Starter

Every region of Italy has its version of minestrone. The Italian American version seems always to have diced carrots, celery, potatoes, beans, and cabbage, rendering it distinct, with a touch of sour aftertaste. Variations include vegetables that were readily available in the small gardens Italian immigrants kept in their backyards or window boxes. Italian Americans love their minestrone so much that in 1949, Progresso Quality Foods began selling minestrone, as well as pasta e fagioli, in cans as a convenience food. At first the soup was available only in Italian American markets, but soon enough it hit mainstream America.

Stracciare means “to rip to shreds” in Italian, and, indeed, that is how this soup looks after you’ve stirred some beaten eggs with some grated cheese into a good chicken broth. Once you have a good chicken broth, the rest is easy. Stracciatella is usually served with shredded spinach and beaten egg, but I recall having it with just egg and cheese when spinach was not in season. In the Italy that I grew up in, seasons made a difference, not only in how we dressed, but in what we ate. This is a great restorative soup, served in most Italian families.

Rhode Island’s Italian immigrants have made clam soup an integral part of the clam-shack cuisine. From Giovanni da Verrazano, the first Italian to visit Rhode Island, to the generations of today, the plentiful seafood of the Ocean State has been given an Italian twist. As I savored baked clams across the United States, in most cases the clams were chopped, but I like whole clams baked with bread crumbs in the shell. Small clams like littlenecks are the best.

I have made fried artichokes many ways before, but I found this recipe at Liuzza’s in New Orleans different and quite tasty. The interesting part is that the recipe is made with jarred or canned artichokes. The batter is light and fries up crispy, while the artichokes remain tender and tasty. This is an ideal recipe to serve when unexpected guests arrive and all you have is a can of artichoke hearts in the cupboard and a beer in the fridge.

Italians stuff all kinds of vegetables, such as peppers, tomatoes, zucchini, and more. In America, white button mushrooms were plentiful and cheap, and delicious when stuffed, so the Italians added them to their stuffed vegetable list. Stuffed mushrooms of different varieties can now be found in Italian American homes and restaurants, from the simple button mushrooms to the large portobellos. All types make a delicious dish and satisfy today’s vegetarian diners as well. I like mushrooms best stuffed simply with bread crumbs and cheese, but I have seen them stuffed with everything from crabmeat to shrimp to foie gras. Let your fancy guide you.

These tasty fried rice balls have been enjoyed in Italy for centuries. They are great when just out of the skillet, but are delicious at room temperature as well. They can be fried in advance, then reheated. At our restaurant Del Posto in New York, the chef sends them out as a palate teaser.

Fried mozzarella is a tasty dish that children especially like; it can be half fried in advance, then reheated in the oven when guests arrive. It is great finger food to be passed around at a party.

This very tasty appetizer can also be a vegetarian meal. The Italian title says it’s “Roman,” but mozzarella and anchovies are a well-known combination in southern Italy. There are mozzarella-and-anchovy fritters; and zucchini flowers are stuffed with mozzarella and anchovies, then fried. In this recipe, the mozzarella is fried between layers of bread, and then topped with a puckery sauce of lemon, capers, and anchovy.

In creating this recipe, I added the mortadella on the spur of the moment. I love raw artichoke salad, but have often prepared this salad with many other, different ingredients, such as raw mushrooms, or shavings of Grana Padano or Parmigiano-Reggiano. Recently I made a beautiful salad of small artichokes, crunchy celery, and some great imported mortadella, which I happened to have on hand. And so this salad was born: it certainly is based on tradition, but with my own touch. It has now become a family favorite for buffets, antipasto, or just for lunch.

This is a recipe from the Sardine Factory in Monterey, California. My longtime friends Ted Balestreri and Chef Bert Cutino smoke fresh sardines for this dish, but smoked canned sardines are delicious as well. However, I enjoy regular canned sardines packed in olive oil in this dish as well.

Baccalà, or salt cod, has a long tradition on the Italian table, and since it traveled well, immigrants brought it with them to the New World, where they used it as barter as well as for cooking. (One need only notice how popular baccalà is in Caribbean cultures.) The Italian immigrants have made baccalà a big part of the Italian American table, especially around the holidays. This simple salad recipe will satisfy any baccalà nostalgia, holiday or no holiday.

When I ate my way through Baltimore, crabs were to be had in many ways. It was spring, and soft-shells were on every menu, as were crab cakes, crab cocktails, and crab salads. Most of the dishes had some version of tartar sauce, ketchup cocktail sauce, or rémoulade served with them. I got a yearning for a crab salad Italian-style, so, without much ado, here is one that evokes a lobster salad they often make in Sardinia.

Seafood salad is common in Italian American households, especially on Christmas Eve, La Vigilia, and almost always as an appetizer on menus in Italian American restaurants. As popular as the seafood salad is in the United States, in Italy one is more likely to find a simple salad like this version, containing one kind of seafood. What is most important in this recipe is not to overcook the calamari.

This is a great soup to make when you find yourself with leftover baked beans. If you don’t have leftovers, Bush’s canned baked beans work wonderfully.