Italian Recipe Chatter

     Panko bread crumbs is the latest craze to use for breading, although the Japanese have probably been using it for years since Japan is where panko originated from. Panko is the Japasese word for bread crumbs. It is the crunchiest and most delicious breading you will ever eat! I will never use any other breading now that panko bread crumbs are in every grocery store!

Yesterday, I made fried zucchini, using Italian style panko and wow, what a difference in taste compared to regular Italian style breading!

If you have a problem with breading not staying on, there is a trick to this that you will have to try. Using 3 bowls: 1 for breading, 1 for flour, and 1 for egg wash. Dip item in egg wash, then dip into flour making sure its completely covered, dip in egg wash again, then into the bread crumbs using a patting method, the breading will stay on without fail.

What ever you decide to put breading on, please try panko bread crumbs, italian style of course, and you will be in for the best fried food you will ever eat!

Want to eat delicious spinach lasagna tonight? Check out this great spinach lasagna recipe! In addition to the ingredients, a large baking pan and enough aluminum foil to cover it is needed.

Ingredients:

16 oz. cottage cheese
16 oz. shredded Mozarella cheese
1 can tomato sauce
1 package lasagna noodles
10 oz. frozen spinach (chopped)
1 tsp. minced onion
1 tsp. minced garlic

Directions:

First, thaw the spinach and strain it, and then in a mixing bowl, combine the cottage cheese, about half the mozzarella, and the garlic, onion, and spinach. Spread a small amount of the tomato sauce on the bottom of the baking pan, and then place the uncooked lasagna noodles on top. From this point on, layer the cheese mixture, sauce, and noodles twice more, and then add the rest of the mozzarella. Cover with foil and bake for about 55 minutes, then remove the foil and bake for another 5-10 minutes.

There are endless possibilities to create marinara sauce recipes. Some marinara sauce recipes are plain, and some have added ingredients. I like both kinds. Plain sauce has sauce, paste for thickening, and spices. If  other ingredients are preferred, add chopped up fresh vegetables, such as, mushrooms, onion, green pepper, and/or meat.

There are short-cuts to cooking time, and there is a trick to knowing when the sauce is done. You do not have to cook sauce for endless hours to get that great old world flavor. Also, a good marinara sauce recipe is almost full proof . Keep tasting as it’s cooking,  if it needs a dash more of a spice or spices, add them, a little at a time.

 What we know as Italian cuisine has evolved over the centuries. Some of the influences on Italian cuisine include the discovery of the New World, centuries of invasions by other countries, including France, Spain, and Austria and regional products. All of these influences have shaped what is one of the great cuisines in the world.

Venice is best known for its spectacular risotto, a dish whose ingredients vary by location within the Veneto, with fish and seafood being added to it the closer you are located to the coast and its high quality and highly prized vegetables particularly pumpkin, asparagus and radicchio being used as you move further away from the Adriatic Sea.

Deceptively simple in its preparation, pasta has been a cooking staple for centuries. Americans alone consume 14 pounds of pasta per year; imagine the vast quantities of spaghetti the Italians surely slurp. Few images say “family” like a boiling pot of pasta in a busy kitchen.

We all think we know how to cook pasta. Believe it or not, there are a few basic techniques used to improve the taste and texture of pasta. Try adding a pinch of sea salt to the pot to set up a tasty base for the succulent sauce. To anticipate the perfect consistency, do as the Italians do: test your pasta by tossing an occasional strand against the ceiling. If it sticks, you’re ready to dig in.