Featured recipe

Arroz verde

Green rice

Arroz verde is red rice's fresher sister, popular across central Mexico as a side for mole, enchiladas and beans. The rice is toasted in oil and then simmered in a vivid green purée of poblano pepper, coriander, parsley and a handful of spinach, so it comes out fluffy, herby and gently peppery, the colour of spring grass. It is vegan with vegetable stock and pairs especially well with mole rojo or roasted vegetables. Chef's tip: blend the greens with cold stock and add it straight to the rice; heated slowly or left standing the purée loses its colour, so make it right before you need it.

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Corzetti con maggiorana e pinoliStamped pasta with marjoram

On the Riviera di Levante, from the Fontanabuona valley down towards Chiavari, corzetti are pressed between two carved wooden stamps, so each thin disc carries a pattern on both faces: a family crest, a flower, a ship. Noble families once had their arms carved into them for festive tables. The ridges are there to hold a light sauce, and the simplest is melted butter with toasted pine nuts and fresh marjoram, the herb Ligurians reach for before basil. They have a firm, slightly chewy bite. Chef's tip: no stamp? Cut the discs with a 6 cm glass and press each with the bottom of a patterned glass or a carved wooden butter mould; any relief gives the sauce something to cling to.

60 min

Italian Pasta & Noodles

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Garganelli con piselli e pannaEgg pasta with peas and cream

Garganelli come from the farmhouses between Imola and Lugo in Romagna, where egg-pasta squares are rolled around a thin stick on a little comb called a pettine, leaving ridged quills with a seam down one side. Their ridges grip sauce well, and the classic spring dressing is sweet peas in cream; the trattoria version adds prosciutto, which this one leaves out, with a little shallot and Parmigiano instead. The dish is silky and mild, a Sunday-lunch first course. Chef's tip: a clean gnocchi board and a pencil-thin wooden dowel make perfectly good garganelli if you don't own a pettine.

60 min

Italian Pasta & Noodles

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Panissa ligureFried chickpea polenta sticks

Panissa is farinata's quieter sister: the same chickpea flour and water, but stirred on the stove into a thick polenta, poured into a tray and left to set firm. In Genoa and along the Savona coast it turns up at friggitorie, the frying shops by the harbour, as golden sticks in a paper cone with salt and pepper; at home it is just as often cubed cold and dressed with raw onion, olive oil and lemon. Fried, it is crisp outside and creamy within, with a sweet, nutty taste. Chef's tip: make it the day before and chill it overnight; a well-set panissa cuts cleanly and doesn't spit in the oil.

170 min

Italian Snacks & Starters

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Passatelli in brodoBreadcrumb and cheese strands in broth

Passatelli were born in Romagna kitchens as a way to turn stale bread into a feast: breadcrumbs, eggs and plenty of hard cheese, scented with lemon and nutmeg, pressed through a special perforated iron straight into simmering broth. Around Rimini, Cesena and Forlì they are Christmas and Sunday food, served steaming in deep plates. The strands are soft, slightly rough and full of cheese flavour. Traditionally the broth is made with capon or beef; here a rich vegetable broth keeps it vegetarian. Chef's tip: no passatelli iron? A potato ricer with large holes does the job; just cut the strands to 4 cm with a knife as they come out.

40 min

Italian Soups

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Zuppa ingleseCustard and sponge trifle

Zuppa inglese is a spoon dessert from Emilia, served at Sunday lunches and family parties in Bologna, Modena and Ferrara: sponge fingers dipped in a crimson liqueur, layered with yellow lemon custard and dark chocolate custard. Despite the name, no soup and nothing English; one story links it to the trifles brought home by Italian diplomats. The red comes from alchermes, a spiced liqueur that is alcoholic and coloured with cochineal, an insect dye, so this version soaks the biscuits in a vegetarian, alcohol-free hibiscus and spice syrup that keeps the colour and the clove-cinnamon perfume. It sets into soft, creamy, striped slices. Chef's tip: dip the biscuits for a second only; they keep softening in the custard overnight.

60 min

Italian Desserts

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Frittelle venezianeRaisin and pine nut fritters

For the weeks before Lent, every pastry shop in Venice is piled with fritole, golden balls of fried yeast dough studded with raisins and pine nuts, and masked visitors eat them from paper bags as they wander between the campi. They were once sold from street stalls by a guild of fritter-makers and are still the true taste of the Venetian Carnival: crisp and sugary outside, light and bready within. The traditional batter has a spoon of grappa or rum; here orange juice takes its place, which suits children too. Chef's tip: fry a single fritter first to check the oil heat and timing.

120 min

Italian Desserts

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Frico con patatePotato and cheese skillet cake

Frico was born in the mountain pastures of Carnia, in the north of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, where herders cooked cheese ends and potatoes together in an iron pan over the fire. Today it is the region's signature dish, served in Udine's osterie and at village festivals in wedges beside soft polenta. The outside sets into a crisp, brown cheese crust while the inside stays soft, stringy and rich with sweet onion. Chef's tip: mix a young Montasio, which melts, with a more aged one, which gives the crust its flavour and crunch.

35 min

Italian Snacks & Starters

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Canederli agli spinaciSpinach bread dumplings

Green canederli, Spinatknödel in German, are a fixture of the mountain huts and village inns of Trentino and South Tyrol, from the Val di Fiemme to the streets of Bolzano. Day-old bread is soaked in milk and bound with egg, chopped spinach and mountain cheese, then rolled into fist-sized balls and poached until light but firm. They arrive two to a bowl in steaming broth, or drained and dressed with melted butter and grated cheese. The best-known canederli are made with speck; this is the spinach and cheese version, served in vegetable stock. Chef's tip: poach one test dumpling first; if it starts to break up, work a spoonful more flour into the mix.

60 min

Italian Soups

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Jota triestinaBean and sauerkraut soup

Jota is the soup of Trieste, the port city where Italian, Slovenian and Austrian cooking meet, and it is ladled out all winter in the city's old buffet restaurants and in the Karst villages behind it. Borlotti beans, potatoes and sour sauerkraut cook down into a thick, tangy soup that warms you through when the bora wind blows. The traditional version is cooked with pork ribs or rind; here smoked paprika, caraway and garlic give the smoky depth, so it is fully vegan. Chef's tip: make it a day ahead; like most bean soups, jota tastes better reheated.

120 min

Italian Soups

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Gubana friulanaNut and raisin pastry spiral

Gubana comes from Cividale del Friuli and the Natisone valleys on the Slovenian border, where it is baked for Easter, weddings and christenings and shared in slices from a coiled round loaf. A soft, sweet yeast dough is rolled around a dark filling of walnuts, raisins, pine nuts and candied peel, then curled up like a snail shell so each slice shows a spiral. Locals often splash a little grappa or plum brandy over each slice and the filling is usually laced with it too; orange juice works in its place for an alcohol-free gubana. Chef's tip: bake it a day ahead, wrapped well, as the filling grows moister and spicier overnight.

180 min

Italian Baking

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Cjarsons della CarniaSweet and savoury filled pasta

Each village in the Carnia mountains of Friuli keeps its own recipe for cjarsons, and families argue happily about whether chocolate, cinnamon or lemon balm belongs inside. The old story ties them to the cramârs, pedlars who walked over the Alps selling spices and brought exotic flavours home. Served at weddings, feast days and Sunday lunch, these half-moons hold a potato filling sweet with raisins and fragrant with mint and parsley, finished with brown butter, cinnamon sugar and grated smoked ricotta. The mix of salty, sweet and smoky is unlike any other pasta in Italy. Chef's tip: pinch the edges into a twisted rope; it seals well and looks the part.

120 min

Italian Pasta & Noodles

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Presnitz triestinoSpiced fruit puff pastry spiral

Trieste's pastry shops, many of them founded in the Habsburg years, sell presnitz all year but above all at Easter, when it sits on the table next to the sweet Easter breads. Unlike the yeasted gubana from inland Friuli, it is made from flaky puff pastry rolled thin around a long rope of nuts, dried fruit, chocolate and spice, then coiled into a flat spiral and baked crisp. Slices shatter into buttery flakes around a dense, aromatic centre. The filling is traditionally soaked in rum; orange juice is a good alcohol-free swap. Chef's tip: use all-butter puff pastry and check the label, since some brands use non-vegetarian fats.

120 min

Italian Baking

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Risotto al radicchio di TrevisoRed chicory risotto

From December to February the farms around Treviso, in the Veneto, harvest radicchio tardivo, the late red chicory with long, curled, wine-coloured leaves, and towns across the province hold festivals in its honour. Cooked into a risotto, it softens and turns from crimson to a deep purple-brown, and its bitterness mellows into something sweet and nutty against the creamy rice. Local cooks splash in red wine, which adds depth and colour; for an alcohol-free risotto use an extra ladle of stock and a teaspoon of red wine vinegar. Chef's tip: keep back a handful of raw strips to scatter on top for crunch and colour.

40 min

Italian Rice & Grains

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Polenta di patatePotato and buckwheat polenta

Up in the valleys of Trentino, where maize was scarce and potatoes grew well, cooks stretched their buckwheat by cooking it with mashed potato into a soft, grey-gold polenta. It is a cold-weather dish of the Val di Non and Val di Sole, stirred in a heavy pot and finished with buttery onions and cubes of local cheese that melt into pockets. Earthy from the buckwheat and smooth from the potato, it is often served alongside mushrooms or a salad of bitter leaves. Chef's tip: use floury potatoes and mash them right in the pot, in their cooking water, to keep the polenta light.

50 min

Italian Sides

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Strangolapreti trentiniSpinach and bread gnocchi

The name means priest-stranglers, and in Trento they like to say it dates from the Council of the 1500s, when visiting clergy ate these little green gnocchi so greedily they nearly choked. Thrifty and simple, they are made from stale bread soaked in milk and beaten with spinach or chard, egg and grated cheese, then poached and rolled in sage butter. Expect a soft, tender dumpling with a fresh green flavour, found on trattoria menus across Trentino in autumn and winter. Chef's tip: chop the spinach as finely as you can, almost to a purée, for smooth gnocchi that hold together.

50 min

Italian Pasta & Noodles

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Pandoro di VeronaStar-shaped Christmas bread

Verona's answer to Milan's panettone has no fruit at all: just a tall, eight-pointed star of rich, yellow, vanilla-scented bread, baked in a fluted mould and dusted with icing sugar until it looks like a snowy mountain. Through Advent, Veronese families buy or bake one for Christmas Day and slice it across into star-shaped layers. The crumb is fine, soft and buttery, almost like brioche, and melts in the mouth. Making it at home takes a day and a night, with butter folded into the dough like a pastry. Chef's tip: shake the cooled pandoro in a large clean bag with the icing sugar, so every ridge gets coated.

1440 min

Italian Baking

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SchlutzkrapfenSpinach and quark half-moon pasta

Schlutzkrapfen come from the farmhouse kitchens of South Tyrol, around Bressanone and the Val Pusteria, and are a fixture of autumn menus once the first snow dusts the Dolomites. A firm dough of rye and wheat flour wraps a soft filling of spinach and fresh quark, folded into half-moons and served in foaming brown butter with chives and cheese. The rye gives them an earthy, slightly sour bite that sets them apart from Italian ravioli further south. Chef's tip: roll the dough thinner than you think and keep the unused part covered, as rye dough dries out quickly.

90 min

Italian Pasta & Noodles

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Polenta conciaPolenta with fontina

High in the Valle d'Aosta, polenta concia is what comes out of the kitchen of a mountain refuge after a cold day on the slopes above Cogne or Courmayeur. Soft yellow polenta is layered in a hot dish with cubes of fontina, the valley's own alpine cheese, then drowned in sizzling brown butter until the cheese melts into long, stretchy strings. It is rich, savoury and very filling, best eaten from the dish with a green salad alongside. Chef's tip: cube the fontina while the polenta cooks and keep it at room temperature, so it melts at once instead of staying in cold lumps.

45 min

Italian Sides

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Pane nero di segaleDark rye bread

In the villages of the Valle d'Aosta, rye was the grain that would grow at altitude, and each autumn families took turns at the communal wood-fired oven to bake enough dark loaves to last until spring. Every October the valley still lights those old ovens for a bread festival, and the round, flour-crackled pan ner is sold at markets from Aosta to Gressan. The crumb is dense, moist and slightly sour, with a thick crust; it is eaten with butter, mountain cheese or a bowl of soup. Chef's tip: wait until the loaf is completely cold before slicing, as rye keeps setting as it cools.

240 min

Italian Breads & Parathas

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PanettoneChristmas fruit bread

Every December Milan's bakeries stack panettone to the ceiling, and Milanese families trade them as gifts before eating thick slices with coffee on Christmas morning. Legends about its birth at the Sforza court abound, but what matters is the texture: a tall dome with a crumb that pulls apart in long, feathery strands, scented with orange, lemon and vanilla and dotted with raisins and candied peel. Bakers use a natural starter that takes days; this home version uses a small amount of yeast and two long rises over a day. Chef's tip: keep the dough between 24 and 27 °C throughout, such as in an oven with only the light switched on.

1440 min

Italian Baking

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Peperoni ripieni alla piemonteseStuffed roasted peppers

Late summer in Turin means the fat, square peppers of Carmagnola piled high at Porta Palazzo market, and this is what Piedmontese cooks do with them. Halved and filled with peeled tomato and slivers of garlic, they roast until the skins blister and the juices turn sweet and jammy, then come to the table lukewarm as an antipasto. The old recipe hides an anchovy fillet in each half; here capers and black olives bring the same salty edge, so the dish is vegan. Chef's tip: keep the stalk on when you halve the peppers, as it helps each half hold its shape and its juices.

55 min

Italian Sides

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Tajarin al burro e salviaEgg ribbon pasta in sage butter

In the hill villages around Alba, in Piedmont's Langhe, tajarin are the pasta of Sunday lunch: hair-thin strands made with so many egg yolks that the dough turns deep orange. Through October and November, when the white truffle fair fills Alba, restaurants toss them in plain butter and shave truffle over the top at the table. The rest of the year sage butter does the job, and the pasta stays the star: silky, rich and springy against the teeth. Chef's tip: cut the strands by hand from a loosely rolled sheet rather than through a machine cutter; slightly uneven tajarin hold the butter better.

60 min

Italian Pasta & Noodles

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Tegole valdostaneAlmond hazelnut biscuits

Walk the arcaded streets of old Aosta and the pastry shops have stacks of tegole in the window, thin as paper and curved like the stone roof slabs of the valley's chalets. They are offered with an after-dinner coffee or packed in tins as a present from the mountains. Ground almonds and hazelnuts give them a toasty, buttery crunch that shatters at the first bite. Most recipes include a spoon of wheat flour; this one uses potato starch, so the biscuits are gluten free. Chef's tip: bake a test biscuit first; if it spreads too much, chill the batter for 15 minutes.

35 min

Italian Baking

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Pizzoccheri della ValtellinaBuckwheat pasta with cabbage and cheese

Pizzoccheri belong to the Valtellina, the steep valley of Lombardy near the Swiss border, and above all to the village of Teglio, where a local academy guards the recipe. Short, rough ribbons of grey-brown buckwheat pasta boil in one pot with potatoes and savoy cabbage, then go into a dish in layers with Valtellina Casera cheese and garlicky sage butter. It is a winter dish for ski huts and family kitchens: earthy, nutty and gloriously heavy. Chef's tip: buckwheat pasta breaks easily, so cut the ribbons short and fold the layers gently with two forks.

50 min

Italian Pasta & Noodles

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Grissini torinesiHand-stretched breadsticks

Turin claims grissini as its own: the story goes that a court baker stretched bread into thin, dry sticks in the 1600s for a sickly young Savoy duke who could not digest soft loaves. Today a bundle of long, knobbly grissini stirati sits on nearly every Piedmontese restaurant table, ready to snap with antipasti. Made by hand they are lighter and more uneven than the boxed kind, golden and brittle with a faint taste of olive oil. Children love making them. Chef's tip: stretch each strip by holding both ends and letting it swing as you pull, which gives that rustic, slightly twisted look.

120 min

Italian Baking

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BonetChocolate amaretti pudding

Bonet closes the long holiday lunches of the Langhe and Monferrato, turned out of its tin glossy with caramel and cut into thick slices. The name is dialect for a cap, after the round copper mould it was once baked in. Crushed amaretti give the custard a soft almond grain, and cocoa makes it taste like a set chocolate pudding with a bitter edge. Most cooks add a splash of rum or marsala; this recipe offers a coffee-and-vanilla version for an alcohol-free bonet. Chef's tip: bake it the day before; after a night in the fridge it slices cleanly and the caramel turns to a thin sauce.

90 min

Italian Desserts

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Torta sbrisolonaCrumbly almond cake

Nobody slices a sbrisolona. In Mantua, in the south-east of Lombardy, the round, golden cake is set whole in the middle of the table after dinner and cracked into rough pieces with a fist, and everyone grabs a shard. Coarse cornmeal and chopped almonds make it gritty, buttery and crunchy, closer to a giant biscuit than a sponge. It began as a farmhouse sweet made with lard; this version uses only butter. Chef's tip: keep your hands cool and stop rubbing in while the mixture still looks like coarse crumbs and small clumps.

60 min

Italian Baking

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