Giada at Home: Family Recipes From Italy and California (6 page)

Chicken, Artichoke, and Cannellini Bean Spezzatino

Ligurian Fish Stew

White Bean and Chicken Chili

Butternut Squash Soup with Fontina Cheese Crostini

Lemon Chicken Soup with Spaghetti

Grilled Vegetable, Herb, and Goat Cheese Sandwiches

Piadina with Fontina and Prosciutto

Zucchini and Olive Pizza

Chicken Burgers with Garlic-Rosemary Mayonnaise

Mini Italian Pub Burgers

Open-Faced Tuna Sandwiches with Arugula and Sweet-Pickle Mayonnaise

Caponata Panini

Given the common presence of panini on American menus these days you might be surprised to learn that Italians are not really big sandwich eaters. In Italy sandwiches are regarded as snack food, something to munch on between meals, rather than a meal in their own right. Soup, too, is considered the kind of thing you’d eat to stave off hunger pangs between real meals, or if you were under the weather—quite a difference from this country, where hamburgers rule the roost and a steaming bowl of soup is many people’s idea of the perfect cold-weather meal.

Despite their secondary status, though, soups and sandwiches exist in every region of Italy, and whether they’re served as a snack, Italian-style, or as the main event, I find they make an ideal lunch or light supper, just as is. Spezzatino, a hearty stew brimming with chicken, cannellini beans, and artichokes, is a substantial dish that needs only a salad to complete it, and
Piadina with Fontina and Prosciutto
has all the ingredients and characteristics to satisfy a meal. Soups and sandwiches also provide the perfect playground for old world–new world crossovers, like
my
Caponata Panini
, savory pressed sandwiches filled with an eggplant mixture more commonly served as a condiment for meats in Italy, or my chicken soup, which is even more sustaining and delicious with the addition of broken pieces of spaghetti, a trick my mother used to bulk up soups such as minestrone and use up odds and ends. And of course I couldn’t resist giving the all-American burger an Italian-style makeover, substituting chicken for beef and adding fresh herbs like rosemary and parsley. After all, Italians might not eat a lot of burgers, but we make a lot of meatballs!

Chicken, Artichoke, and Cannellini Bean Spezzatino

Spezzatino is an Italian vegetable stew that has meat in it. This one boasts small bites of chicken and a sprinkle of crunchy pancetta. I love artichokes, so I add them, along with the beans, to make this soup a meal.

In a heavy 5- to 6-quart saucepan, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the pancetta and cook, stirring frequently, until brown and crispy, 6 to 8 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, remove the pancetta and set aside to drain on paper towels.