Sugo* all’Arrabbiata is a classic pasta sauce from central/southern Italy that can be prepared very quickly, while the pasta cooks. This sauce is traditionally quite spicy, and this is at the origin of its name (all’arrabbiata, in Italian means ‘angry-style’). If desired, a milder version can be made, but a certain amount of heat is necessary to counter the acidity of the lightly cooked tomato and enhance its flavor. (*Sugo is another name for ‘salsa’, sauce.)
Tortiglioni all’Arrabbiata
Yield: 2 servings
Total Time: 20 minutes
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Ingredients
500 g peeled diced tomatoes (fresh or from a quality can)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 chili pepper (whole or seeded if a milder sauce is desired), minced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
some fresh flat-leaf parsley, minced
150 g dried short pasta (e.g.: tortiglioni, rigatoni, penne)
salt
Preparation
Mince chili pepper and garlic (fig. 1).
In a large non-stick pan, fry garlic and chili pepper in olive oil for 2 minutes (fig. 2).
Add the diced tomatoes (fig. 3), cook at medium heat for 15 minutes stirring occasionally.
Boil the pasta in plenty of salty water for the time indicated on the box.
Add the well drained pasta to the pan and toss for 1 minute at high heat (fig. 4).
Take off the heat, sprinkle with parsley, serve immediately.
Unless you have a brick oven in your backyard, you can’t quite make pizzeria-style pizza at home; the regular kitchen oven simply can’t reach high enough temperatures. It is, however, possible to approximate the flavors of a pizzeria-style pizza by using a few expedients.
There is more than one way to make home-style pizza. A pizza stone, for instance, can work really well but it requires time and practice. The method that I am about to describe makes use of a perforated pizza tray. I find it easier and quicker and the results, in my opinion, are comparable.
As usual with Italian cuisine, quality and simplicity of the ingredients are essential. Pre-made bread shells, pizza sauce, and pizza mozzarella must be avoided! Here is what you need:
Home-Style Pizza
Yield: 2 servings
Total Time: 30 minutes
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Ingredients
1 perforated pizza pan
450 g bread dough (from a bakery or bought frozen)
¾ cup uncooked strained tomatoes (fresh or from a quality brand, e.g: Mutti, Pomì, Molisana)
300 g fresh bocconcini mozzarella
some extra-virgin olive oil
one pinch of salt
one pinch of dried oregano (optional)
some fresh basil leaves (optional)
moderate amounts of your favorite toppings (I used capers and onions)
Preparation
First, warm up the oven to 450 °F (240 °C). Allow 15 minutes for the oven to fully reach its temperature.
Flatten the bread dough into a disc that fits the pan. The dough should feel fluffy and slightly elastic. If it's too elastic, give it some time to relax its gluten strands.
Unless you are using a non-stick pan, coat the pan very lightly with some olive oil, then transfer the dough onto it (1).
Add the strained tomatoes, a pinch of salt, the oregano and any toppings that need to be fully cooked, e.g.: onions, fresh mushrooms, peppers (2).
Half-bake the pizza base for 7 minutes. This allows the dough to cook through, without the weight and moisture of the cheese.
While the base cooks, chop the mozzarella in small bites and prepare any additional toppings that don't need to be fully cooked, e.g.: capers, olives, ham.
Remove the pan from the oven (3) and quickly add the cheese and the remaining toppings. Put the pan back in the oven.
When the cheese is completely bubbly and starting to brown in some spots (after about 7-8 minutes), the pizza is ready (4).
Add a drizzle of olive oil or of chili oil (if desired) and the basil leaves, serve immediately.
Notes
The perforated pizza pan is essential to allow the dough to cook evenly without becoming crunchy. Its holes allow excess moisture and the CO2 produced by the leavening process to escape so that the dough can cook rapidly without forming bubbles. The thin aluminum allows the pan to match the temperature of the dough that lays on it, preventing any hardening.
Bruschetta , plural ‘bruschette’ (brus-ket-teh), is a very popular appetizer born in the 16th century in central and southern Italy, which then spread to the entire country and eventually followed the Italian emigrants around the world.
Classic bruschetta can be made in several ways, but it’s always based on a salad of fresh diced tomatoes on a toasted slice of rustic bread. The name bruschetta, in fact, derives from ‘bruscare’, Roman dialect for the verb to toast. Traditionally, a hint of garlic is added by rubbing a peeled garlic clove onto the char-roasted bread. However, it can also be added in small amounts directly to the tomato salad.
Bruschetta can also be made with other toppings (e.g.: cooked beans, stewed mushrooms or bell peppers, tuna salad). In Italy, however, these are substantially less common than the classic tomato topping. Unless otherwise specified, the term ‘bruschetta’ refers to the tomato version and always to the whole preparation (bread plus topping), never to just the topping. So, no bruschetta burger, please!
For the best results, the bread has to remain crunchy. To this effect, the topping should be not too soggy and it should be put on the bread only a few minutes before serving. Some restaurants even have do-it-yourself bruschette, where a tomato salad is served in a bowl along with toasted bread.
This recipe describes a variation of the classic where a few extra ingredients are added.
Bruschetta
Yield: 2-4 servings (as an appetizer)
Total Time: 25 minutes
Prep Time: 25 minutes
Ingredients
4 Roma tomatoes
(optional) ½ shallot
1 ½ cloves of garlic
3-4 leaves fresh basil
1 T olive oil
½ T balsamic vinegar
½ tsp salt
4 slices of artisan bread
(optional) some ground black pepper
Preparation
Gather the ingredients. Wash and prepare the tomatoes for peeling by removing the bottom and by cutting a cross on the top. Slice and toast the bread.
Blanch the fridge-cold tomatoes by dipping them in boiling water for 30 seconds, and then cooling them off quickly in cold water. The skin will come off easily.
Remove the seeds and the cores, then dice the tomatoes.
If using shallot, cut it into small dices.
Cut the garlic into small dices. Slice the basil leaves by first rolling them up.
Dress the bruschetta topping with balsamic vinegar, salt and olive oil.
Place a generous amount of tomato salad on each bread slice. If desired, sprinkle with ground black pepper. This appetizers goes well with a full-bodied white wine, such as Malvasia Bianca, Soave, or Vernaccia.
Aglio (pronounced ‘ah-llyo’), Olio e Peperoncino (Garlic, Oil and Chili Pepper) is one of the simplest and most popular Italian pasta sauces, and one of the most delicious. Its simplicity is unmatched for showcasing perfectly cooked, high-quality spaghetti, the cut of pasta that it best goes with. Aglio, Olio e Peperoncino is really more of a pasta dressing, rather than an actual sauce. And it’s perfect for when there is no time to make a sauce, for a midnight snack, or for unexpected guests.
Italian cuisine is based on quality – the more a dish is simple, the more it requires the best ingredients. And this is definitely the case with Spaghetti Aglio, Olio e Peperoncino.
Let’s start with the pasta: a typical serving of 70-80 grams per person of dried durum semolina spaghetti from a quality Italian brand (e.g.: Voiello, De Cecco, Barilla). It’s possible to use another cut of pasta – spaghetti could be replaced with linguine, but that’s pretty much as far as an Italian would push it. Definitely, short pasta wouldn’t be appropriate, and neither would egg noodles.
Even by sticking to spaghetti, most Italians have a preference of what thickness best suits this dish. Every brand has its own “units”, for instance in my family we’ve always preferred the thicker Barilla #7 (‘Spaghettoni’), whereas the most popular kind is the thinner #5.
Another fundamental choice that Italians make is whether or not to break the spaghetti in half before boiling them. Traditionally, pasta should never be cut – not before cooking it and especially never after it has been dished out. However, boiling 10 inch long noodles requires a particularly tall pot and breaking them in half may be practical.
As for the oil, extra virgin olive oil is a must for this dish. Other than being a vessel on which to carry the flavor of the pasta and the spiciness of the chilies, extra virgin olive oil brings its distinct aroma, which perfectly complements them.
The third and last ingredient, chili pepper, tops up the flavor profile with the simplest cooking trick: adding some heat! Any kind of chilies can be used, from a fresh cayenne pepper to dried flakes. It’s only important to get the desired amount of spiciness, which is usually medium-hot.
Spaghetti Aglio, Olio e Peperoncino
Yield: 2 servings
Total Time: 15 minutes
Prep Time: 3 minutes
Cook Time: 12 minutes
Ingredients
150 g high quality dried spaghetti
4 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon dried chili flakes (or 1 fresh cayenne pepper*)
(optional) 2 tablespoons of freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano
In a small pan, warm up the olive oil at medium heat for a minute.
Add the crushed garlic and let it fry until it turns golden-brown (fig. 2). *If using a fresh cayenne pepper, it should be seeded and roasted along with the garlic and then also removed.
Turn off the heat, discard the garlic and add the chili flakes (fig. 3).
As soon as the pasta is cooked "al dente", drain it in a colander and toss it back in the empty pot.
Pour in the garlic chili oil, quickly stir and dish the pasta into serving bowls.
If desired, add the grated Parmigiano Reggiano and serve immediately.
In the Pasta 101 article we went through the different types of pasta and the Italian traditions around it. Let’s now talk some more on how to cook pasta, and particularly dry pasta (‘pastasciutta’).
Let’s start with quantities. How much is one serving of pasta? It depends on the yield. Raw dried pasta absorbs plenty of water as it cooks, easily doubling in weight. Uncooked fresh pasta is instead already moist and only gains moderate weight with cooking.
In Italy, the typical serving per person (of uncooked pasta) is:
70-80g, for regular dried durum semolina pasta (‘pasta di semola di grano duro’);
50-60g, for for dried egg noodles (‘pasta all’uovo’);
80-100g, for fresh pasta (‘pasta fresca’).
60g of dried tortiglioni (left) turn into 120g when cooked (right).
60g of egg fettuccine (left) turn into 140g when cooked (right).
In any case, these amounts are very contained with respect to North American standards. This is because pasta is usually just the first course of a meal, and it’s served without a side and never with bread. The amounts of pasta get even smaller when the sauce that is going to be used is particularly rich.
Let’s now talk about the cooking process. Most recipes say the pasta should be boiled in abundant salty water. But what does that mean? How abundant is ‘abundant’ and how salty is ‘salty’? The correct proportions are:
10g of salt for every liter of water (½ Tbsp of salt for 4 cups of water), and
at least 1 liter of water for every 100g of pasta (3 ½ oz of pasta).
It’s important to note that, despite common misconceptions, the amount of salt is not proportional to the amount of pasta! It’s proportional to the amount of water used. For example, when making pasta for 4 people (250g), it’s necessary to have at least 2.5 liters of water; and, for 2.5 liters of water, it’s necessary to have 2 tablespoons of salt. This may seem like a lot of salt, but the pasta will retain only a relatively small amount of it; the rest of the salt will stay in the water. Besides, salty water also increases the temperature at which the starches gelatinize, making the pasta less likely to stick to itself. By the way, adding table salt at the end on the cooked pasta is not equivalent to boiling the pasta in salty water, as it wouldn’t be able to reach the pasta’s core.
The best way to get the water ready for cooking pasta is to put the pot with unsalted tap water on the stove at maximum heat, covered with a lid. When the water reaches a full boil, the salt is added and should dissolve almost immediately in a burst of bubbles. While dissolving, the salt absorbs energy causing the boil to be interrupted, but only momentarily. The reason why it’s not recommended to put the salt right away in the cold water is that it will dissolve more slowly, resting on the bottom of the pot and, over time, causing some corrosion. Rock salt is normally used in Italy because it is less likely to lump together and because it’s cheaper.
When the salty water is fully boiling, the lid has to be removed and needs to stay off while cooking the pasta (or the water will start foaming and spill over). Even without the lid, the water should maintain a full boil. This is very important because it guarantees a constant temperature (around 100°C), necessary to cook pasta properly. At lower temperatures, the pasta would take longer to cook, absorb more water and become gummy. This unfortunately is unavoidable at high altitudes, for instance at 3000m water boils at 90°C. While it’s true that salt increases the boiling temperature, at typical concentrations it only increases it by 0.17°C, which is absolutely negligible.
It’s now time to “throw” in the pasta (from the Italian saying: ‘buttare la pasta’). Even though the bubbling movement of plenty of fully boiling and salty water is sufficient to keep the pasta separate and cook uniformly, it’s still important to stir the pasta for the first minute of cooking. Some sources suggest adding olive oil to the water to prevent sticking – this is generally unnecessary and actually not recommended as the pasta will be coated with grease and this will prevent the sauce from sticking to it.
How long does the pasta need to cook? For packed dried pasta, what’s written on the box (e.g. ‘cottura 10 minuti’) is a very good indication, starting the timer at the moment when the pasta is added to the boiling water. At ideal conditions (fully boiling water at low altitudes), the time given on the box produces “al dente” pasta, which is still moderately firm and offers some resistance to the bite. Even Italians may find this slightly undercooked, but it’s especially recommended for all those recipes that require the pasta to be tossed back in the pan along with the sauce (adding a couple of minutes to the cooking time). Fresh pasta cooks much more quickly than dried pasta (in the order of a few minutes, versus about 10). In any case, it’s a good idea to taste the pasta before or at its cooking time to ensure it’s cooked properly.
As soon as the pasta is ready, it has to be rapidly drained in a colander, making sure to leave a small amount of the cooking water for extra moisture and also to help the sauce adhere to the pasta thanks to the dissolved starch. Pasta boilers with embedded colanders (where the pasta cooks directly into a colander which fits completely within the pot) can be very practical, but they are regularly used only in professional kitchens.
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Along with wine and pasta, olive oil is one of the food items Italy is most known for. Olive oil is the only oil extracted from the actual fruit, as opposed to grains or nuts, and is one of the most ancient manufactured foods.
The production of olive oil started over 5000 years ago in the Mediterranean region, where the olive tree is native. Over time, the production technology has evolved, but the highest quality olive oil is still produced according to the same principles through a process called ‘cold press’. The harvested mature olives, along with their pits, are crushed into a paste, which is then pressed (or nowadays centrifuged) to squeeze out the oil. The resulting product is fruity and aromatic, naturally low in free fatty acids (more on this later in this article), and has high nutritional value, thanks to a high content of vitamin E and other antioxidants. Because of the limited yield of this method, cold press olive oil has a relatively high market cost. As a result, extra virgin oil is normally enjoyed raw as a condiment, more than for cooking, also because of its relatively low smoke point (the temperature at which an oil starts smoking and burning, see the table below).
Smoke points (°C)
When the oil resulting from the cold press method has high acidity levels or other organoleptic defects, it can be refined using a chemical process. Since the process also eliminates part of the phenols and the vitamins, the resulting product has a more neutral flavor and is considered of lower quality from a nutritional point of view. However, refined oil has a higher smoke point, which, combined with a less intense flavor and lower prices, makes refined olive oil the preferred choice for deep frying and sautéing.
With the residues left after the cold press operation, which are called pomace, more oil is extracted by the use of heat and solvents. This “second-squeezing” yields what is called pomace olive oil, which is generally not suitable for human consumption unless mixed with higher quality oils.
As per official European Union regulations, olive oil can have the following denominations:
Oils extracted using purely mechanical means:
‘Olio Extra Vergine di Oliva’ (Extra Virgin Olive Oil), if the percentage of free fatty acids is lower than 0.8%.
‘Olio Vergine di Oliva’ (Virgin Olive Oil), if the percentage of free fatty acids is lower than 2%.
Oils extracted with mechanical means and then chemically refined:
‘Olio di Oliva’ (Olive Oil), obtained with a combination of refined and virgin olive oils.
Oils extracted from pomace using heat and solvents:
‘Olio di Sansa di Olive’ (Pomace Olive Oil), obtained by mixing refined pomace oil and virgin olive oils.
Despite the substantial use of butter in northern Italian cuisine, olive oil is the Italian condiment of choice and it literally defines the cuisine of central and southern Italy. Along the coasts, olive trees are a constant part of the scenery and the production of olives and of olive oil is a central part of the economy (along with Spain, Italy is one of the largest producers, consumers, and exporters of olive oil).
Unlike in North America, where olive oil is very much an elegant aliment used sparingly (olive oil tasting classes are even held), in Italy olive oil is an everyday choice and a very prominent ingredient. Combined with vinegar, it constitutes the most common Italian dressing. On salads, other vegetable oils are also used (e.g. corn oil, sunflower oil) – especially on the more delicate greens – but olive oil is overall the most popular. A drizzle of olive oil is often added on pizza (right before serving, also in its spicy version flavored with chilies) and on some soups (as a finishing touch and not stirred in). Raw olive oil is also one of the main components in many Mediterranean appetizers, including ‘Caprese salad’, ‘bruschetta’ and ‘panzanella’, and used in ‘sottoli’, oil-preserved vegetables and fish in jars.
Olive oil is also used in the preparation of countless Italian dishes. For instance, it is central in the very commonly used ‘soffritto’ (sautéed onion, celery, and carrot), which a lot of dishes are based upon (e.g.: Bolognese sauce, most stews, and several soups). In baking, olive oil is used in specialty bread and focacce. With some exceptions, olive oil is generally not used to make cakes or desserts or used to fry anything sweet (where animal fat or other vegetable oils are preferred for their flavor).
Contrary to popular belief, olive oil is also widely used for deep-frying, especially the less pricey “refined” olive oil (which also features a lower smoke point). Certain preparations specifically rely on the contribution to the flavor that olive oil frying brings (for instance ‘Melanzane alla Parmigiana’ -eggplant parmigiana-). Other vegetable oils are also used for frying (e.g.: peanut oil, sunflower oil, corn oil). But certainly not Canola!
Canola oil is extracted from the seeds of a particular breed of rapeseed (‘colza’ in Italian, scientific name: Brassica napus) which was artificially created in Canada in the ’70s. Natural rapeseed oil is considered inedible for humans because of its flavor and its content of erucic acid (which is mildly toxic). With Canola oil, instead, a much lower content of erucic acid was obtained, as well as better nutritional values and a more neutral flavor. The name ‘Canola’ (which stands for “Canadian oil, low acid”) was chosen to commercially identify the new product and dissociate it from rapeseed oil. In the ’90s, genetically engineered Canola capable to withstand certain types of herbicides was introduced. Not without controversies, this variety of Canola became the standard in North America.
Canola oil is exclusively produced in the United States and Canada, with only small amounts exported (mostly to Mexico and China). Canola oil is virtually absent from Europe where it only exists in its original form (rapeseed) and is used as animal feed and as a source for biodiesel. Despite the North American food organizations describing its properties as remarkable, Europeans are as suspicious of Canola as they are of any genetically modified products (as reflected in the article on the Italian Wikipedia).
Italians in North America strongly dislike Canola oil and find it particularly off-putting as frying oil because of its distinct flavor and smell. Given that refined olive oil is hard to find in North America, foodies have to resort to different oils for deep-frying, or accept that they have to use the more pricey extra virgin oil, and monitor its temperature to avoid reaching its (lower) smoke point.
Aside from their different properties, are some oils healthier than others? All vegetable oils are 100% fat and provide 120 calories per tablespoon, but cooking oils can be quite different from one another. To appreciate these differences, we need to put on our lab coats. In nature, fats and oils are mostly made of one particular kind of lipids: triglycerides, a stable combination of 3 fatty acids and 1 molecule of glycerol. Small amounts of free, unbound, fatty acids are also naturally present (their percentage increases as the oil deteriorates). Since free fatty acids are unstable polarized molecules, they oxidize and cause the oil to go rancid.
Lipids, in general, can be subdivided into two main categories based on their hydrogen content:
Saturated fats accommodate the maximum possible number of hydrogen atoms. Saturation causes the fatty acids to be perfectly straight and this allows them to fit tightly one alongside the other. Because of this, saturated fats are usually solid at room temperature and are chemically quite stable – they naturally resist oxidation and have a relatively long shelf life. However, studies show that saturated fats are linked to high cholesterol and may cause heart diseases. Most saturated fats are of animal origin (e.g.: butter, cream, lard), but highly saturated molecules are also contained in tropical oils (e.g.: coconut oil).
Unsaturated fats contain a certain number of double bonds between carbon atoms, and consequently fewer hydrogen atoms. In unsaturated fats, the lack of symmetry causes the fatty acids to bend into more irregularly shaped molecules. As a result, unsaturated fats are generally liquid at room temperature and they are more subject to oxidation (to be preserved, they need to be kept away from light and heat). There is some evidence that unsaturated fats help lower blood cholesterol levels. Particularly, monounsaturated fatty acids (those where there is only one double-bond) seem to selectively lower only low-density lipoproteins levels while keeping high-density lipoproteins levels intact (the so-called “good cholesterol”). Monounsaturated fats are also preferred for frying as polyunsaturated oils tend to break down more easily at high temperatures. Canola, olive, and peanut oil are all classified as monounsaturated fats. Corn, soybean, sunflower oils are instead mostly polyunsaturated.
Finally, here is a diagram that shows the proportions of saturated, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids in the most common cooking oils (data from “Harold McGee. On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen. 2nd edition (2004) – page 800″).
Cooking oils classification
Even though Canola oil has the lowest percentage of saturated fats, some regard olive oil as the healthiest cooking oil because of its higher percentage of monounsaturated fats. However, the percentage of saturated fats is comparably low in both oils, leaving the ultimate choice to flavor and personal preference.
Pasta e Fagioli (pasta with beans) is a delicious, hearty soup well known in both Italy and North America. In the United States, it’s sometimes referred to as “pasta fazool,” carrying the southern Italian pronunciation of the first Italo-Americans.
Pasta e Fagioli represents a great example of Cucina Povera (cuisine of the poor), being a traditional dish made with simple and inexpensive ingredients. Many important Italian dishes belong to Cucina Povera (e.g. ‘polenta’, ‘osso buco’, ‘pasta cacio e pepe’) – nowadays they are no longer made out of necessity, they are rather considered sophisticated delicacies.
There are many ways to make Pasta e Fagioli, my favorite makes use a particular kind of small white beans called ‘cannellini’ and a short pasta called ‘ditalini’, ‘tubetti’, or ‘ditaloni’ (as in the featured picture). This recipe uses tomato sauce, but there are variations without it.
Pasta e Fagioli
Yield: 2 servings
Total Time: 45 minutes
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Ingredients
1 small carrot
1 stick of celery
1 small onion
2 cloves of garlic
1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh rosemary
½ cup crushed tomatoes
1 can cannellini beans
2 cups vegetable stock
Salt and pepper
60 g ditalini pasta (3 handfuls)
Preparation
Finely chop carrot, celery, onion, garlic and rosemary.
Make a 'soffritto' (stir fry in olive oil, at medium heat, until tender).
Add the cannellini (drained and rinsed).
Add the crushed tomatoes and the vegetable stock; adjust salt and pepper.
Simmer for ½ hr.
Add the pasta and cook for another 10 minutes (or the time indicated on the box).
Even though tomatoes made their appearance in Europe in the 1700s, it took until the beginning of the 1900 for them to reach today’s popularity and central role in Italian cuisine.
This recipe describes one of the most basic pasta sauces: the tomato sauce. The tomatoes, delicately flavored with salt, a hint of onion*, and (optionally) a leaf of basil, are simmered until they reduce their acidity. Smooth and velvety, this sauce is great on its own (like in ‘pasta al pomodoro’), or as a base for many tomato-based pasta sauces and dips (such as the one with bell peppers). These sauces are generally served with plenty of grated Parmigiano cheese.
Other tomato sauces, instead, are only lightly cooked to preserve the fresh flavor of the tomatoes, and are often flavored with garlic and sometimes chili pepper. Examples are arrabbiata, marinara, with clams or mussels. These sauces are served without cheese.
*Shallot, garlic, or a combination of onion and garlic can be used as well.
Basic Tomato Sauce
Yield: 6 servings (as pasta sauce)
Total Time: 45 minutes
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 40 minutes
Ingredients
2 pounds fresh or 1 ½ pounds of canned strained tomatoes (uncooked tomatoes, salt)
1 onion wedge, finely sliced
1 tablespoon olive oil
2-3 leaves fresh basil
salt
Preparation
Sauté the onion wedge in the olive oil at medium-high heat until translucent.
Add the strained tomatoes.
Stir until the tomatoes start to boil, then turn down to low.
Simmer for 40 minutes with lid on, stirring every 10 minutes and making sure the boil is always gentle.
Adjust the salt to taste and optionally add a leaf or two of fresh basil.
Italian dressing. Obviously you can’t find such a thing in Italy, exactly like you’ll hardly find anything called “Chinese food” in China. But it isn’t just the name that doesn’t exist, Italians don’t even know the concept of a (premixed) dressing that you can buy in a store.
The main reason why Italians don’t buy any bottled dressing is that there is only one really popular salad dressing – a simple mix of oil and vinegar, plus salt. Now, oil and vinegar don’t actually mix… and that is probably another reason why there is no “Italian dressing” in a bottle: it would look gross!
So, how does mixing of oil and vinegar work? They are applied separately; it’s recommended that vinegar and salt go on first (salt dissolves in vinegar, and doesn’t in oil – some people even premix salt and vinegar in a tablespoon before adding it to the salad), then after a quick toss olive oil is added on, just enough to lightly coat the greens and enhance their flavor.
Now, what kind of oil and vinegar? A light olive oil (e.g. a delicate extra-virgin from Tuscany or Liguria, or a less flavorful non extra-virgin olive oil) is generally preferred on delicate greens (such as lettuce). Vegetable oils can also be used. For stronger greens (such as arugula) a fruity and aromatic extra-virgin is instead recommended. As for the vinegar, regular red wine or white wine vinegars are the most common, but balsamic vinegar is becoming more and more popular. Balsamic vinegar originates in the regions surrounding the cities of Modena and Reggio Emilia. It’s now also made elsewhere, but the one produced in Modena and Reggio Emilia is certified as Protected Designation of Origin, and guaranteed to be made using traditional methods. As an alternative to vinegar, lemon or other citrus can be used to add acidity.
Instead of bottled dressing, households always have oil, vinegar, salt and pepper on the table as, generally speaking, people prefer to dress their own salad themselves. The same goes for restaurants and cafeterias – oil and vinegar are brought to the table whenever a salad is ordered and the waiters never ask what kind of dressing the customer would like.
Typical leafy greens used in Italian salads are lettuce and its variants (Romain, lamb’s lettuce or ‘soncino’), endive, spinach, arugula (a.k.a. rocket), radicchio , chicory, cabbage. Other vegetables commonly used are sliced tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers (with optional onions), fennel, any kinds of cooked and chilled beans, chilled boiled potatoes and green beans.
Italians love their salads, but they normally have them only as a side to the second course (which is normally meat or fish), or at most as an appetizer. Unlike in North America, salad is never served as a side to a pasta or rice dish. Lately, “big salads” (‘insalatone’) have become a popular lunch choice, they usually have some leafy greens with a combination or all of the following: corn, canned tuna, hard-boiled egg slices, ham, cheese dices (e.g. Fontina or Swiss). Big salads’ dressing is normally the usual oil and vinegar, or just oil.
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is a classic pasta sauce from central/southern Italy that can be prepared very quickly, while the pasta cooks. This sauce is traditionally quite spicy, and this is at the origin of its name (all’arrabbiata, in Italian means ‘angry-style’). If desired, a milder version can be made, but a certain amount of heat is necessary to counter the acidity of the lightly cooked tomato and enhance its flavor. (*Sugo is another name for ‘salsa’, sauce.)
500 g peeled diced tomatoes (fresh or from a quality can) 
1 perforated pizza pan 
