7 of the Most Popular Traditional Italian Dishes: An Introduction
A land rich in art, history, Italy is alsoworld-renowned for its extraordinary culinary charm. Food derived from Italy offers recipes known and loved around the world for their uniqueness and flavor.
Who doesn’t love classic Italian dishes such as spaghetti, risotto, tiramisu, and pizza? We certainly do at Pubblico Italian Eatery.
Pubblico Italian Eatery is where you’ll find a full menu of traditional Italian cuisine that honors the centuries-old legacies of its food and culture.
But, just what dishes are considered to be Italian food classics?
Our team will cover seven of the most popular traditional Italian dishes in this blog.
Table of Contents:
Pasta
Pizza
Risotto
Seafood
Lasagna
Ravioli
Tiramisu
Pubblico Italian Eatery Wood-Fired Pizza
People Also Ask:
What is a traditional Italian food?
Italian cuisine dishes are versatile. They include many ingredients ranging from vegetables and grains to fruits, cheese, fish, and meats.
What is a typical Italian dinner?
Typically, Italian dinner dishes include a variety of pasta, soups, risottos, and seafood. With an Italian-inspired dinner menu, you’ll find dishes like pizza, spaghetti, ravioli, and desserts such as tiramisu.
Pasta
Pasta Made Fresh Daily at Pubblico Italian Eatery.
When most people think of Italian food, they think of pasta. Said to have originated in Sicily, pasta expanded to other Italian regions by the ocean with ports and an ideal climate for drying it to both store and then sell. Among these areas include Imperia and Naples.
Italian pasta comes in many shapes and sizes and is made using unleveled dough from:
Durum Wheat
Water
Eggs
A highly versatile dish, it can be servced with countless toppings and fillings.
Pizza
Pubblico Italian Eatery Margherita Pizza
Besides pasta, pizza is perhaps the most popular and recognized Italian food. Pizza is considered a national symbol representing Italy to the rest of the world, so much so that UNESCO has acknowledged pizza as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
Every pizza establishment or restaurant that serves pizza has its own secret for making the dish.
However, pizza is typically made of:
Flour
Water
Brewer’s Yeast
Salt
Eggs
It is said that the original pizza was created in the Southern Italian city of Naples towards the end of the 18th century and named in honor of Italian Queen, Margherita di Savoia.
Perhaps the most famous type of pizza, it consists of tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese, and basil, paying homage to the colors of the Italian national flag.
Risotto
Classic Italian Mushroom Risotto.
Risotto is a well-known Italian dish that hails from Northern Italy and can be cooked in countless ways. It is often creamy and rich in cheese and is prepared with rice pasta simmered in broth.
Seafood
Fresh Clam Linguini at Pubblico Italian Eatery.
Surrounded by water and with so many Italian cities on the Mediterranean coast, seafood is a common staple in the Italian diet and the main ingredient in many dishes. When it comes to Italian cuisine, you’ll find a variety of fresh seafood paired with pasta, sauces, vegetables, and meats.
Some examples of popular Italian seafood include:
Shrimp
Mussels & Clams
Sardines
Fried Squid
Salted Cod
In Italy, seafood is served traditionally for a lighter Christmas Eve dinner. Italian-American cuisine has evolved into a seafood feast with salmon, tuna, swordfish, calamari, octopus salad, spaghetti with clams, and other seafood pasta dishes.
Lasagna
Okay so it’s not lasagna, but very similar and just as delicious - our wood-fired Italian Sausage Rigatoni.
Another Italian cuisine pillar is Lasagna. This dish is baked and consists of multiple layers of fresh pasta covered in sauce and various fillings. Lasagna sauces typically are made from tomatoes and consist of sautéed onion, celery, carrots.
The most popular Lasagna fillings often include:
Beef
Pork
Cheese
Ravioli
Fresh Lobster Ravioli from Pubblico Italian Eatery.
The amount of stuffed pasta dishes made famous by Italy is endless. From Northern to Southern Italy, almost every region has its own variation of Ravioli.
Ravioli is pasta made from soft dough and then shaped into a square envelope. The filled, enveloped pasta is often served with sauce or broth. Ravioli shapes can vary between square, circular, and semi-circular.
Common ravioli fillings can include:
Meats (steak, beef, pork, chicken)
Ricotta
Cheeses
Vegetables
Seafood
Tiramisu
Pubblico Italian Eatery Tiramisu.
Last but certainly not least is one of the most famous Italian desserts; Tiramisu. Said to originally hail from the Italian region of Veneto, this cold-served dessert is light and has a cocoa coffee flavor.
Tiramisu consists of a base of Savoiardi biscuits in coffee and Marsala (wine liqueur.)
The Savoiardi biscuits are then covered with mascarpone:
Cream
Eggs
Sugar
Cocoa powder
Conclusion
Italy is a continent known for its rich history, culture, and cuisine. A few things are for sure when it comes to Italian food - Italian dishes are well-loved, and there’s something for everyone!
At Pubblico Italian Eatery, we’ve made sure to create a menu that includes variations of the seven most popular Italian dishes discussed in this blog.
Chef Garcia and his team keep the ingredients fresh but the recipes classic.
Both Phoenix and Scottsdale Pubblico Italian Eatery locations feature a modern but inviting atmosphere, specious outdoor dining, and bars serving signature hand-crafted cocktails.
Click here to learn more about the Pubblico Story. And check out our post on our curated Italian wine list which we rotate quarterly. 🍷
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