[C1039]Cooking The Italian Way

Pasta, pesto, parmagiana, Parmesan - all great Italian cooking ingredients. And all beginning with 'p'. Which is appropriate because Italian cooking, for all its pretensions, is derived from a strong peasant tradition? This is not to downgrade it; far from it. Italian cooking is based on colourful, fragrant ingredients that have been farmed in Italy for centuries. For more details go to: www.delicious-sandwich-recipes.com Appealing to children and adults alike, Italian cooking is one of the world's great cooking traditions that has truly burst out of its national boundaries and conquered the globe - a little like the Roman centurions did two and a half millenia ago.

But despite its fertile volcanic soil and rich imperial past, the Italian cooking tradition that we all know and love arose not from the wealthy North but from the impoverished, arid south. While anything will grow in the valleys of Tuscany, it proved too costly to grow potatoes in Napoli and the rest of Southern Italy. But growing hardy durum wheat was quite easy. The result? Pasta and pizza.

If you want to get into Italian cooking in a big way, you need to stock up on the staples. And one of the good things about Italian cooking is that the basic ingredients are readily available and easy to store. Here's a quick summary view of some of the key ingredients of the Italian cooking tradition:

1. Garlic This is almost ubiquitous in Italian cooking. You need to store it in a cool, dry place, but it shouldn't be refrigerated. Garlic goes mouldy quickly in damp conditions. When you're shopping for garlic, look for bulbs that are free from the dark, grainy discolouration at the bottom. This is a sign of age and the fact that it is being attacked by mould.

2. Tomato sauce Keep your tomato sauce simple. It's always best to use fresh ingredients - remember that Italian cooking is like a good wine: you want to taste the sunshine. If you do have to buy a ready-made tomato sauce in a jar, you don't need to go for an expensive one. It's such a simple recipe that it's not worth paying twice as much for a premium brand. Neither should you buy a ready-made tomato sauce with a lot of extra herbs. For can visit to: www.july4-recipes.com you can add these yourself, giving you at least some control over the taste of the final dish.

3. Pasta This is an absolute essential. If you have a family, pasta is always a surefire winner. It's quick to prepare, easy to vary the final dish and children love it. Although fresh pasta costs three times more than dried varieties, Italians buy dried pasta, unless their grandmamas make it from scratch - something that happens less and less often. Dried spaghetti, macaroni, penna, shells or lasagne is easy to store for a long time, so you can always keep plenty in stock.

4. Parmesan This is simply a must. You can add it as a topping to any pasta dish, no matter what the recipe. Avoid the pre-grated packets of parmesan and go for the whole chunks: grating it directly onto the top of your pasta is part of the ritual Italian cooking.

5. Olive Oil You really don't need to go for expensive extra virgin olive oil. While extra virgin olive oil is great for making salad dressings, it doesn't taste so good when it's heated up. You get an acrid burnt taste quite easily. For making sauces and frying fresh meat or poultry, go for an ordinary olive oil which, despite its yellowish hue, tastes better when heated and still contains all the goodness of its more refined cousin. Oh, and it's as little as half the price.

Italian cooking is one of the easiest of the recognised and celebrated world cooking traditions. The ingredients are easy to shop for, easy to store and, most importantly, easy to eat - in great quantities. And as long as you keep to fresh vegetables and salads in your recipes, it is one of the healthiest diets on Earth.