Italian Cusine
Italian cusine and Italian food is extremely varied and has spread it's influence throughout the world.
The Italian Menu
An Italian menu will normally take the following form :
Anitpasti
Antipasti is the first course in atradional Italian meal. It may consist of hot or cold appitisers.
Il Primo
The first course will normally consist of a hot food dish such as pasta, risotto, gnocchi, polenta or soup. This often just comprosis carbohydrate rich food as a filler before the meat dish which will follow.
Il Secondo
This is the main food dish in Italy and consists of fish or meat. In Italy Veal is the most commonly used meat although Beef is gaining popularity and wild game is popular throughout Tuscany.
Il dolce
Il dolce is the dessert course
Pizza
Pizza is weel known for originating from Naples and is attibuted to the baker Raffaele Esposito. The pizza which set the standard for all Pizza throughout the world was the Pizza Margherita which was made to resemble the flag of Italy with green basil leaves, white mozzarella, and red tomatoes in honor of Queen Margherita. Pizza crossed the atlantic with the many Italian immigrants and Pizzeria's began opening in the Little Italy area of New York where it's evolution continued.
Pasta
Pasta is a type of Italian food made from flour mixed with water and/or eggs. In Northern Italy fresh egg Pasta is more popular cusine whereas in Southern Italy the preference is for dried durum pasta. The many varieites of pasta in Italy include the stringy spaghetti and vermicelli, ribbon-shaped fettuccine and linguine, the short tubes of macaroni and penne, and the large sheets like lasagna, as well as the tiny grains of couscous and orzo, and hollow pasta stuffed with filling such as ravioli, manicotti, and tortellini.
Rissoto
Risotto is a traditional Italian food dish made with a suitable variety of rice such as Arborio and is one of the most popular types of food in Milan. When risotto is cooked, the dry rice is fried briefly in oil before the broth is added to make a creamy texture.
