Chef Carla Lalli Music reveals which recipes she covers in her workshop, A Chef’s Guide to Italian Cooking.

A Chef’s Guide to Italian Cooking

Explore the versatility of Italy's most used ingredient: the tomato. Carla prepares a delicious bruschetta with raw tomato and demonstrates how to make a classic, grated tomato sauce.

Tomatoes Two Ways: Bruschetta, Tomato Sauce

Learn how to prepare soffritto, a flavor-packed staple of Italian cuisine, and use it in pasta e fagioli. As the first dish Carla ever learned to make from her mom, she shares each cooking step and why she still loves to make it weekly for her family.

Italian Soffritto: The Key to Pasta e Fagioli

Cook along with Carla as she hand prepares fresh cavatelli pasta from scratch, complete with brown butter and sage sauce.

Handmade Cavatelli Pasta

Learn to prepare vibrant red pesto rosso dish paired with pan-seared shrimp. Carla reveals the Italian meaning of pesto and why not all pesto is green.

Pesto Rosso with Shrimp

Discover Carla's effective method for poaching eggs as she brings the spice with her father’s favorite Italian dish: eggs in purgatory.

Eggs in Purgatory

Learn how to cook a mouthwatering Italian steak as Carla demonstrates the reverse sear method that ensures a large cut of meat is cooked to ideal medium-rare doneness every time.

Italian Steak: Rosemary-Roasted Bistecca

Explore four of Italy’s most iconic cheeses as Carla breaks down their unique tastes, textures and recipes that highlight each cheese.

Formaggio: A Guide to Italian Cheeses

Carla shares her tips for selecting the best olive oil and shows how to use it in her simple recipe for sautéed greens.

A Guide to Olive Oil

Learn to confidently cook Italian food with Chef Carla Lalli Music’s tips. 

Marinated Tomato Bruschetta

Pasta with 10-minute Spicy Grated Tomato Sauce

Pasta e Fagiole

This is an indoor adaptation of Italy’s famous Bistecca alla Fiorentina, which is traditionally cooked over live fire until very rare and seasoned with nothing else than coarse salt. When in Florence, seek out the original—which I was fortunate enough to experience with my parents and sister many years ago. The steak we were served was presented with a few rosemary sprigs on the platter, which I’ve used to make a dry rub for this version, along with lemony shallots and salty anchovies for doctoring each bite. Slow-roasting before browning is a method called “reverse sear,” and it’s excellent for thick cuts and big roasts because it allows the meat to climb gently to an optimal, even medium-rare, before quickly taking on color in a hot skillet. If you’re going to splurge on a big beautiful cut of meat, you really don’t want to overcook it!

Rosemary-Roasted Bistecca

Clementines and Pistachios with Ricotta Salata

Brothy Wheat Berries and Parm

Young Pecorino Salad

Pasta with 10-Minute Spicy Grated Tomato Sauce

Handmade Cavatelli with Brown Butter and Sage

Sautéed Greens with Lemon, Chile, and Extra-Virgin Olive Oil

Carla Lalli Music is a James Beard Award-winning and bestselling cookbook author and the former food director at Bon Appétit. Trained at the French Culinary Institute, she started her career as a line cook and later became the first general manager at Shake Shack. Carla lives in Brooklyn with her family.

Carla Lalli Music

Course: Italian Essentials Pesto Rosso Shrimp

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