Category Archives: Contorni/Side Dishes

Italian Pasta Sauce cooking class video by Giuliano Hazan. It includes the recipes for Linguine with a Pink Shrimp Sauce, Penne with Sausage and Ricotta, and an Orange, Cucumber, and Red Radish Salad.

The Marcella bean has gotten great press, including a feature in the New York Times. In our house we prepare them in multiple ways, and Giuliano often uses them in recipes that he teaches to our students. Perhaps my favorite preparation is the first way I remember Marcella serving beans. Simple and delicious, so that the flavor of the bean was the center of the dish, the recipe, known as Assunta’s Beans came out of Victor’s request to eat a dish they had not tasted in 45 years.

Puntarelle is also the name of the traditional preparation, a salad that is famous from Rome. It is a rich tasting, beautiful salad that will have you and your family and friends transported back to the eternal city of Rome. A dish fit for Caesar himself.

there were some blanched, peeled favas left over and they went into a quick sauce for homemade tagliatelle, sautéed in butter with a hunk of prosciutto ground very fine and whipping cream.

We prepared them simply, boiled with a drizzle of good extra virgin olive oil and a dash of truffle salt. They were delicious and tender, I looked at Giuliano and said,“ It’s a pity that potatoes don’t get more respect”. I know I will never take a potato for granted again.

Cooking barley is just like rice, yet the grain has a nutty flavor that gives depth to the dish. Add the tomato, parsley and onion to the dish and you are set with an easily transportable dish that all will enjoy.

A wonderful way of preparing endive is to grill it, which gives it a deep, nutty flavor and sweetens it. Last week Giuliano grilled some and the children liked it so much it was gone in an instant.

Roasted potatoes are perhaps the ultimate comfort cold weather food.. What makes this dish Italian are the seasonings. The combination of garlic and rosemary is the distinctive aroma of Italian roasts. Breathing it is as one enters the house makes one’s mouth water in anticipation. For me, it is the smell of tranquility.

Usually prepared and served out of a small shack that may have a few plastic tables, piadina is a flat bread that is chewy but tender. Until not very long ago it used to be the everyday bread of Romagna. It is baked to order on a griddle (traditionally made of terracotta) and served with a variety of salumi, cured meats, and cheeses. One of our favorite toppings is sautéed mixed greens using a combination of mild and slightly bitter greens. It is both savory and soothing. Even without piadina, it is a side dish Giuliano often enjoys making. Made with Savoy cabbage, Swiss chard, and broccoli rabe, it appeared most recently on our Thanksgiving table.