A lot of the cuisine of Italy can be intimidating, with multiple techniques used to produce a dish, expensive ingredients and complex construction. Many new cooks take a look at some of the more classic “gourmet” Italian recipes and decide such cooking is better left to Olive Garden or Macaroni Grill. This is a mistake, as there are plenty of easy Italian recipes around.

In every ethnic cuisine, the basic cooking is simple. Remember that for most of human history cooking tools were very simple and the availability of complex cooking tools was unknown. There was only heat, a simple pan or two and some basic ingredients.

Take, for example, Shrimp Scampi, one of the most popular Italian restaurant dishes. Done right, it is a marvel of balance, with the richness of butter and the taste of garlic, green onions and white wine. Actually, it’s a very, very simple dish! You just sauté the garlic and onions in olive oil; add the wine, then the butter, then and the shrimp. It’s not hard at all, and the results are fantastic.

Lasagna, believe it or not, is another amazingly simple dish. The layers can look intimidating in the finished product, but it’s basically just a matter of making simple meat and cheese mixtures, then ladling them into a dish in layers separated by noodles. The great thing about lasagna is that it’s fairly foolproof. Get your layers out of order? Forget to put the cheese in one layer? It really won’t matter all that much once everything’s baked together.

And, for dessert, don’t forget the cannoli (hey, it was good enough for “The Godfather,” right?) You can buy cannoli shells at most bakeries, which removes what for most people is the tough part. The filling is simply a mixture of cheeses and flavorings, which is then piped into the shells and decorated. You won’t believe how simple it can be!

There are hundreds of easy Italian recipes out there. All you have to do is get cooking.

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Home cooking network – A Pandora box for all the foodies. A never before array of recipes are a rare collection of specialties form all over the world. It can serve all sorts of individual needs that are vegetarian, quick & easy, traditional, etc. Ranging from gourmet to the simpler ones, these recipes can be broadly divided in to 4 heads. These are as follows:

1. Appetizers

Unlike the regulars such as bruschetta or deviled eggs, Home Cooking Network offers the individuals an opportunity to try various cuisines. Chinese, Mexican, French….. the list is amazing!

i. Spicy Appetizers
For spicy pre meal snacks check out the Mexican & Chinese appetizers.

ii. Soups
Soups make great appetizers and attribute to quite a healthy meal. If beef & chicken recipes do not tickle your taste bud being a vegetarian, look out for the vegetable soups such as carrot soup. For playing off the league try your hand with the French onion soup.

iii. Salads
Whether appetizers or a meal, salads are just perfect for all of us. And for the lazy ones, these are far more simpler & quicker recipes to opt from. They take almost no time, don’t believe me, try potato salad or pasta salad! For some adventure & experience go for the Mexican salad.

2. The Main Course

Do you wanna be different this time? Choosing the main course could be rather hard but with Home Cooking Network, the choices are endless.

i. Beef
In place of the plain steak, try some corned beef or beef casserole, or the beef stroganoff.

ii. Chicken
Recipes enlist things as simple as the grilled chicken to something special like the low carb recipes and the chicken cordon bleu.

3. Traditional Home Cooking

This can be defined in many ways as per one’s own perception. Home Cooking Network consists of many recipes that can be used as main course, appetizers, desserts or just simple snacks. These recipes are representatives of different cultures like
i. Polish
ii. Kosher
iii. German
iv. Indian
v. Mediterranean
vi. Phillipino, etc.

4. Desserts

Desserts are surely delicious end to the meals. Home Cooking Network believes in trying different recipes, that are new, uncommon and easy to cook.
i. Greek, Mexican and Phillipino desserts form a major chunk of the list.
ii. Alongside it enlists all time favorites like pies. Among pies, Home Cooking Network contains recipes for key lime, fruit filled and pecan pies.

5. Vegetarian Special

Among vegetarian cuisines, Home Cooking Network offers various new & exquisite recipes like:
i. Pasta dishes
ii. New recipes for asparagus and sweet potatoes
iii. Cajun cooking
iv. Vegetarian meatloaf

6. Others

To tickle your taste buds further, Home Cooking Network’s recipes include many other categories to serve any purpose you have on mind that is a festive treat pleasing a cherished guest or thanking a friend, or simply sharing a relishing moment with the family. These recipes might be time consuming but the time is all the worth. Its rich culinary list includes:
i. Cajun
ii. Gumbo
iii. Sweet breads, and
iv. Collard greens.

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Explain if you can:

A family moves into a nice 3 or 4 bedroom home in the suburbs, complete with all the amenities (kitchen, bathroom, living room, etc). It even has a big backyard with room for a nice size grill and furniture.

This family will EVERYDAY –
1) Climb out of their window(s)
2) Sit on the roof
3) Eat their meals

(By the way – the roof is slanted)

CAN ANYBODY EXPLAIN THIS TO ME?

(This is a TRUE occurrance)

(Unfortunately, the family in question is Black)

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My favorite is to have a backyard cookout where I grill some “beer can” chickenhawk.

After properly cleaning the chickenhawk — they’re usually filthy — you open a can of beer and stick it in its rear end (after removing the gerbil and other foreign objects the chickenhawk has put in there of course). Then you sit the chickenhawk upright on the barbecue, taking care to keep the beer can vertical so that it doesn’t spill. The heat from the grill will boil the beer, which will steam cook the chickenhawk from the outside, while the flames cook it from the outside. In no time, you’ll have a terrific grilled chickenhawk that’s neither stringy or gamy.

Beer can chickenhawks. The Fox News viewers are terrified of it, but it’s a great way to celebrate the 4th of July, isn’t it?

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if anybody has a good grilled pizza recipe that would be a plus. But need some other recipes as well, its the seasons and I love to grill!!

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Need it for a cookout, just thought it would be fun to try…

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I am a bit overwhelmed when I go to the asian market. Not only do they have a thousand varieties of fish, but i see everything from entire fish to small fish balls used for soup. I am trying to increase my knowledge of fish grilling and I prefer charcoal BBQ as my means of cooking them. However, I have no idea how to cook some of these things. How to cut them up. Anything. I don’t expect someone could answer all this in one response, but maybe give me a good starting point or what to ask the guy at the counter…

another thing, those of you who are good at grilling fish- do you use tin foil at all on your grills so that the fish cooks in its own juices?

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