A survey conducted in 24 countries found that Italian food is the world’s most popular cuisine, with an average popularity score of 84%. The survey also depicted that pizza and pasta are among the most popular foods in the world.
From pizza to pasta, people fall back on Italian food to satisfy their cravings for a good meal. Italian cuisine offers dishes that are popular all over the globe and unique and inimitable. Italian restaurants in the US market will grow by $75.3 billion by 2023.
Traditional Italian foods include varieties of pasta, risotto, pizza, soups, and delicious meat and fish dishes. If you want to start embracing the goodness of Italian cuisine at your café, check out the top 10 Italian dishes that everyone loves.
1. Pizza Margherita
A traditional Italian pizza is made of flat round dough topped with tomatoes and mozzarella cheese and garnished with basil, olives, and oregano. There are two types of Italian pizza: Neapolitan pizza, thicker and smaller, and Roman pizza, thinner and bigger.
Pizza Margherita is the most famous Neapolitan pizza, typically made with tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, garlic, fresh basil, and extra-virgin olive oil and baked at high temperatures for a crispy-on-the-outside crust.
2. Arancini
Fried rice balls handmade with ragu or tomato sauce, peas, mozzarella cheese, and Arborio rice. Mix the rice with ingredients, roll it in breadcrumbs, and then drop it in the deep fryer to make it crispy outside. The Sicilian arancini recipes typically add beef and peas, but you can fill it with other vegetables.
3. Ribollita
Ribollita means “reboiled,” this soup is full of healthy ingredients: cannellini beans, black cabbage, veggies galore, and chunks of stale, unsalted Tuscan bread that soften in the broth. A bowl of soup is enough to warm you up on a winter day.
It is an appetizer, easy-to-cook soup that blends vegetables, beans, herbs, olive oil, and Parmesan cheese with pieces of dry bread.
4. Risotto
A rice dish prepared from short-grain rice like Arborio or Carnaroli gently simmered in a beef broth and tossed with saffron. The main ingredients are meat, fish or vegetable broths, onion, olive oil or butter, white wine and parmesan cheese.
You can prepare the dish by mixing ingredients with a creamy sauce made with butter and other spices. Popular types of risotto are chicken and pea, mushroom, seafood, and beef mince risotto. These dishes include other ingredients like pumpkin, mushrooms, sausage, or shellfish.
5. Panna cotta
An Italian dessert also known as ‘cooked cream’. You can prepare it with fresh cream, gelatin, sugar and milk, which is also very easy and quick to prepare at home. You can best serve this sweet delight with chocolate, caramel or berry coulis.
For this dessert, mix sugar pudding and rich cream with gelatin softened to a liquid. You can also add topping for additional taste, such as pistachio panna cotta is chilled and served with chopped pistachios garnishing, whereas mango panna cotta contains mango.
6. Ossobuco
Ossobuco means “hollow bone,” and the name encourages people to try this meat-based dish. It involves the slow cooking of veal shanks in red or white wine sauce, meat broth, vegetables, and other spices until it becomes meltingly tender.
Ossobuco is one of the most traditional foods of Italian cuisine that may take up to three hours to be ready, but its taste is worth the wait. The low-heat cooking infuses flavors from meat stock, vegetables, and white wine. You can serve this dish with gremolata seasoning made of lemon zest, garlic and parsley.
7. Spaghetti Carbonara
One of the famous Italian pastas cooked with garlic, olive oil, eggs, cured guanciale, pecorino cheese, and black pepper. Italian agro-food distinctive products constitute about 80% of domestic exports in the food sector, which shows the demand for Italian cuisine in the global market.
You can prepare Carbonara with egg, cured pork, hard cheese, and black pepper. The cheese is usually pecorino romano or parmigiano-reggiano. The secret of the recipe is to mix the ingredients at the right time.
Some other popular types of pasta are penne, fettuccine, lasagne, spaghetti, macaroni, tagliatelle and ravioli. You can mix these kinds of pasta in numerous sauces, herbs, vegetables and meats to twist the taste accordingly.
8. Gnocchi
Small rounds of potato dough made of cheese, spinach, eggs, and various sauces. This potato dumpling is baked in tomato sauce with fresh mozzarella and topped with fresh basil.
Prepare your Gnocchi dumplings with potatoes and cheese, boil them in salted water and serve with a delicious sauce. You can also prepare it from semolina, wheat flour or breadcrumbs instead of potatoes. Since Gnocchi doesn’t have a creamy sauce or meat, it has low calories.
9. Gelato
Gelato is one of the best Italian cuisine desserts, available in hundreds of flavors. A study shows 91% of British customers who have tried Italian dishes say that they like it. It contains less fat, air, and water and much more natural flavoring than western ice cream.
Gelato uses only fresh ingredients, so you cannot store it for long. Also, it is stored and served less cold than ice cream, giving the gelato a smoother texture and making it more refreshing.
Authentic Italian gelato is made from milk, cream, and sugar and uses fruit, nuts and chocolate for flavors. Gelato differs from traditional ice cream as it does not utilize eggs and uses less cream, which makes it a super dense and creamy confection.
10. Lasagna
Lasagna is a famous Italian dish that is recognized worldwide. It is made by alternating layers of pasta sheets, meat, sauce, bacon strips, minced lamb, and cheese layered on top of each other and then baked in an oven.
Lasagna Bolognese is a wholesome meal loaded with ragu (meat-based Bolognese sauce), bechamel sauce, bolognese sauce, and plenty of Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese. However, Lasagne Napoletana contains meatballs, sausage, and mozzarella cheese instead of bechamel sauce.
The secret to the best lasagna recipe lies in the homemade bolognese sauce. You can substitute the meat with vegetables to try the vegetarian version of Lasagna.
How Orderific can help
Orderific allows businesses to increase profit, save time and decrease staff dependency free of cost. Check out the following features of Orderific that provide everything you need to manage your Italian restaurant.
- You can generate and customize QR codes for digital menus.
- Promotions of discounts and coupons can be set up and modified easily.
- You can easily set up a loyalty program for your customers.
- Orderific allows you to capture customers’ and employees’ data in a central system anytime from anywhere.
- With an AI-enabled digital menu, Orderific provides nutrition information and suggests food items based on customers’ preferences.
- It lets you track customer reviews and suggestions.
- Orderific allows your customers to customize their orders via app
Conclusion
There are different varieties to choose from among Italian dishes in veg or non-veg, from soups to pasta to pizzas for your restaurant menu. Whichever Italian dish you serve, ensure that you offer an authentic taste and use the best ingredients to prepare it.
Offering quality food and services will encourage people to visit your cafe again and again. If customers like the taste, they may also do free branding of your restaurant.
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