Italian Cuisine is all about simplicity.
It’s about showcasing the natural flavors of ingredients, yet bringing them to the next level using delicate seasoning and the complementarity of certain foods paired with each other. The good news here as well, is that this makes the recipes easy to make at home!
This is much like Prosecco wine in a way if you think about it!
Prosecco is made using a relatively simple winemaking technique (learn it all with our article What’s Prosecco Wine?) that is designed to be an easy process to implement at the winery, and also meant to respect the primary aromas of the Venetian Glera grapes the wine is made from.
Then of course, another thing the Italians do really well, is pairing their wine with food.
On top of that, the truth is to admit that:
Prosecco is designed to be paired with food too!
It’s natural delicate and restrained flavors, as well as its sustained acidity, mean that it never overpowers dishes or contradicts them, but in fact, will often sustain and amplify them thanks to its crisp acidity.
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So, because experts are experts, and I am no Italian, I’ve turned to organic Prosecco maker Corvezzo winery, to bring you some simple yet super tasty and authentic, Italian dish recipes, that not only LOOK and TASTE good, but also pair deliciously with Prosecco bubbly wine!
3-Minute Italian-style Mushroom Omelette
This is a super simple recipe, yet delicious, probably one of the very best ways to showcase the tastiness of mushrooms, by cooking them in an omelette, with a hint of garlic and nutmeg to spice things up gently.
Note the two very Italian touches here: 1) the use of Mozzarella – I’d never thought of using it in an omelette before actually! – 2) the generous use of olive oil and a bit of butter. This will allow for a richer omelette, infused with the mushroom flavor. It will also cut through the acidity of the Prosecco wine, for a burst of tasty flavor combinations of the palate.
What do you think? Appetizing? Well, I’m salivating just at writing this already!
Ingredients
- 300g – 10oz Italian mushroms (Porcini and Chiodini)
- 250g – 10oz of Mozzarella cheese
- 1 clove of garlic
- 1/2 glass of Prosecco
- 2 spoons of extra-vergin olive oil
- 1 stick of butter
- nutmeg to tastea bunch of parsley
- salt to taste
Cooking Directions
- Clean and cut the mushrooms. Stir-fry mushrooms with extra-virgin olive oil, parsley and garlic for 5 min. Simmer with Prosecco until reduced.
- Slice mozzarella
- Beat eggs in a bowl until perfectly blended. Add a little bit of salt and nutmeg.
- Heat butter in a nonstick pan until hot. Pour eggs in and cook until top surface of mixture is thickened.
- Place a part of cooked mushrooms and mozzarella slices on the top. Fold omelette in half and keep cooking on low temperature for other 3 min.
Happy Hour’s Crostini
Crostini, as you probably know, are little pieces of crunchy toasted bread, topped with tasty ingredients, and served as antipasti or starters. They are somewhat of a mise-en-bouche before a meal, or let’s say more simply: appetizers.
Italians LOVE their crostini, and so do we!
I’ve seen them virtually at every dinner party during my time in Italy. The great thing about them, beside their flavorful taste, is that you can play around with various flavor combinations and toppings.
Here are a few typically Italian examples.
Needless to say, that crostini, and antipasti in general, are the perfect match with Prosecco wine, a refreshing sparkling wine served with appetizers and entrees to awaken the guests’ senses and tastes buds!
Note that in Italian the singular form to ‘cortini’ is ‘crostino’. You’d say one crostino.
The cooking instructions are simple, toast some bread (preferably ciabatta bread), and top it with the following combinations of ingredients:
Crostino #1 – Dried Tomato & Ricotta
-Toasted ciabatta bread slice
-Extra virgin olive oil
-Dried Tomatoes
-Fresh ricotta (pour it with a frosting gun)
Crostino #2 – Parmesan & Ham
-Hot toasted ciabatta bread slice
-Extra-virgin olive oil
-Little bites of Grana Padano (or Parmigiano Reggiano, let them melt a little bit over hot bread surface)
-San Daniele Ham slice
Crostino #3 – Olive & Anchovies
-Toasted ciabatta bread slice
-Extra-virgin olive oil
-Ligurian olives
-Anchovy fillets in oil
Crostino #4 – Tapenade
-Toasted ciabatta bread slice
-Ligurian olives paté
Crostino #5 – Cheese & Mushrooms
-Toasted ciabatta bread slice
-Extra-virgin olive oil
-Casatella cheese slices
-Sautéed finferli mushrooms
Spaghetti alle vongole (Spaghetti with white clam sauce)
There are millions of ways to cook pasta. And that is in traditional Italian cuisine alone!
But the following one particularly caught my attention, for it’s absolute simplicity, but also because it connects the wine to the dish, by actually cooking a glass of your Prosecco bottle into the dish.
My advice here: buy a bottle of Prosecco (or two), pour yourself a glass while you’re cooking, use another glass for the sauce, the rest is for the guests!
Enjoy 🙂
Ingredients
500g – 1Lb os Spaghetti
- 1kg – 2 Lb of cleaned clams
- 1 clove of garlic
- A bunch of parsley
- Black pepper to taste
- Extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 glass of Prosecco wine
Cooking Directions
- In a large pot, bring salted water to a boil. Add spaghetti until they are “al dente” (cooked until it is firm to bite).
- At the same time, heat extra-virgin olive oil in a big pan. Add garlic and sauté it a little bit.
- Add clams and Prosecco wine.
- Cover the pan and cook until clams have opened (do not eat clams that have not opened!)
- When spaghetti are ready put them in the hot pan. Keep gently mixing spaghetti and let them absorb a little bit of clams’ sauce.
- Add chopped parsley and black pepper.
- Serve immediately.
Recommended Organic Prosecco Wines
Below are a couple of Prosecco wines I particularly enjoyed, and that also happen to be organic.
The first one, called ‘Shake It’ is a unique one that is refermented in its bottle, and that comes with its lees giving the wine a hazy effect when you shake it, but also bringing burther smoothness and flavors.
Corvezzo ‘Shake It’ Organic Prosecco Treviso Col Fondo, Veneto, Italy
Corvezzo Terre di Marca Extra Dry Organic Prosecco Bio Millesimato, Veneto, Italy
This post and recipes were developed with our partners at Corvezzo winery that take the production of quality Organic Prosecco very seriously. Read more about Corvezzo and their wines at Corvezzo winery profile:
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