Celebrate Italian cuisine with more than 90 recipes for authentic, carefree dishes perfect for small gatherings and everyday meals with friends and family.

Take a culinary journey through l’Italia with more than 90 recipes for fresh, authentic Italian cooking. The dishes in this mouthwatering collection emphasize carefree Italian cuisine perfect for elevating everyday dining.

For intimate gatherings, a batch of Turin-style breadsticks with prosciutto served with Garibaldi spritz cocktails is sure to impress. Celebrate summer flavours and enjoy a night of alfresco dining with bowls of summer minestrone and a peach, tomato and burrata salad garnished with fresh mint and basil. On busy weeknights, a crispy pizza with roasted peppers and soppressata satisfies even the pickiest of eaters. And nothing caps off a delicious evening quite like a sweet pick-me-up such as a dark chocolate panna cotta with cherries.

Including a handy section on stocking your Italian pantry and notes on classic Italian staples, Everyday Italian serves as a handy compendium for home cooks of all skill levels to add a little italiana to their kitchens.

90+ RECIPES: Flavourful Italian recipes in this volume span appetizers, soups, salads, pastas, rice and polenta dishes, pizzas and focaccias; meat, fish, and vegetable entrees; and desserts.

EXPERT AUTHOR: Domenica Marchetti is the author of several books on Italian cooking. Her recipes and articles on Italian home cooking have been widely published in national publications including Cooking Light, Fine Cooking, Food and Wine, Health, the Chicago Tribune and The Washington Post, as well as online publications.

INCLUDES INGREDIENT GUIDE: A section on common ingredients found in Italian kitchens breaks down the essentials of stocking your Italian pantry.

FULL-COLOUR PHOTOGRAPHY: Everyday Italian features gorgeous full-colour photography of the recipes to help inspire and ensure success.

COMPLETE YOUR COLLECTION: Complete your collection of Williams-Sonoma cookbooks with Everyday Italian.

FOR ALL SKILL LEVELS: Everyday Italian includes easy-to-understand instructions for home cooks of all skill levels.

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Pizza Margherita

Sporting the colours of the Italian flag, this pizza is one of Italy’s most iconic and beloved contributions to world cuisine. This version is my home cook’s adaptation, meant to be baked in a home oven. You can use a pizza stone or baking steel to drive up the heat intensity, but even without it, you’ll still end up with a delicious, classic tomato pie.

MAKES ONE 11 X 17-INCH (28 X 43-CM) PIZZA

4-6 SERVINGS

Slow-Rise Pizza Dough (see below)

1 cup (240 g) tomato passata (purée)

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 small clove garlic, lightly crushed

10 to 12 fresh basil leaves

½ teaspoon fine sea salt

2 balls (½ lb/225 g each) fresh (but not too milky) mozzarella cheese, thinly sliced

 

Make, proof, and shape the dough as directed.

Position an oven rack in the top third of the oven and slide in a pizza stone or baking steel, if using. Preheat the oven to 500°F (260°C) for at least 45 minutes.

Put the tomato passata into a bowl, drizzle in the oil, and drop in the garlic. Tear 4 of the basil leaves into pieces and drop them into the bowl. Add the salt, stir to mix well, and set aside to allow the flavours to blend while the oven preheats.

Scoop out and discard the garlic from the tomato mixture, then spread the tomato mixture over the dough, leaving a 1-inch (2.5-cm) border uncovered. Slide the pizza into the oven using a pizza peel and bake until the dough is puffed but still pale and the tomato topping has thickened up a bit, about 6 minutes.

Remove the pizza from the oven and quickly arrange the mozzarella slices on top. Slide it back into the oven and bake until the crust is browned along the edges and the cheese is melted and browned in spots, about 5 minutes.

Remove from the oven and let cool briefly, then slice into rectangles or wedges and serve.

 

Slow-Rise Pizza Dough

Giving pizza dough time to rise yields a much more flavourful crust. Most of the time here is hands-off. Just mix the dough in your food processor and set it aside to rest for a day or two. Your patience will be rewarded with excellent homestyle pizza with a crisp, light crust. (See the Cook’s Note for a quick-rise version.)

1 ½ teaspoons fine sea salt

1 ¼ cups (300 ml) water

2 cups (250 g) unbleached all-purpose flour

¾ cup (95 g) bread flour

¼ cup (35 g) semolina flour

¼ teaspoon instant yeast (not rapid-rise)

Extra-virgin olive oil, for the bowl, your hands, and the sheet pan

MAKES ENOUGH DOUGH FOR ONE 11 X 17-INCH (28 X 43-CM) PIZZA; 4–6 SERVINGS

In a small bowl, dissolve the salt in the water.

In a food processor, combine all the flours and the yeast and pulse briefly to mix. Add the salt water and pulse to mix, then process until all the ingredients come together to form a sticky dough, about 30 seconds. (The dough can also be mixed in a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook on medium-low speed.)

Lightly oil a bowl or a container with a lid, then lightly oil your hands. Pull the dough out of the processor and gather it together, turning and folding it a couple of times with oiled hands to form a ball. Place the dough in the prepared bowl or container and cover to rise for at least 12 hours or preferably 24 hours to develop the flavour. (If not using after the rise, place the dough in the refrigerator for up to 2 days. Remove it several hours before using to bring it to room temperature.)

To shape the dough, use your hands to coat the bottom and sides of an 11 x 17-inch (28 x 43-cm) sheet pan with 2 tablespoons oil.

Remove the pizza dough from its container and drop it gently onto the center of the pan. Lift the dough gently from underneath and pull it out toward the edges of the pan. (It may snap back, which is fine.) Cover with plastic wrap or clean reusable wrap and let it rest for 10 minutes. Then stretch it out again until it covers most of the pan. For a rectangular pizza, stretch the dough all the way to the edges; for an oval pizza, leave the corners of the dough rounded.

Cover again and let it rest and puff up while the oven or grill heats and you prepare the remaining ingredients. Use the dough as directed in individual recipes.

Recipe published with permission from Insight Edtions. Copyright © 2023 Weldon Owen and Williams Sonoma, Inc. All rights reserved.