Italian cuisine/Catalogs

This is a catalog of well-known dishes in Italian cuisine, in alphabetical order.

Note: In Italy, a classic meal is composed of a number of courses in the following order: antipasto (hors d'oeuvre); a first course (primo or minestra) most often pasta but also can be soup, a risotto or other rice dish, or polenta; a second or main course (secondo) composed of a meat or fish dish; the second course is usually accompanied by a vegetable dish on a separate plate (contorno); the contorno is sometimes a green salad or the second course may be followed by a green salad; and a final dessert course that the Italians call dolce (sweet) although it may well consist of fresh fruit.

English Name	Italian name	Region of origin	Course	Description
Bolognese sauce	Ragù alla Bolognese	Bologna	Sauce for first course	a classic meat sauce served with pasta and grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
Cannoli	Cannoli	Sicily	Dessert	Tubes of fried pastry dough filled with sweetened ricotta cheese and candied fruit
Gelato	Gelato	Originally from Sicily but now found throughout Italy.	Dessert	Italian ice cream usually made with milk.
Gnocchi	Gnocchi di patate		First course	Small dumplings made with potatoes and flour, boiled quickly and served with various sauces. The classic version is with Genoese pesto
Gnocchi alla Romana	Gnocchi di semolino alla romana	Rome	First course	Small cakes made from semolina flour, milk, eggs, and cheese, topped with butter and cheese, then baked golden brown
Lasagna	Lasagne	found throughout Italy.	First course	wide ribbons of pasta baked with different sauces and ingredients. Most regions have their own variations.
Lasagne al forno	Lasagne al forno, lasagne verdi	Emilia	First course	Layers of Green (spinach) egg pasta, ragù, béchamel sauce, and Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese baked in the oven.
Minestrone	Minestrone	found throughout Italy.	First course	thick vegetable soup found throughout the Italian peninsula whose only common ingredient seems to be some kind of legumes (beans, chick peas, lentils). Can also use pasta or rice.
Macaroni	Maccheroni	Naples and central and southern Italy.	First course	hard dried pasta made from durum wheat. In English, it usually refers to tubular pasta
Osso buco	Ossobuco alla Milanese	Milan	Second course	braised veal shanks, generally, although not always, in a tomato-based sauce
Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese	Parmigiano-Reggiano	from western Emilia-Romagna	Ingredient	Italy's preeminent cheese, hard and dry and well-aged, made from skimmed or partially skimmed cow's milk
Pasta, noodles; see also Alkaline pasta; many names and shapes available, including spaghetti, fettucine, and tagliatelle	Pasta, maccheroni, sfoglia, tagliatelle, and many other shapes with specific names	found throughout Italy with innumerable regional variations	First course	flour and water (or often egg and flour) dough shaped in many different ways, boiled and served mixed with a sauce (pasta asciutta) or cooked in soup (pasta in brodo). May also contain some colouring agents (spinach, cuttlefish ink, carrots, tomatoes, etc.). Three basic types may be distinguished: dried hard pasta made from durum wheat, commercial "fresh pasta", and soft home-made pasta with many local variations.
Pasta and Bean Soup, pasta fazul, pasta fazool	Pasta e fagioli, pasta e ceci. Fazul is a dialect rendering of the standard Italian fagioli	found throughout Italy with innumerable local variations	First course	thick soup of pasta and beans, generally in a tomato sauce. May also have chick peas instead of beans (past e ceci). Mentioned in the 1950's hit song That's Amore with the lines "When the stars make you drool, Like pasta fazul, That's amore".
Pesto alla genovese	Pesto alla Genovese	from Genoa and the Ligurian coast.	Sauce for first course	a sauce made from crushed basil leaves, pine nuts, garlic and olive oil
Pizza	Pizza	Originally from Naples, Italy, it is now found in numerous versions practically throughout the world.	Snack, first course	flat bread with a number of toppings.
Polenta	Polenta	Lombardy and Veneto in northern Italy	First course	cornmeal cooked for a long time
Prosciutto, Parma ham	Prosciutto crudo	troughout Italy, the best versions are believed to come from Parma and the Friuli (Prosciutto San Daniele). Other countries have their versions: Jambon de Bayonne (France), Jamón serrano (Spain).	Ingredient	Air-cured pressed and salted uncooked ham, generally deboned, usually served very thinly sliced
Ricotta Gnocchi	Malfatti di ricotta or Gnudi	Florence	First course	Small dumplings made with ricotta cheese instead of potatoes
Risotto	Risotto	Lombardy and Veneto	First course	Rice cooked with broth being slowly added to the pot ladle by ladle, the rice being stirred constantly until cooked. Any number of ingredients may be added.
Risotto with mushrooms	Risotto con funghi		First course	a classic risotto with white wine, beef, beef stock, mushrooms, garlic, and zucchini
Romano cheese	Pecorino romano	Lazio region near Rome. Other types of pecorini from different regions are also made.	Ingredient	Sharp hard ewe's milk cheese, grated on pasta in southern Italian cooking.
Saltimbocca	Saltimbocca alla Romana	Rome	Second course	tender veal covered with Parma ham and seasoned with sage
Scaloppini	Scaloppine, cotolette	most of Italy	Second course	thinly-sliced veal cutlets or steaks
Spaghetti	Spaghetti	Naples	First course	Hard durum wheat pasta in the shape of strings; spago means "string" in Italian
Spaghetti carbonara	Spaghetti carbonara	Origin seems to be from Rome immediately after World War II, when American bacon became available to the Italian population, but this is disputed, with many instances of earlier references throughout Italy being cited.	First course	a pasta dish with cream, eggs, cheese, and diced bacon, at least in the present-day American version.
Spaghetti marinara, Spaghetti with tomato sauce, also known as Spaghetti Milanese in other countries, especially in eastern Europe.	Spaghetti marinara	Naples and southern Italy.	First course	a pasta dish with a light tomato sauce and garlic
Spaghetti with clam sauce	Spaghetti alle vongole	Naples	First course	a pasta dish with a sauce based on clams, olive oil and garlic, the sauce may or may not have tomatoes
Stew	Stufato	Found throughout Italy. Every region has its own variation	Second course	simmered beef in wine, tomatoes, and rosemary;
Tortellini	Tortellini, also known as cappelletti in Romagna	Origin disputed between Modena and Bologna.	First course	little hats of egg pasta traditionally filled with a meat mixture (prosciutto, mortadella, veal, pork), although many other versions exist.
Vitello tonnato	Vitello tonnato		Second course, Antipasto	a cold dish of veal with tuna fish sauce
Zampone	Zampone	Modena	Second course	Front pig's leg (trotter) deboned and stuffed with a variety of ground meats, then boiled and usually served with white beans. Similar to cotechino.

Additional sources

• Some regional recipes
• Online source of actual information