Cook Delicios Italian Food At Home

When it comes to ethnic cuisines, there are none more popular than Italian food. From your local pizza joint (debatable as to whether that's truly Italian food) to the four-star places found in major cities, Italian food is one of the top choices when families are deciding where to go to eat out.

The food of Italy is commonly thought to be decadent, cheese-laden stuff with a predominance of garlic and oregano, almost always involving pasta of some sort and usually served with a good bottle of wine. While none of this is untrue about Italian cuisine, it does give one a very limited view of what is one of world's most varied culinary areas.

 There are many misconceptions that surround Italy's customs, and food. Lets take a look at some of the most common Italian food myths. The tomato, now considered a staple in Italian cuisine, was long thought to be poisonous, partly because it is related to the deadly nightshade plant. Other Europeans found it to be palatable long before the first Italian cook simmered some down to make tomato sauce.

If you are totally new to cooking Italian food, you may need to have a few special tools in your kitchen to be able to prepare all of the recipes. An espresso machine is important if you like that after dinner cup. A garlic press, cheese grater, and pasta press will make cooking easier. For serving you will want a carafe for oil and vinegar, some fun serving ware, and a corkscrew for the wine.

Pasta helps create healthy Italian food because it cuts down on the amount of fat in the meal. If the meal is largely pasta, you will have no problem staying below the 30% of calories coming from fat. Of course this assumes that you are staying away from cream and cheese based sauces like Alfredo, and sticking to tomato sauce. Even most meat sauces are ok to eat. This is also true for saturated fat, again assuming that you stay away from the cream and cheese based sauces. So ordering an order of spaghetti with tomato sauce is much healthier than other alternatives.

There is a great deal of option when it comes to fine Italian foods, and most of which are actually not pasta related. Many of the wonderful dishes that you find from the past and the newer recipes in the fine restaurants, are revolving around rice. There are quite a few different forms of rice that can be used for a great Italian meal, and using the right rice for the right recipe can be very important. Many of the great recipes including the likes of Risotto, are easy to make and you will be pleasing the family each and every time you cook. Rice is a very versatile food that you can use as the part of a main course or as a fine side.

It all starts with the ingredients you keep. For good, healthy food you want to make sure you stock the kitchen with quality pasta, olive oil, garlic, onions, lean meat, fish, and seafood. For seasoning you will want some herbs like basil, oregano, and parsley. You'll want to stay away from a lot of cheese and perhaps only get a little Parmesan cheese to top your favorite dishes. The creamy and cheesy dishes are the ones you're going to want to stay away from in order to keep a healthy diet.

Now, anybody can tell you for a fact that Italian food isn't Italian without a good wine to go with your dinner. Any respectable authentic Italian food establishment will have a nice selection of wine. This is a must for your romantic date.