The two most popular Italian dishes you will learn about in your Italian Cooking Class, are pasta and pizza.

Pasta

Italian cuisine is also well known for its use of a diverse variety of pasta. Pasta includes noodles in various lengths, widths and shapes, and varieties that are filled with other ingredients like ravioli and tortellini. The word pasta is also used to refer to dishes in which pasta products are a primary ingredient. It is usually served with sauce. There are hundreds of different shapes of pasta with at least locally recognized names. Examples include spaghetti (thin rods), macaroni (tubes or cylinders), fusilli (swirls), and lasagne (sheets). Two other noodles, gnocchi and spätzle, are sometimes considered pasta. They are both considered traditional in parts of Italy. Pasta is generally cooked by boiling. Italian pasta is traditionally cooked al dente, meaning not too soft.

Pizza

Pizza from a Pizzeria in Italy is the recognized round shape, made to order and always cooked in a wood fired oven. Regional varieties are always worth trying such as Pizza Marinara, a traditional Neapolitan pizza that has oregano, anchovies and lots of garlic. Pizza Pugliese makes use of the local capers and olives of the area while Pizza Veronese has mushrooms and tender Prosciutto crudo. Pizzas from Sicily can have numerous toppings ranging from green olives, seafood, hard-boiled eggs and peas.