7 of the best Italian dishes you’ll want to make at home

So without wasting any more time, these dishes will make you look like an Italian cuisine ace to your friends and family. Here are 7 Italian dishes you’ll want to make at home

These rarities will be sure to rock your next dinner party like no other dishes you’ve ever served.

7. Fritatta with Leftover Spaghetti

This one’s special, and oh so easy to make. Especially if you have leftover spaghetti—preferably in a tomato sauce, but any spaghetti recipe will work here.

Procedure: Stir-fry the leftover spaghetti in a nonstick pan after adding a nice dose of olive oil. In a separate bowl, mix eggs, parmesan cheese black pepper and whisk (quantities vary, but if you want to serve eight, go for a large pan and eight eggs, so everyone gets a nice portion).

Once the pasta has been nicely fried—a few tarred spots only add to the flavor of this dish—pour your egg mixture over and cook on low to medium until one side is browned, then flip. The flipping is the colorful part here and you may have some disasters while trying, or you could use my mom’s technique here, which is to slide the omelet onto a plate of appropriate size and the flipping it carefully back into the pan so the other side and center cooks beautifully.

The ladies and gents at the aforementioned cafeteria loved this one…especially when I made Panini press sandwiches with this one. Yeah carb on carb, but sometimes you just don’t want to count carbs. Sometimes you just want to eat and not care…the personification of us all, dear guilty eaters.

And I say go for it…

6. Linguine with Walnuts and Pesto

Italian cuisine isn’t always known for its vegetarian dishes, but it should be, as there are certainly many great ones to choose from. This one will be a favorite as it is one of mine, because it can be whipped up in no time, really and while your pasta boils, this baby is done. I have an added ingredient here that can be added but isn’t in the header above, so let’s make it optional.

Procedure: Put your pasta water on to boil. We’ll say this one serves 6, so prepare a pound of pasta to boil, and don’t forget to salt your water when it does. In your wok or frying pan, sauté a full cup and a half of shelled walnuts in olive oil. Here you can add that optional ingredient I mentioned—sliced sun dried tomatoes—and once the nuts have caramelized and slightly browned, add the pesto—212 milliliters should do it here for a pound. Then add a little bit of white wine and water, salt and pepper to taste, and let it all reduce to a beautiful consistency perfect for coating the linguine.

Once the linguine is ready, strain and toss the linguine into your sauté pan and go nuts…literally.

Another optional ingredient here: Raisins…and if you don’t like walnuts feel free to substitute with sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, whatever.

5. Fennel and Orange Salad

When eating heavy, you just need a lighter dish for sure. Salads go a long way, but they needn’t be bland. This one is sure to deliver in the freshness and taste department.

Procedure: Slice a fennel bulb into desired pieces—not too large. Do the same thing to two oranges—large oranges—trying hard to get rid of the white pith or connective tissue that surrounds each orange slice. Simply toss with lemon juice and olive oil. Serve this baby with toasted baguette and you have yourself quite the appetizer, friends.

Turn the page for more delicious recipes and some impressive yet easy desserts that’ll impress your friends at your next dinner party…