Quick & Easy Italian
Italian meals are delicious, but sometimes we don't have the time to prepare those really great ones that take a lot of time to develop that "robust Italian flavor".
Do you have any suggestions or tips or recipes that you use to pull together a quick Italian dish?
Are there certain sauces, spices & whatnot that you keep on hand at all times? Or maybe you have a batch of meatballs in the freezer ready to toss in some homemade sauce that you also keep on hand?
Let us know what's your secret to making "Italian" in a hurry.
I have the homemade Artisan bread, some fresh butter & a glass of vino to start out with. Let's get the best part on the table.
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re: Joebob
Joebob, well you can certainly count on these folks giving us some very special, tasty & quick ideas to satisfy our "Italian" cravings.
I am doing a C&P (copy & paste) on this thread so I can just thumb through the ideas for inspiration. I am also making sure I keep some staples on hand so I can be creative like these folks.
Again, thanks everyone for your input!
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Terrie H.
Aug 22, 2012 01:19 PM
When I think of quick dishes, I think of pasta. Any seasonal fresh vegetables can be diced and quickly cooked in olive oil to make a pasta dressing. Peas, asparagus, chard in the spring; zucchini, crook neck, tomatoes, peppers, eggplant in the summer; hard squash, kale in the fall and into winter - all can be diced to cook quickly and make really good pasta dishes. Add whatever fresh herbs you have or pull a cube of the pesto you made from the freezer to add to it. Italian sausage or a handful of shrimp from the freezer, or a can of tuna or clams, are quick-cooking proteins to add. Canned or frozen artichokes are good to have on hand, as are olives and a jar of roasted peppers.
If you want to make soup, minestrone can be done in less than an hour if you use canned beans. Other quick meals could be thinly sliced/pounded cutlets of chicken/veal served milanese style or with marsala/mushroom sauce. A frittata makes an easy dinner, as well.
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re: Terrie H.
Both of my suggestions as well - a veal or chicken cutlet Milanese or Marsala is quickly cooked and delicious. I use the same recipes on sole or other thin white fish.
And a frittata for leftovers and veggie bin clean outs is perfect. Also, carbonara is a easy sauce to pull together while the pasta is cooking. Also try a clam sauce, canned is fine for a busy weeknight!
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My best trick is to have some Italian sausage in your freezer. Once you brown and crumble that, you've got a ton of flavor rendered. Remove the meat, toss in any veggies you want (from summery tomato and garlic to wintry kale and mushrooms), add in some broth, and you've got pasta sauce. If you have cream, that would be lovely. Wine? Great! Oregano and basil love each other, and thyme and rosemary love each other. You really can't go wrong, and it won't take long at all.
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mbfant
Aug 21, 2012 01:52 PM
Capers, anchovies, black olives (good ones, like Gaeta, not the horrible ones you get on pizza), good tomatoes, extra virgin olive oil (of course, and principally), pecorino romano, parmigiano-reggiano, good oil-packed tuna, dried porcini, whole dried chiles (more than pepper flakes), garlic (but not garlic powder or the like) -- but not all together!
Try sauteing a crushed garlic clove, a piece of chile, and a few anchovy fillets gently until the anchovies disintegrate. Toss with spaghetti (right in the pan) and, if you like, sprinkle with pecorino romano (not parmigiano). Or, instead of cheese, fried breadcrumbs.
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pinehurst
Aug 21, 2012 01:14 PM
For quick, I do angel hair pasta with garlic and olive oil (Aglio olio).
Get a pot of water boiling and cook your capellini (Angel hair)---this cooks quickly.
Put a fine chop on 3 cloves of garlic and smash another (you can do more or less garlic, to taste. You can also throw in a small shallot if you want). Saute the garlic in 1/3 cup of olive oil, sprinking a pinch of salt on it to help it sweat. Don't let the garlic burn. Throw in some black pepper and crushed red pepper. When the pasta is almost al dente, drain it, and toss it in the pan with the oil and garlic. Serve.
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NonnieMuss
Aug 21, 2012 12:58 PM
Sautee some fresh garlic lightly in olive oil until just turning golden. Toss with cappellini, red pepper flakes, halved cherry tomatoes, and a few chopped basil leaves. Top with fresh parmesan. You can mix up the add-ins (artichoke hearts, bread crumbs, zucchini, etc.) Keep it fresh and simple!
If that's too much work on any given night, I still love the noodles/butter/parm for a quick comfort meal.
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roxlet
Aug 21, 2012 12:21 PM
The best thing is to make a quick and easy marinara. Noting could be faster than the one I make: chop up a couple of cloves of garlic, saute briefly, add a can of Italian tomatoes that you can puree or not (I use my stick blender directly in the can of tomatoes), add some salt, and let cook while you prepare the rest of the meal. For variety, you can add chopped kalamata olives, capers, anchovies and red pepper flakes and turn it into a putanesca. You can also make a simple aglio olio, which is just garlic lightly sauteed in some olive oil. Add red peper flakes, add anchovies or anything else you think might be good, and you're done before the water boils to cook the pasta. I like to take the pasta out when it's very al dente and finish cooking it with the sauce. In the case of aglio olio and related sauces, some of the pasta cooking water will help the sauce come together.
