18 Italian Recipes

The classic Italian dish: roast pork cooked in milk sliced on a cutting board.

Roast Pork in Milk1/18

There's a reason this stroke of Italian brilliance, which infuses a relatively cheap cut of pork with a subtle milky sweetness, is a classic. One taste and you'll be thanking us.

A serving of lobster fra diavolo in an oval bowl with a spoon resting inside.

Lobster Fra Diavolo2/18

Lend a little swanky to everyday spaghetti by gilding it with chunks of sweet, sweet lobster and juuuuust the perfect hit of chile pepper.

A white bowl filled with risotto and topped with a sprig of thyme and some lemon zest

Lemon and Thyme Risotto3/18

A lilt of lemon and hints of thyme dance throughout this simple risotto. The best they've ever tasted.

Bowl of rigatoni with artichokes, garlic, and olives, with lemon zest on a textured table

Rigatoni with Artichokes, Garlic, and Olives4/18

This weeknight friendly, company worthy, simple but not terribly subtle pasta concoction has us swooning.

A loaf of ciabatta, sliced, and filled with large air holes

Ciabatta5/18

Every once in a while, along comes a loaf of bread that's so rustic, so memorable, it ruins every other bread experience. Here's that loaf.

White bowl with ziti and a pasta puttanesca sauce

Pasta Puttanesca6/18

Just like the women for whom it's named, this pasta puttanesca recipe is edgy, spicy, and more than a little sassy. Gets the job done in a hurry, too.

A metal casserole dish filled with a cooked lasagna Bolognese, with three forks and a stack of plates beside it.

Lasagne Bolognese7/18

Think you know lasagne? As Giuliano Hazan explains, what you know may be sadly mistaken. His recipe will fix that.

Tray of roast chicken pieces with pancetta, olives, and garlic cloves

Roast Chicken with Pancetta and Olives8/18

"One of the best chicken recipes ever!" "Crisp-skinned." "Juicy." "Aromatic." "Easy." "Gorgeous." "Heavenly." That's what we're hearing from folks who've tried this preparation for chicken (or rabbit). Sorta makes you wanna try it, eh?

Skillet with four seared pork sausages with roasted grapes on a baking sheet nearby.

Pork Sausages with Roasted Grapes9/18

A traditionally Umbrian dish in which pork sausages and plump grapes are coaxed to tender goodness and jammy sweetness. You're welcome.

Five piles of different colored fresh pasta dough

Homemade Pasta Dough10/18

Pasta made fresh according to Italian tradition is unspeakably more supple, satisfying, and gratifying than the dried-out store-bought stuff and, in fact, lovely enough to cause you to weep. Here's how to make it at home.

A white bowl filled with pasta soup with potatoes and pancetta on a linen cloth with a spoon resting on the edge of the bowl.

Pasta Soup with Potatoes and Pancetta11/18

This good old-fashioned soup has a frugal heartiness once needed by day laborers, a satiating subtleness now appreciated by foodies.

Three classic beef meatballs piled on pasta in a white and green bowl an finished with Parmesan.

Classic Beef Meatballs12/18

Know that little ditty about how some poor hungry soul's meatballs were lost when somebody sneezed? It always makes us sad.

Pot filled with pastina with butter and milk and a wooden spoon all on a towel

Pastina with Butter and Milk13/18

We’ve got stars in our eyes...and our bowls...and our spoons...all thanks to pastina, the teensy star-shaped pasta. It just may be the cutest supper in the solar system.

A glass mixing bowl filled with homemade nutella and a spatula rests inside the bowl

Homemade Nutella14/18

No longer are you safe from temptation just because you summoned enough fortitude to skip the Nutella aisle at the store. Not safe at all.

Two pieces of Rosa's almond biscotti on a stack of plates with a glass of coffee

Rosa’s Almond Biscotti15/18

We find these unabashedly unconventional biscotti bewitching beyond belief. Different form. Same function. Far less fuss.

Chocolate tart cut into 12 slices on parchment paper

Chocolate Tart with Pine Nuts16/18

We don't know Italian, but we're pretty certain this tart, with its molten filling and brownie crust, translates to "Damn good!"

Three glasses with fig, apricot, and pistachio biscotti resting inside or on top of two of them and a stack of biscotti beside the glassware.

Fig, Apricot, and Pistachio Biscotti17/18

This beauty of a biscotti may seem a descendant of sorts from fruitcake, though it boasts a heck of a lot more allure than its stodgy ancestor.

A round polenta plum cake on a wooden table with one slice cut from it.

Polenta Plum Cake18/18

A cake that's as rife with uber-ripe plums as it is Italian heritage. You're gonna love the gritty-in-a-good-way texture and buttery taste.