15 Recipes that Will Make You Feel Like You're in Italy

At the top of the long list of Things That Covid Caused to Screech to a Halt – tucked in among weddings, birthdays, and family reunions – is Travel, with a capital T. With the arrival of the pandemic -- still so strange that that sentence belongs in real life, and not a movie script starring Tom Cruise -- the simple act of moving from one place to another became perilous, risky, potentially irresponsible. I can count on both hands the number of friends and relatives who had planned to travel in 2020 (everywhere from India to California to Kenya) and more specifically, those who had planned to travel to Italy. My brother and sister-in law and parents fall in to this category, as do a handful of friends – but plane tickets and hotel reservations made or not, travels to everywhere from Rome to Florence to Venice to Bologna were taken off the table in 2020, just like that.

So! If you too had hoped to travel to Italy this year and had to cancel your vacation, I can’t give you the tour of the Colosseum you had booked, or the tan you were supposed to get on the Amalfi Coast. I certainly can’t provide you with that gondola ride, or afternoon at the Uffizi, or photo in front of the Trevi Fountain. I can however give you recipes for some of the wonderful dishes you would have eaten here – ones that you don’t normally find outside of the country -- to tide you over until you are able to come to Italy in person. These recipes will temporarily grant you a (gastronomic) passport to the most beautiful country in the world, bringing a little piece of Italy to you, or more specifically, to your kitchen table.

 And if you weren’t planning a trip to Italy? I’m guessing that by the eleventh month of 2020, you’re needing a break, an escape, and wouldn’t at all mind a vacation – these recipes are for you, too.

Nutella

Making your own Nutella is super simple, and requires only a handful of ingredients, all of which are pantry-friendly. This Nutella is more similar to the one you find in Italy, i.e more intensely chocolate-y — pure cocoa powder and dark chocolate here, no distractions in between — with undertones of roasted, slightly smoky hazelnuts. It's smooth and dreamy and perfect on toast, or on a banana, or who are we kidding, straight out of the jar. Click here for the recipe.

Pizza Bianca

If you're outside Italy you'll be hard-pressed to find pizza bianca in any bakery, so this recipe is a handy way to bring your Italian snack experience to your own kitchen, especially if you've tasted this in Rome and are looking to recreate it (prego). I couldn't have been happier with the finished product -- pizza with a perfectly crunchy exterior and a cloud-like interior, olive oil-y and salty-- and I suspect you'll feel the same. Click here for the recipe.

FIORI DI ZUCCA FRITTI

If you didn’t make it to the Eternal City this year, rest assured that fried zucchini flowers – a classic Roman starter -- can easily be made in your own kitchen. Traditionally the flowers are stuffed with mozzarella and anchovy, but if anchovies aren’t your thing, I’ve stuffed them with ricotta and basil –I leave the choice to you. The batter here is absolutely perfect, with beaten egg whites as the secret ingredient that creates a light, fluffy exterior for the zucchini flowers. Click here for the recipe.

TARALLI AL PEPERONCINO E ORIGANO

If you too adore taralli pugliesi, I have good news: making your own taralli require a little time and some cutting and shaping, but the process itself is not at all difficult. These are delicious, addictive-ly crispy and crunchy as any good snack food should be, redolent of olive oil and wine, slightly spicy thanks to the red pepper flakes and brightly herb-y thanks to the oregano. Bonus: they make your kitchen smell amazing while they're baking. Click here for the recipe.

PIADINA ALLA ROMAGNOLA

This recipe produces piadine that are downright perfect, soft and pliable with a slightly salty, buttery flavor, the perfect vehicle for rich prosciutto, peppery arugula, and tangy sharp stracchino. I was transported back up north to Bologna at the very first bite (there's nothing quite like nostalgic eating). The options here are endless: a more brunch-y piadina, with scrambled eggs and cheese?! sweet piadina with ricotta and Nutella?! piadina with cicoria and sausages?! Click here for the recipe.

PARMIGIANA DI MELANZANE

Perhaps one of the most beloved Italian dishes, this recipe makes for a stellar parmigiana, the eggplant thinly sliced and tender and golden brown and not at all greasy, tucked in between layers of tomato sauce, gooey mild mozzarella and sharp Parmesan. Cozy and filling and comforting, this is certainly the kind of food that softens the edges of weird, uncertain times, making you forget everything from covid-19 to another Trump win and everything in between, at least briefly. Click here for the recipe.

FOCACCIA ALLA TOMASI

This recipe from my friend Carla makes the best focaccia you’ll ever have -- it’'s light as air, with an excellent crumb, slightly salty and sprinkled with a generous dose of earthy rosemary or topped with whatever ingredients your carbohydrate-loving heart desires. If you're iffy about bread making, rest assured! Like all Carla recipes, this is low maintenance (just a few stretches and turns of the dough and a little waiting, probably the most difficult part, if you, like me, are always eager to get fresh bread in your sights) and the result is spectacular. Click here for the recipe.

PASTA ALL’AMATRICIANA

Ahh, my favorite pasta dish of all time! Amatriciana is comforting (the carb-equivalent of a warm blanket or a hug) and the scent of the sauce cooking in the pan makes you feel like you’re out to dinner at a Roman trattoria. Long story short: when living in very uncertain times, there's nothing sturdier or more reassuring than the combination of crisp fatty guanciale, punchy Pecorino, and slow cooked tomatoes. Click here for the recipe.

GNOCCHI DI PATATE

You don’t have to wait for your next trip to Italy to enjoy homemade gnocchi! The dough here comes together very easily and is a cinch to work with, and makes featherlight, joy-to-eat gnocchi. These were excellent served up with Marcella Hazan's insanely uncomplicated and incredibly luxurious tomato sauce, but sage butter, ragu' would also be lovely. Click here for the recipe.

PIZZA MARGHERITA

This recipe results in a pizza that is tall and majestic -- this is more Neapolitan than Roman pizza --pillow-y and impossibly fluffy. The fior di latte becomes golden brown and beautifully stretchy, filante, once put in the oven, melting over the simplest and most satisfying of tomato sauces; a little basil is a lot more than just a garnish, adding freshness to the odd bite it might have landed on, and right at home with tomato and mozzarella, two ingredients it knows well. This was perfect, in that very specific slice-of-pizza-fresh-out-of-the-oven kind of way, an alchemy of freshly baked bread, tomatoes, and melted cheese. Click here for the recipe.

GELATO AL CIOCCOLATO

Gelato is a must when you come to Italy – up there with pizza and pasta – and if you haven’t been able to get your gelato fix during your vacation this year, rest assured it is super easy to make at home. This recipe for gelato al cioccolato -- the first recipe I ever made with my ice cream maker back in high school! – is superb, packing an intensely chocolatey punch with an smooth, creamy, very dreamy consistency. It will transport you right back to Italy, guaranteed. Dollop of freshly whipped cream optional but recommended. Click here for the recipe.

CASTAGNOLE DI RICOTTA

Of all the traditionally fried sweets you come across here in Italy during Carnevale, these castagnole are my very favorite. They’re rendered cloud-like after a good dose of ricotta, tinged with fragrant, sunny orange zest, perfect rolled in a bit of sugar, and excellent served warm or at room temperature. I'll keep the description short here because let's be honest: this is fried dough. You can never go wrong with fried dough. Click here for the recipe.

TORTA CAPRESE

Didn’t get to the island of Capri this year? Bring their most famous dessert to you! Here we have a cake that is super chocolate-y and almost brownie-like, held together by a heap of mild, crunchy almonds, tinged with sunny bright orange, and topped with a shattery, crackly, lid that contrasts nicely with the fudge-y interior. A dusting of powdered sugar over the top makes it especially pretty. Click here for the recipe.

CREMA DI CAFFE’

Crema di caffè can be described as (very soft) soft serve coffee ice cream, which is served swirled into little cups and eaten with a spoon. You'll find it at almost every bar here, and it is a true life-saver on a hot summer day. Bring it from the Roman bar to your kitchen with this homemade version, which makes for a crema di caffe’ that is smooth and rich and packs a coffee punch, made even more special with the addition of a little Nutella. Click here for the recipe.

GRANITA DI ANGURIA

Watermelon is of course fantastic eaten as is, but when dressed up with a splash of bright sunny lime juice and just enough sugar to enhance its natural sweetness, then frozen and scraped up into a pile of icy granita splendor, it becomes truly spectacular, a light, fresh summer-y treat to be kept in the freezer and enjoyed at any time. It doesn’t really get any easier than this, either; just throw everything into a blender, pour the resulting mixture into a pan, and scrape the layers of ice every few hours with a fork or spoon – and just like that, you can bring a little bit of Sicily in to your own home. Click here for the recipe.