy my cannoli shells from an Italian Deli. I drain my ricotta in a strainer covered with cheesecloth so the filling holds up longer. Very tasty and you can add more chocolate chips or less depending on your preference. "

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon white sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 2 tablespoons shortening
• 1 egg white
• 3/4 cup red wine
• 1 1/2 quarts oil for deep frying
• 1 1/2 pounds ricotta cheese
• 1/2 cup sifted confectioners' sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips
• 3 tablespoons chopped candied orange peel

Directions:

1. In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Blend in the shortening and egg white. Add the red wine one tablespoon at a time until the mixture forms a ball. Knead the dough enough to bring it together. Cover and let rest for half an hour.

2. Heat oil in deep-fryer to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Divide dough into 2 parts. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to 1/8 inch thickness. Cut into 4 inch long ovals. Place a cannoli tube onto the oval lengthwise and roll up with edges overlapping; seal with a dab of egg white.

3. Fry cannoli shells 2 or 3 at a time in the hot oil. When golden brown, remove from the oil to drain on paper towels. Remove tubes.

4. To make the filling: In a medium bowl, mix together the ricotta cheese and confectioners' sugar. Fold in the vanilla, chocolate chips and candied orange peel. Chill for at least half an hour before filling shells. Drain off any excess liquid. Fill cooled shells and smooth off the filling at the edges. Keep refrigerated until serving.