A person can enjoy Italian fine dining in their own home, in a classy restaurant or even in a less than classy restaurant. The great thing about Italian food is that it's just not that fussy. The ingredients are fresh, robust and most are easy to find even in American markets. Even Italian gourmet recipes are relatively easy to concoct.
To experience Italian fine dining at home, of course, the diner has to set a beautiful table with their best dinner service, linens, candles and a floral centerpiece. They may or may not want to have place settings and menus printed out for their guests. A sample menu might look like this:
Antipasti: Cappelletti di Romagna
These are "little hats" from the Romagna region, stuffed with ricotta cheese and served in Bolognese meat sauce.
Salad: Piatto Freddo di Ortaggi
This Sicilian salad is a cold dish of eggplants, sweet yellow and red peppers and mild onions tossed with olive oil, wine vinegar and fresh herbs.
Soup: Minestra del Paradiso
This is paradise soup and it's as simple to make as it can be. It's made of eggs, salt and pepper, nutmeg, Parmesan cheese, soft bread crumbs and beef stock.
Meat: Agnello Rustico
This is a whole roast leg of lamb, served with a sprinkle of lemon juice and grated Pecorino or Parmesan cheese.
Poultry: Anatra Ripiena
This is a dressed duck, roasted with bacon slices wrapped around the breast and stuffed with a mix of ground veal, pork fat, pork and beef sausage meat, an egg, Parmesan cheese, garlic, parsley, bread soaked in milk and salt and pepper.
Vegetables: Carciofi Fritti
These are artichokes dipped in batter and deep fried in oil.
Fish: Triglie alla Ligure
This is red mullet Ligurian style, served with anchovy fillets, tomatoes, black olives, capers, dry white wine and herbs with lemon wedges.
Rice: Risotto alla Bolognese
This risotto does have a bit of fanciness to it. It's made with bacon and proscuitto, Bolognese meat sauce and paper thin slices of truffles scattered over the top.
Dessert: Pestringolo
This is a fruit cake with candied citrus peel sultanas, almonds, honey, pine nuts, walnuts and best of all, lots of dried figs soaked overnight to plump them out.
Gourmet Recipes
Here's a recipe that might be seen as "gourmet".
Saltimbocca alla Sorrentina
- 12 slices of milk fed veal
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 4 tbsp. butter
- 3/4 pound of tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped
- 2 or 3 sprigs or parsley, finely chopped
- 1 tsp. oregano
- 12 slices of proscuitto
- 12 thin slices of mozzarella cheese
- 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
- Salt and pepper to taste
Flatten out the veal with a pounder. Then, heat 5 tbsp. of oil and butter and fry the veal on both sides. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Keep hot.
In another pan, heat the oil, add the tomatoes, salt, pepper, parsley and oregano and cook till the tomatoes are broken down.
Lay a slice of proscuitto and a slice of mozzarella on each slice of veal. Spread with a tablespoonful of tomato sauce and a sprinkling of Parmesan cheese. Put the veal in a shallow baking dish and bake in a hot oven until the cheese is melted. Serves 4 to 6.
As you can see Italian fine dining it is not that hard, all you have to remember to cook a delicious gourmet recipe is to always choose the freshest ingredients you can find in your local store and mix them with a lot of Italian good feelings.
John Goodchild
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=John_A_Goodchild
http://EzineArticles.com/?How-to-Make-Your-Own-Italian-Fine-Dining-Menu&id=6667926
Image source: google
