Summertime entertaining is in full bloom with backyard barbeques, pool parties and endless celebrations. Here’s just a few of my tried and true recipes that I make quite often during the summer and have always been a hit with friends and family.
Impress your guests with some Grilled Calamari, I buy mine already cleaned so all you have to do is marinate it in olive oil, lemon juice, lemon zest, garlic, parsley, oregano, salt and pepper. When you’re ready to grill it, place it into a grill basket so it’s easy to toss around to achieve a nice char, it only takes about 5 minutes with the gas burners on high.
Grilled Clams with Tomato, Wine and Sausage Sauce, I would say this is a terrific dish for Father’s Day, it’s a manly meal, messy and good, just serve some crusty bread to soak up that luscious sauce! 
Did you know you can cook lobster on the grill? Well you can and it tastes amazing! I always remove the lobster meat this way, it’s full proof, then all you have to do is brush your lobster down with a mixture of garlic and butter or olive oil, sprinkle paprika on top then place shell side down with the lobster meat perched on top directly on the grill, cook on medium until opaque, so delicious!
How about a Seafood Boil, it’s casual eating where every thing is placed in front of you and all that is needed is some cold wine and good conversation!
Anything planked is fine by me, salmon, cheese, vegetables, shrimp, you name it, I’ve done it and posted it here on my blog. The smokey wood flavor that comes from the boards enhance everything you place on it. Here’s another favorite of mine, Prosciutto Wrapped Scallops. 
Who doesn’t like Beer Can Chicken, it always comes out so moist on the inside and crispy on the outside, it never fails!
How about some pork? You can’t go wrong with Italian sausage, ribs or chops. But maybe you’re in the mood for some shish kabobs complete with the veggies, all you’ll need is a salad or two on the side and your meal is complete! 
Nine times out of ten at every big party I always serve Sausage and Peppers and Baked Mostaccioli, you got to have some pasta, and besides it feeds a ton of people! 
We’re artichoke obsessed in my family and these Grilled Artichokes always go so fast, they’re easy to make, it’s a nice light summertime version.
Make an impression with a beautiful round platter filled with thin cut Zucchini Carpaccio, sprinkled with freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano, a great way to use up all your garden zucchini and a pretty impressive looking side dish. 
Grilled Veggie Pizza, Oh My! I have two words for you. Make It! 
Next time you have to bring something to a party, bring this! Orzo with Grilled Shrimp and Feta, the flavor combination is out of this world good. I get asked to make this all the time.
And lastly you have to have some kind of dessert, my friend Debbie makes the best good old fashioned Lemon Bars, a combination of buttery shortbread and tangy, bright lemon. They’re irresistible and get devoured! She’s happy to share her recipe with you below.
And finally, this Grape Salad, people go bonkers over it, there won’t be one grape left in the bowl, trust me!
Happy Entertaining!
- FOR CRUST
- 2 sticks of unsalted butter at room temp
- 2 cups flour
- 1 cup, powdered sugar
- pinch of salt
- FOR THE TOPPING
- 4 eggs
- 2 cups, granulated sugar
- 6 tablespoons, fresh lemon juice ( a must!)
- Preheat oven to 350, mix crust ingredients and pat into a 9 x 13 ungreased pan, spread to corners. I do this with my fork and fingers.
- Cook for 15 - 20 minutes, while it's cooking make the topping.
- Mix the topping together and pour carefully over the baked crust and bake for additional 25 minutes.
- Cut with a sharp knife after it has cooled and then dust with powdered sugar.
- Note from Marie:( I added lemon zest for garnish, totally optional )
Roast a bunch of asparagus on the side, it pairs nicely with the salmon, no heavy carbs required.
Spring is just around the corner and berries are popping up in all the grocery stores, which is why I couldn’t resist taking home these beauties I found last week. I immediately knew I would showcase them in all their fresh glory as a topping to my puff pancake!
The batter comes together quickly, it gets poured into a hot buttered pan then placed into a preheated oven for 25 minutes, it puffs up really high then deflates. Even if you get a few cracks like I did it’s no big deal!
Those cracks will soon be smothered with a luscious mascarpone and ricotta cream, the perfect base to plop and nestle in your berries.
Make sure to have a pot of rich, bold coffee brewing, warm up some maple syrup and generously dust that berry pancake with powdered sugar!
Sit down and enjoy, breakfast is served!
I decided to do a veggie version this time instead of the classic with roasted eggplant, zucchini, yellow and red peppers and onions, my cheese of choice was ricotta, romano and fontina, but honestly you can do any version you want, your own favorite combination of ingredients that you and your family love in lasagna.
Once the initial few steps are done, the browning of the chicken, sautéing your vegetables, deglazing, adding in your tomatoes, you can sit back for a couple of hours and let all the aromas fill your kitchen with comfort and warmth.
A mixture of crimini and shiitake mushrooms add nice texture and flavor to the sauce as well as oregano, basil, parsley and thyme.
This is rustic food, family style, hearty and oh so satisfying! Boil up some pasta to soak up those juices or a nice creamy polenta.
Maybe some warm crusty bread? Either way I can assure you this dish is amazing and one of my family’s absolute favorites.
Oyster mushrooms have a mild earthy flavor with a nice bite, the consistency of a tender Shitake. A little goes a long way when you start slicing them up.
Don’t try and roast them in the oven like I did the first time unless you are on constant vigil, they cook up super fast and before you know it they’ll be all shriveled up. I suggest you saute them in a skillet just until they’re lightly golden brown on each side. The crimini mushrooms can take a roasting in the oven with no problem at all!
Satisfaction Guaranteed!
What do you get when you open up a pork loin, rub it down with garlic, olive oil and tuscan herbs, smother it with roasted mashed butternut squash and then tie it back up? I’ll tell you… The most delicious flavor combination with an absolutely beautiful presentation!
I saw this recipe in the cookbook
Then all you have to do is rub your herby mixture all over the top which adds to the overall flavor as your end result.
If the holidays left you craving something green and healthy right now, no worries, I have the perfect salad for you! I’m currently in love with this salad, thanks to my friend 
If I were you I would cook up a whole bag of farro, stick it into a container in the fridge so it’s handy when you want to toss this salad together, especially if you plan on eating it for lunch during the week.
I chose nicoise olives because I adore them along with a lemon and olive oil dressing which went heavenly together, but you can certainly use pitted kalamata olives and a vinegar based dressing like my friend Stacey did. You can’t go wrong, it’s all good!
Recently I got together with my side of the family to make ravioli for our Annual Ravioli Night with The Cousins dinner. We incorporated this tradition a few years ago when a dear close cousin of mine past away. Her mother, (my aunt) and my mother, were not only sister in laws they were best friends. They would always cook together and be together during the holidays so all of us cousins wanted to do the same thing along with our own families. We use their cherished ravioli recipe that has been handed down to all of us.
Making ravioli for a crowd is probably not the smartest thing to do, you really have to be organized. We make and form the actual ravioli on 
We set aside the whole day to make them, only stopping for lunch in between and a few coffee breaks, this year we made 200 meat and 200 cheese.
Once we get our mojo working properly the ravioli start coming together quickly. We all have our jobs, I usually do the rolling of all the dough with 
One thing I didn’t want to do is have pots of water boiling on my stove with 30 people in my house, so the night before the actual party all that messy work is finished. I also make sure that days before my sauce is all pre-made and ready to go.
After they cool down I cover the pans with heavy duty foil and keep them cold overnight. When it’s party time all I have to do is pop the whole pan in the oven at 350 degrees F. for 15 minutes, they get perfectly warmed and the pans are great for serving but more importantly there’s nothing major for me to do on party day with a house full of people.
Ravioli Night with The Cousins is now an annual event in my house, we do it a couple of weeks before Christmas and we all look forward to it every year!
Can you see why I love those big pans? I can get 60 to 70 ravioli single layer on one full sheet pan, they’re great for a big party.
We keep our menu simple, it’s basically the same every year, meat and cheese ravioli, a couple of different salads, good bread, my brothers famous sausage and peppers and chicken that he makes on a charcoal grill. There’s plenty of wine and tons of desserts.
Another tradition that is now added to our annual Ravioli Night with The Cousins is my daughters homemade limoncello, it’s the best and truly one of the highlights of the night, she makes it every year with much love and care and we all look forward to sipping it. We toast to those who aren’t with us any longer and to all our families here and now. The younger cousins kept doing multiple toasts throughout the night, it was so much fun! That’s my daughter, upper right hand corner picture, bottom center holding a glass. Thanks V!
Need a last minute gift idea? You can make these quick and very decadent little French confections called Mendiants.
Gather up some dried fruit and nuts, I’m sure you have some in your pantry or cabinets already, use whatever you like, you won’t need much just a handful of each. One other component I added was flaky sea salt, the salt complimented the chocolate so well and gave it a little crunch, I highly recommend using it.
Make sure you use premium dark chocolate and slowly simmer until melted over a double boiler. I bought a 1 pound bar and was able to make 42 mendiants out of it.
Some ideas for toppings are orange peel, apricots, cranberries, golden raisins, figs, coconut, pecans, pistachios, hazelnuts, walnuts, almonds and cashews to name a few. I did plump up my figs, cranberries and golden raisins by placing them in boiling water for 1 minute, make sure to dry them off.
A little goes a long way, you can quarter your figs and cut off small slices from your apricots, you don’t even need to add as much topping as I did.
When the holidays start approaching I always get the urge to make homemade pastas. I make ravioli each year but I also enjoy making some other out of the ordinary pastas, like corzetti.
I’ve only made corzetti a few times, once was with my girlfriends when I first got my new stamps, we spent the whole day together making garganelli and corzetti pasta, I did a post on it a couple of years ago 
You can order these heirloom quality crafted stamps from 
Making corzetti is a true labor of love but I can’t imagine a more beautiful pasta to serve for a very special occasion. I wouldn’t recommend making them for a crowd but for a smaller dinner party they are wonderful. They’re just so extraordinary your guests will surely be impressed!
After you get your dough together you’ll want to roll it out thin with a pasta machine. You cut the coin shape with one part of the stamp then flip it over and place the pasta disc on top and then pressing down using the part with the handle, each side will have a design embossed into the pasta, they’re amazing to look at!
I even got my granddaughter to help me make some, she caught on right away and did a great job!
You can freeze them individually which I do, single layer on a baking sheet and then when frozen I place them into freezer bags for later use.
When you’re ready to eat them place into salted boiling water, they will rise to the top and only take about 3 minutes to cook. Scoop out gently with a handheld spider strainer. Treat them with tender loving care.
Although the traditional way to eat corzetti is with a pesto of some sort, we love them just the same with marinara spooned all over the top.
And don’t forget to sprinkle generously with freshly grated romano or parmesan cheese, so, so delicious!
I had some leftover so I tossed them into a brown butter sauce with grated parmesan cheese and added sauteed kale and roasted butternut squash for a wonderful midweek dinner.
Here’s the more traditional way to serve corzetti, a pesto made with olive oil, parsley, basil, garlic, parmesan and walnuts, it’s so scrumptious and really highlights the design.
I can’t think of a better dish for a cold wintery night. Creamy, cheesey, polenta laced with roasted butternut squash and chopped spinach. Guaranteed to warm you up from the inside out. Comfort food in the most delicious way!
Chicago received it’s first snow yesterday and with temperatures predicted mostly in the teens all week the reality of winter is in full force, so it’s comfort foods that are calling my name.
Hearty enough to eat alone or with a nice green salad or it’s just plain wonderful as a side dish next to baked chicken or roasted pork.
Have leftovers? No problem, you can easily morph your leftover butternut squash polenta into another meal by topping it with chunks of Italian sausage and roasted peppers, this is crazy good!
But if all you have left is just a teeny bit, no worries, you can mold it into a small ramekin, warm it up, unmold and plop a cooked egg on the top, my favorite!
Well I’m officially “turkeyed out” until next year so it’s time to change it up here with a nice pot of mussels! Did you know that mussels are an inexpensive, sustainable shellfish that gives a boost to your immune system and your brain? Many people shy away from mussels thinking they taste fishy, to the contrary, if you buy them fresh from a good source they have a nice clean meaty flesh and smell just like the ocean plus they take on all the flavors that you use to cook with them.
I normally make my mussels with a sauce that has lots of shaved garlic, white wine, red pepper, a few ladles of marinara or cherry tomatoes and that’s it, sometimes pasta on the side sometimes not. This time I made it with Fregola, the Italian version of Israeli couscous. Fregola comes from Sardinia, it’s a firmer semolina pasta shaped like little pearls that has a toasted and nutty flavor. 
This is rustic eating at it’s best, my favorite. Just put the pan in the middle of the table, have plenty of napkins, your wine close at hand, a separate bowl for your shells, and dig in!
The juice of the mussels, the garlic, wine and tomatoes is what flavors the Fregola pasta, every bite is a delight! 
Besides all the traditional dishes of Thanksgiving like stuffing, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, green beans and cranberries, I like to throw in a few extras, sometimes it’s simply roasted seasonal vegetables.
Different shaped squash, colorful carrots and vibrant greens are the perfect backdrop on a pretty platter, you can roast them ahead of time, reheat in a hot oven and finish them off with a good drizzle of balsamic glaze!
In my family we all like brussel sprouts in some form or another so I always try to have them on my Thanksgiving table, this year I’m doing a Kale and Brussel Sprout Salad. ( recipe below)
It’s fresh, crunchy, creamy, slightly sweet with a tiny bit of heat and laced with freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano, lemon and Marcona almonds and plumped cranberries.
I seriously could eat this for lunch everyday, it’s that good! Pull out a large bowl because you’ll be surprised how much it makes with just one bunch of kale and half a bag of brussel sprouts. I encourage you to double the recipe please!
Everyone needs a little decadence during the holidays and these Cipollini bathing in Creamy Parmesan and Thyme sauce are the perfect addition to your table, besides they’re small and a few on your plate won’t hurt you! Cipollini are the saucer shaped onions but you can certainly replace them with pearl onions which are even smaller.
Roast your onions ahead of time in a 400 degree oven until golden, then place them into a shallow baking dish. Meanwhile in a separate saucepan place 2 cups of cream and three sprigs of thyme, salt and pepper, when cream starts to come to a boil remove pan from the stove and stir in 3/4 cup of grated parmesan, add salt to taste, then spoon it over and around the onions. Sprinkle additional 1/4 cup of grated parmesan on top and place into the oven at 450 for 15 minutes or until the cream has thickened.
Creamy Fennel with Parmesan and Thyme, another decadent treat! Prepare it the same way as the onions above, slightly roasting the fennel before hand. I used three bulbs thinly sliced.
I usually make a side of pasta on Thanksgiving and either 
But my all time favorite are these 
Yesterday I spent the whole day with family making Cucidati, Italian fig cookies. We stopped counting at 500 but I think it was actually close to 600 in the end. I figure if you’re going to do this only once a year you might as well go big!
Everything was prepped the night before so when everyone arrived we could get right down to the business of making and baking the cookies, we knew it would be an all day project.
My husband has a soft spot for Cucidati, 
They also brought along some of this fabulous pistachio liqueur to sip as we were baking, it’s become our tradition and it pairs perfectly while you’re taste testing the cookies. ( wink, wink!) Besides fig and pistachio are a perfect match! 
After a few minutes everyone got in their groove doing their specific jobs, we had the music going and we started pumping them out!
Straight from the oven onto my marble dining room table which was a good spot for them to cool down on.
When we got half way through the dough we stopped for a lunch break of lentil soup and a frittata, then back to work!
The table started filling up fast after lunch so it was time to get them frosted so the glaze would be completely dry before they got packed into containers.
A proud moment, waiting for the last two batches in my oven to come out and then every inch on my dining room table would be filled with fig cookies!
The best part, enjoying the fruits of our labor!
This frittata was born from leftover squash that I had in my fridge and it was a big hit, I love it when things come together at the spur of the moment! You could eat this for breakfast, brunch or even dinner with a salad and it’s so quick to put together like all frittatas are.
I’ve been experimenting with my new favorite squash, Delicata. It’s smaller in size and has a very thin skin which is all eatable, the flesh is very creamy in texture and rich in flavor. I love the look of the smaller rings when you cut into it with it’s scalloped edges. You can also slice it length wise, remove the seeds, stuff it and eat the whole thing, it’s very tender.
I used freshly grated romano cheese along with and an aged cheddar to flavor my eggs which complemented the delicata squash perfectly. Spinach and tomatoes were also added.
Make sure not to use too many eggs because you want to be able to see the squash sitting up there real pretty, of course it all depends on how big your pan is, I used a 10″ skillet, five eggs, 5 slices of squash.
The key to making nice looking ribbons is to find a butternut squash that has a long neck, you’re only going to be using the top so the longer the better, the shorter stumpier squash won’t work. I recommend either tagliatelle or pappadelle for the pasta as both hold up well against the butternut squash ribbons which tend to be wide.
I used a medium sized squash, top only, and you’ll would be surprised how many ribbons you’ll get. I used a simple vegetable peeler to make mine, I keep turning my squash as I peel the ribbons off.
Roast them on a baking sheet 375 to 400 degrees but watch them carefully because you don’t want them to burn or dry out. The edges will start to curl but the centers will still be soft and moist, that’s exactly what you want.
Toss them gently into your cooked pasta and sauce then place it all on a nice platter for the wow factor!
It all looks so pretty as the pasta and squash intertwines together but even better yet you’ll love how it tastes!
As soon as the weather turns cold I’m instantly in a “soup mood”. Nothing says comfort food more to me than a big pot of soup simmering on the stove. I make sure I have my kitchen stocked with everything I need so when I get the urge to make some, I’m good to go. Recently I made three different soups, some oldies but goodies and some new.
My next soup, Sausage and Lentil, is a huge family favorite. I put this recipe on my blog back in 2007 and nothing has changed except my photos, 
Italian sausage and lentils, a match made in heaven!
I recently made a pot of Chicken Posole something I’ve never made before but became obsessed with after having a bowl of it from Panera. One bite and I was smitten with these puffed up little corn things, so much so I walked up to the counter and asked what it was and they said, HOMINY. Am I the only person in the world who never ate hominy?? It tasted like little polenta balls. I love this stuff, where have you been all my life? Since I never made Chicken Posole before 
I will be making this over and over again!
I always keep a box of phyllo in my fridge because I know I can create a quick and easy tart using whatever vegetables I have on hand. In this case I had a bag of shaved brussels sprouts that I got from Trader Joe’s and some leftover roasted butternut squash and before I knew it, a tart was born!
Phyllo is so forgiving and that’s why I like it, you can wing it, patch it and it still looks beautiful in the end. I usually use five or six layers for my 9″ tart pan, each layer sprayed with olive oil and sprinkled with grated romano or parmesan then topped with the cheese of your choice so that all the toppings can sink right into it. I like to use a cheese that melts really good like fontina, gruyere, mozzarella or asiago which happened to be the one I chose for mine. I recommend grating your cheese first then spreading it evenly all over the top, I got lazy as you can see, but it still worked!
My squash was already roasted and the brussels sprouts were quickly sauteed in olive oil until they wilted slightly.
Ready for the oven!
The phyllo gives this tart a nice crispy, crunchy bottom which is a great base to hold all your toppings. The sky’s the limit on what to top your tart with, another favorite I love is caramelized onions, butternut squash and kale, try that next time around!
All you need is a salad or a bowl of soup along side this tart and it becomes the perfect dinner, lunch or brunch.
I love making desserts using ricotta so when I first saw this recipe in the cookbook, 
I received this book for review written by Rosetta Costantino she’s also the author of the acclaimed, My Calabria. I was instantly drawn in by the cover photo which was a beautiful watermelon pudding tart, I’ve never seen anything like it. When summer returns to Chicago and watermelon is back in season I’m definitely going to make that!
For the stuffed pears I needed almond paste which I didn’t have, no worries she tells you how to make it in the book along with many other tips. It was actually quite simple to make, blanched almonds, sugar, water and a little almond extract whirled until it forms a paste in the food processor.
The key is to find firm but ripe fat bottomed pears so you’ll have plenty of room to stuff them with the ricotta mixture.
As the pears are baking the ricotta mixture puffs up inside and over the top. The recipe gives you the option to then eat it as is, or to drizzle the pears with a chocolate sauce.
Obviously I went with the chocolate!
I’m Marie, a wife, mother, mother-in-law, and gramma of two beautiful girls. My passion is food, clear and simple but especially Italian food, hence the name of my blog, Proud Italian Cook. I want you to feel right at home here so grab a cup of coffee, I’ll get the pastries, take a look around and enjoy your visit! {
