The essence of Italian food is cucina casalinga, good everyday home cooking. The techniques used to prepare it are generally easy, and the equipment is minimal. Italian kitchens tend to be small and basic, yet they produce some of the world's most flavorful dishes.

Choose Good Ingredients

Italian cooks rely on richly flavorful artisanal ingredients to add depth and character to their cooking. In the past, many of these culinary treasures, from cheeses and cured meats to pastas and olive oil, might have been homemade, part of a family's larder of culinary treasures prepared and stored away to enhance foods all year long. Nowadays, they are more often store-bought, but they remain the products of food artisans, produced with care and attention to flavor.
As the popularity of the Mediterranean diet and the flavors of Italy continue to grow, more and more well-stocked supermarkets and specialty food stores outside Italy are carrying such artisanal foods. Seeking out these ingredients will make a huge difference as you prepare the recipes in this book, because they do much of the work of cooking for you. Good-quality pancetta or prosciutto, aged pecorino romano or Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, small, delicate lentils—raw materiale like these add complexity and authenticity without adding a lot of work.
Italian cooks generally shop once or twice a day to be Bure they are buying the freshest fruits and vegetables, meat, poultry, seafood, and dairy available. Even if you do not have time to shop daily, the principle remains valid, especially when you are creating an Italian menu. Make frequent, small shopping trips, look for seasonal, fresh, locally produced foods, and buy them as dose to the day of the meal as possible.

Cook with a Light Hand

Another hallmark of great Italian cooking is its directness. Foods are seldom obscured by complex sauces: pasta is cooked al dente and generally sauced just enough to moisten it; vegetables, though often cooked until quite soft, are usually lightly seasoned, so that their delicate flavors can be appreciated.
Resist the impulse to add more—more herbs, more garlic, more chiles. Italian cooks instinctively follow the fundamental principle of respecting their ingredients, and thus avoid masking the essential character of foods by overcooking, oversaucing, or overseasoning. That said, seasoning assertively with salt and pepper at every stage of cooking from raw ingredient to finished dish is a classic Italian way to bring out flavor.

Strive for Balance

When planning a meal, think about how the flavors, colors, and textures of the courses will contrast and complement one another.
A substantial pasta can precede a light second course. If the second course is rich and hearty, you might begin the meal with a simpler pasta or soup.
Keep portions small and self-contained. A modest serving of pasta leaves room for what is ahead. Second courses in Italy are not intended to be the "main event" of the meal, served up in enormous quantities.
The whole meal is the event, and serving the second course and side dishes family style allows everyone to eat as much as they want, while enjoying a variety of tastes. Pace the meal as Italians do, allowing for pauses between courses, so that everyone has time to digest and enjoy their wine and one another's company.

Prepare in Advance

At a typical Italian meal, most of the food
is cooked well ahead of time. Before anyone comes to the table, the antipasto is set out on platters or multiple small plates, and the second course is usually finished and ready to be served. The side dishes, or contorni,
are fully cooked and standing by, often to be enjoyed at room temperature. The pasta sauce is simmering gently, and the pasta water is at a rolling boil. Wine is opened and ready to pour along with stili and sparkling water.
!t is generally only the cooking and saucing of the pasta that are left for the last minute. This strategy works particularly well for entertaining, because it means that you can serve even a relatively complicated Italian menu with minimal stress, since almost all of the work is done before the guests arrive, and you nave more time to devote to your guests.

COOKING WITH ITALIAN CHEESES Cheese making in Italy has long been a tradition and a great source of pride. Cheeses are produced in every style imaginable, from soft to hard, cow's milk to goat's milk. Nearly every region of Italy has its own distinc cheeses, evolving from its terrain and cuisine, designed to pair perfectly with the regional dishes. Some regions even have strict DOC laws; for example, Parmigiano-Reggiano can only be made in the region around Parma.
PURPOSE	CHEESE
Used for melting	Caciocavello, Fontina, mozzarella, provolone, scamorza, Taleggio
Used for grating	Asiago (aged), fiore sardo (aged), pecorino (aged), grana padano, Parmigiano-Reggiano, ricotta salata
Used for sauces	Fresh goat cheese, Gorgonzola, Gruyère
Used for fillings or for layering pasta	Fiore sardo, fresh ricotta, mascarpone, fresh mozzarella