Italian Cuisine & Mediterranean Recipes
The Osharak Guide to Italian & Mediterranean Home Cooking
Cooking from the Italian & Mediterranean Table
Italian cuisine came into my life through marriage, through my husband, who comes from an Italian-American family. Homemade pizza, manicotti, spiedini, pasta alla chitarra, gnocchi from scratch. I didn’t study Italian food – I was welcomed into it, and that made all the difference.
The more I cooked, the more curious I became. Reading La Cucina Italiana, traveling to Italy, spending time in Abruzzo where the food is earthy and rooted in place. And the further I went into Italian cooking, the more I noticed something familiar – the fresh herbs, the vegetable-forward dishes, the slow-cooked legume, liberal use of olive oil. Italian and Armenian cuisines don’t share a border, but they share a logic.
That same logic runs across the whole Mediterranean: Greek and Spanish kitchens, Levantine mezze, the herb gardens and fish markets of the wider region. This section gathers all of it – Italian recipes learned at a family table and refined over years of cooking, alongside Mediterranean dishes drawn from travel, reading, and genuine curiosity.
At Cafe Osharak, this collection gathers everything I’ve made and loved from the Italian kitchen and the wider Mediterranean table: antipasti for a relaxed start, pasta and gnocchi built from scratch, centrepiece mains for occasions worth celebrating, salads that do more than fill a gap, and the sauces and skills that make all of it possible
Antipasti & Starters
Small Bites & Breads
The Italian table starts long before the main course arrives. These small things – a pile of fried crackers still warm from the oil, a bowl of herb-flecked ricotta, a plate of briny tapenade – set the whole mood of the meal. They invite people to sit down, to slow down, and to begin.
- Gnocco Fritto – Italian Fried Crackers – pillowy, golden pockets of fried dough from Emilia-Romagna, served with cheese and charcuterie
- Mini Meatballs in Lemon Leaves – a Calabrian specialty: fragrant little meatballs wrapped in fresh lemon leaves and grilled
- Smoky Lentil Patties in Lemon Leaves – a plant-based take on the same tradition, smoky and satisfying
Spreads, Cheese & Dips
A good spread changes the entire table. These are the things you set out first, with a glass of something cold and good bread nearby. Once you’ve made ricotta at home you will find it difficult to go back to the container.
- Homemade Ricotta Cheese – four ingredients, twenty minutes, and the result is far better than anything from a shop
- Artichoke Bottoms with Goat Cheese – tender artichoke bottoms with the tangy, creamy fluffiness of goat cheese soufflé.
- Herb-Marinated Goat Cheese – soft rounds of chèvre steeped in olive oil with herbs and lemon zest
- Olive Tapenade with Tarragon – briny, bold, and a little unexpected thanks to the tarragon
- Nettle Pesto with Hazelnuts – earthy and bright in equal measure, stunning on bruschetta or stirred through pasta
- Tarragon Almond Pesto – a fragrant, anise-kissed pesto that works beautifully on grilled vegetables and fish
Pasta, Gnocchi & Grains
Gnocchi & Stuffed Pasta
Gnocchi is one of the most satisfying things you can make in a home kitchen. The semolina version baked in the Roman style, the ricotta and kale gnudi that hold together so beautifully – these are dishes that reward you more each time you make them, because you come to understand how they want to feel in your hands.
- Ricotta Gnocchi – Tuscan dumplings, lighter than potato gnocchi, served in a bright tomato sauce
- Roman Semolina Gnocchi – baked rounds of semolina with Parmesan and butter, crisp on top, yielding within
- Manicotti – hand-rolled pasta tubes filled with herbed ricotta, baked in tomato sauce until golden
- Giant Stuffed Shells – jumbo pasta shells packed with a Mediterranean-spiced cheese filling
Grains & Risotto
Risotto technique is one of the most transferable skills in the Italian kitchen. Once you understand the rhythm of it, the slow addition of stock, the patient stirring, the final loosening, you can apply it to grains far beyond Arborio rice. Pearl barley brings a nutty, satisfying texture that the rice risotto doesn’t quite achieve.
- Pearl Barley Risotto – a wholesome, earthy take on the Italian classic using pearl barley in place of Arborio rice
Mains & Centrepieces
Italian Meat & Rolled Dishes
These are the dishes you make when the occasion is worth it. The Braciole unrolls at the table to reveal its filling. The Rosa di Parma, that jewel of the Emilian kitchen, cuts to show a spiral of Parma ham and Parmesan hidden inside the pork. Dishes that reward patience, and that guests remember long after the meal is done.
- Rosa di Parma – pork tenderloin rolled around Parma ham and Parmesan; the showpiece of Emilian cooking
- Beef Braciole Rolls – slow-braised beef rolls filled with herbs and cheese, built for a table of people
- Mini Meatballs in Lemon Leaves – a Calabrian specialty: fragrant little meatballs wrapped in fresh lemon leaves and grilled
Vegetable Mains & Rollatini
Italian vegetable cookery has its own vocabulary of technique. The rollatini and rosettes below are a perfect example: thin slices of aubergine or courgette rolled around a filling and nestled into sauce, baked until everything merges. The stuffed vegetables below belong to the same generous tradition.
- Eggplant Involtini – thin slices of aubergine rolled around herbed ricotta and baked in a bright tomato sauce
- Zucchini Rollatini Rosettes – courgette ribbons rolled into rosettes and baked in fresh tomato, as pretty as they are satisfying
- Stuffed Pattypan Squash – little pattypan squash hollowed and filled, a celebration of summer in one dish
- Eggplant Meatless Meatballs – tender, herb-seasoned, and satisfying without a gram of meat
- Stuffed Artichokes – filled with breadcrumbs, garlic, and parsley, steamed until every leaf pulls clean
Salads & Dressings
Italian & Mediterranean Salads
A good Mediterranean salad is something more than a side dish. It carries bitterness, sweetness, acidity, and texture all at once, and the best ones hold their own next to whatever else is on the table. These are salads that people reach for again and again, because they taste like they were thought about.
- Radicchio and Rocket Salad – bitter, peppery, and dressed with something that balances both beautifully
- Belgian Endive and Shaved Cauliflower Salad – crisp, clean, and very satisfying as a first course or alongside richer dishes
- Gazpacho – Spanish Cold Soup – the Andalusian classic at its brightest, made when tomatoes are at their peak
Sauces, Condiments & Skills: The Italian Foundation
Sauces & Dressings
Every recipe in this collection is made of smaller pieces. The tomato sauce that runs through the pasta dishes and the rollatini. The vinaigrette that ties a salad together. These are not supporting roles — they are the foundation. Learn them well and everything else becomes easier.
- Sugo di Pomodoro – the one sauce every cook should know by heart, made in under thirty minutes
- Vinaigrette with White Balsamic Vinegar – a bright, balanced dressing that works on almost any salad you can think of
Italian Sweets & Desserts
Dolci & Confections
Italian desserts are proof that confidence and restraint can produce something extraordinary. The Zuccotto is rustic on the outside and architectural within. The Pecshe Dolci are assembled, dipped, and tinted until they look nothing like a cookie and everything like a perfectly ripe peach. And the Bûche de Noël here carries both the Italian coffeehouse and the French Christmas table in one showstopper roll.
- Strawberry Zuccotto Fiorentino – a Florentine dome cake built around mousseline cream and summer strawberries
- Pecshe Dolci – Italian Peach Cookies – filled with pastry cream, dipped, and tinted blush to look exactly like the fruit
- Tiramisu-Inspired Bûche de Noël – a holiday showstopper fusing the Italian coffeehouse with the French Christmas table
Where to Begin
If you are new here, start with whatever fits the occasion. A relaxed dinner with friends calls for gnocco fritto and a bowl of tapenade, then a plate of gnudi or rollatini. A quiet Sunday deserves the barley risotto, made slowly, eaten with good bread. A celebration calls for the Rosa di Parma or the Braciole, something that takes a little effort and rewards it visibly.
If you have been here before, the Sauces & Skills section may hold something new — the tomato sauce you make once and use all week, or the vinaigrette that finally makes you stop reaching for the bottle. These foundations are worth the time.
New recipes are added throughout the year, following the seasons and whatever has been occupying my kitchen.
Browse the full recipe index .
