Italian-Italian meatballs, not Italian-American spaghetti and meatballs. Smaller, tenderer, simmered in tomato, eaten as a course of their own with bread — never piled on pasta.
Thin slices of beef rolled around breadcrumbs, raisins, pine nuts, cheese, and herbs, then simmered in tomato sauce. A Sunday dish from Naples and Sicily. The sauce becomes a meal with pasta; the braciole are the second course.
Slow-cooked beef stew with potatoes, peas, and carrots — Italian comfort food on a cold day. Different in every region; this is a Tuscan-leaning version. Rich, simple, made for crusty bread.
"Hunter's chicken" — what you'd cook over an open fire after a day in the woods. Tomatoes, olives, rosemary, white wine. Simple, peasant, deeply satisfying.
Roasted chicken with potatoes — the kind every Italian grandmother makes on Sundays. One pan, simple ingredients, deeply flavored. The potatoes underneath catch every last drop of chicken juice.
Italian sausage simmered in white wine with rosemary and fennel — a Tuscan country dish that comes together in 25 minutes. Serve with crusty bread to mop up the pan sauce.