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Authentic Southern Italian Cuisine
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What’s The Difference Between Northern and Southern Italian Food?

May 4, 2013 Carlino's Restaurant no comments
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“Both north and south contribute to classic Italian cuisine, but each has its own distinct set of flavors”

Italy’s a compact country about the length of California, but the culinary differences between northern Italian food and southern Italian dishes are tremendous. While northern Italians love their rich cream sauces, polenta and stuffed meats, people in the south embrace flavors such as tangy tomato sauces, olive oil and fresh steamed seafood. Both north and south have contributed their share to classic Italian cuisine, but each region has its own distinct set of flavors.

Southern Italian Cuisine

Southern Italian cooking features the bright, lively Mediterranean taste that most people associate with Italian cuisine. From salad greens to seafood, freshness is paramount to southern Italian chefs. Peppers,  eggplant and tomatoes thrive in the warm southern Italian climate, and they form the basis for some of the region’s most-beloved dishes. Eggplant parmigiana, tangy marinara sauce and minestrone enlivened with fresh herbs are southern classics. The wealth of great tomatoes led to the invention of Italy’s most popular food worldwide: pizza.

The Neapolitan pizza margherita combines the best of southern Italy in one delicious dish. Fresh tomatoes, creamy mozzarella cheese and a few leaves of peppery sweet basil turn a simply prepared crust into a feast. Purists can opt for the traditional pizza or choose some of the region’s other delicacies as toppings. Anchovies, freshly made sweet sausage, diced peppers and onions are practically made to go with pizza.

While northern Italy runs on butter, southern Italy makes the most of its abundance of olive oils. Olives grow beautifully in warm Mediterranean climates, but nowhere has olive oil become a greater culinary art form than in Italy. From deep green oils meant for salads to light yellow oils perfect for putting a golden crust on a piece of pan-seared fresh fish, olive oil is a southern Italian icon. You’ll find it in the kitchen and on the table as a dipping medium for the region’s crusty, open-textured breads.

Northern Italian Fare

Thanks to its mountainous terrain and its proximity to Switzerland, Austria and France, northern Italy loves the land. The Piemonte and Lombardia regions of northern Italy are prime cattle country, and their cuisine shows it. Butter-based sauces rich with cream grace northern Italian tables just as they do in France, but Italian chefs put their own delicious spin on them with fresh herbs and garlic. Stews and soups with the beef so abundant in the area are popular in the winter, but spring is for succulent veal. Thin breaded veal cutlets are as popular in Italy as they are in nearby Austria.

Hard sausages of every description helped northern Italians weather winters that came early to mountain valleys. Salami and other salted, preserved meats such as prosciutto are northern Italian delicacies that have gone worldwide. The Emilia-Romagna region of central northern Italy is home to prosciutto di Parma and another product synonymous with great Italian food: Parmesan cheese.

The mountainous terrain at the foot of the Italian Alps lends itself to pastures rather than fields, so cheese has been a staple for centuries. The sheep, goats and cows that graze there produce the milk that goes into Parmigiano-Reggiano, pecorino, asiago and gorgonzola cheeses. With their variety of textures and tastes, northern Italian cheeses complement northern and southern dishes alike.

Whether you prefer a dish inspired by northern Italian cooking such as fettuccine Alfredo or a southern delight such as a Neapolitan pizza, you’ll find the same commitment to bold yet balanced flavor common to all great Italian cooking.

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Meatless Feasts for a Delicious Lenten Season

February 9, 2013 Carlino's Restaurant one comment

 

Carlinos-lent
“Seafood of any sort has long been a staple for Lent”

With the beginning of Lent on February 13, Roman Catholics throughout the world observe the season by forgoing meat. Some say goodbye to red meat altogether while others skip it only on Fridays, but giving something up for Lent is part of a centuries-old tradition. For observant Catholics, vegetarians and lovers of Italian food, many meatless meals may feel more like an indulgence than abstinence.

Salads are an excellent way to start a lunch or dinner at any time of year, and they fit beautifully with Lenten observations or vegetarian dining. The key to a perfect salad is combining the right flavors and textures. The best salads incorporate tangy, rich, crunchy, salty and sweet flavors and textures in the right proportions. Carlino’s fruit salad is a great example; with sweet fruit, crisp mesclun greens, rich and salty Romano cheese and tangy balsamic dressing, it hits all the high points. Without the cheese, the salad goes from vegetarian to vegan.

Pasta is a perfect base for meatless dining. Topped with shrimp or clams, it’s a Lenten classic; with vegetables and a delicate cream sauce, it’s a taste of spring in any season. Meatless marinara sauce rich with garlic, basil and olive oil is all a great plate of pasta needs sometimes. Who says Lenten meals have to be dull? No one who’s ever tried pasta puttanesca, certainly. With its briny capers and pungent anchovies, this luscious dish packs enough flavor to keep anyone from missing meat.

During Lent, consider making vegetables the star of the show instead of a side dish. Eggplant, broccoli rabe and portobello mushrooms get regal treatment from Italian cuisine and deserve their share of the spotlight. Try an eggplant parmigiano sandwich for lunch or an eggplant rollatine bursting with flavorful mozzarella for dinner and discover how versatile the vegetable can be. Carlino’s has a wide variety of sandwiches that are perfect during Lent or at any time of the year.

Pizza, America’s favorite food, is also a great Lenten meal if you choose the right toppings. Skip the sausage and go heavy on the vegetables for a healthy, flavorful pizza. Anchovies and shrimp are also fine for those observing Lent and for pescetarians. All of Carlino’s pizzas are made to order, so let us know if you have special requests for toppings.

Seafood of any sort has long been a staple for Lent. Finding flavorful fish, shrimp and clams may be a challenge in some parts of the country, but New Yorkers don’t have to suffer through their seafood dishes. Clams Posillipo, tender mussels and buttery shrimp scampi are at their best near the coast. Spicy shrimp fra diavolo may have a wicked-sounding name, but the piquant dish is as virtuous as any Lenten meal. Lobster, one of the most luxurious foods you can enjoy, is also welcome on the table for Lent.

The beauty of Italian food is its inclusiveness. No matter what you eat or how you eat it, you’ll find something to please your palate. It’s the perfect solution for large parties because everyone can enjoy something on the menu. With hundreds of years of experience creating phenomenal feasts for Lent, Italian food is excellent for vegetarian and vegan diners as well as observant Catholics. Those who like to indulge in a sausage pizza or spaghetti with meatballs will find all these favorites on the menu, too.

Let our meatless, vegetarian and vegan choices surprise and delight you by dining in with us or ordering for delivery.

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Secrets to Carlino’s Great Pizza Sauce

October 20, 2012 Carlino's Restaurant no comments
San Marzano Tomatoes
“Seek out the queen of sauce tomatoes, the San Marzano”

Of all the elements of a perfect pizza, the toppings grab most of the attention. Mellow mozzarella, homemade sausage, pungent onions and other great pizza toppings deserve their spotlight, but it’s the rich, tangy tomato sauce that creates the stage for them. You’ll find cans of sauce on the shelves, but once you’ve tasted the concentrated flavor of freshly made pizza sauce, you’ll be spoiled for anything less. At Carlino’s, our sauce is a big part of what makes our pizzas so special. We’d like to share a few of our secrets for a great sauce.

Pick the Right Tomatoes

Many cooks reach for the best-looking tomatoes they can find, but those big, juicy beefsteak tomatoes that taste terrific on a sandwich are exactly wrong for pizza sauce. Instead, hunt for smaller, firmer Italian tomatoes. You’ll also see them labeled as Roma tomatoes or plum tomatoes. A rich red color and a strong tomato scent tell you when the tomatoes are just right for sauce.

The tastiest sauce comes from layering flavors, so you’ll also want to seek out the queen of sauce tomatoes, the San Marzano. These long, thin tomatoes are related to Roma varieties, but they’re sweeter and more potent than their plum-shaped counterparts. Getting fresh San Marzano tomatoes shipped from Naples is a challenge for home chefs, so you can also use a San Marzano tomato paste from the gourmet aisle of your local market.

Prepare for Saucing

Tomato sauce requires peeling your tomatoes, but if you’ve ever tried to peel a raw tomato, you know it’s a challenge. There’s a trick to it: blanching. Dunking the fresh tomatoes in boiling water, cooking them for a few seconds until their skins begin to split and transferring them to a bath of ice water makes them easy to peel. Because they don’t stay in the boiling water long, they keep their flavor while shedding their skins. Once you’ve peeled your tomatoes, split them and remove the pulp and seeds with your fingers. You can do this step over a strainer placed over a bowl to reserve the juice for other recipes.

Tomatoes are the star of the sauce, but at Carlino’s, other flavorful ingredients play important roles too. Diced onions and garlic simmer with the tomatoes and impart their distinctive flavors to the finished sauce. Save the stems from fresh basil and oregano to give the sauce a more complex bouquet. If you’re using dried herbs, rub them between your palms to release their flavorful essential oils as you add them to the sauce.

Simmer Down

Proportions for pizza sauce vary by taste, and every chef has a signature blend of ingredients. Chef Wali likes to start by covering the bottom of the pot with diced onions and letting them brown in a splash of olive oil. When the onions are brown, the garlic goes in the pot. Stir the mixture frequently to keep the garlic from overcooking; singed garlic tastes bitter and can spoil an otherwise great pizza sauce. After a few minutes to soften the garlic, add peeled, seeded tomatoes and fresh herb stems if you have them.

The perfect pizza sauce is slow simmered over low heat that produces a natural sweetness. The real secret to a perfect pizza sauce is frequent tasting. If you love the milder taste of fresh tomatoes, simmer your sauce for half an hour or so. We prefer a bold and sweet taste that stands up to the vibrant flavors of our toppings and our fresh homemade mozzarella.  So we create our sauce every day and simmer it for hours to reduce the liquid and turn it into the sweet, thick and rich signature style that’s made our award winning pizza and Italian dishes famous.

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Carlino’s Italian Cheeses: A Taste of History

August 11, 2012 Carlino's Restaurant no comments

Some of most famous dishes served at Carlino’s Restaurant on Long Island relies on the rich heritage of cheeses that food lovers have enjoyed for hundreds of years. Italian chefs had to be creative with dairy products in the warm Mediterranean climate, so they developed and perfected the art of cheese-making. From the mildest mozzarella to the sharpest Parmigiano Reggiano, Italy’s cheeses are justly famous worldwide.

Carlino’s Soft Cheeses

“Homemade mozzarella is a gourmet delight”

Mozzarella is Italy’s most common cheese thanks to its partner, the pizza. Soft and mellow with just a little saltiness, mozzarella originally came from water buffalo, not cows. When cheese-makers stretch the fresh cheese and press the water out of it, it forms strands, giving the cheese its other popular nickname: string cheese. You’ll find it shredded atop pizzas to impart a luscious creaminess or as part of an insalata Caprese with tomatoes and fresh basil. Unlike most cheeses, mozzarella doesn’t have to age; a pizza with fresh, homemade mozzarella is a gourmet delight.

Mascarpone cheese is so soft that it spreads like butter. It’s the mildest of Italian cheeses and has a gentle creaminess that makes it a perfect partner for sweet or savory dishes. Like other cream cheeses, mascarpone takes on the flavors of other ingredients readily, so it’s often the base for dips and fillings where it enhances the character of other ingredients with bolder tastes. Tiramisu wouldn’t be the same without it.

Ricotta, like mascarpone, has a light flavor and texture that makes it a component of sweet and savory dishes. Unlike its counterpart, ricotta cheese is naturally light in calories, too. Cheese-makers create ricotta from low-fat whey instead of whole milk, so it contains little fat compared to other cheeses. Ricotta soaks up other flavors well, so you’ll often find it paired with potent ingredients like a tangy tomato sauce in layers of lasagna or with cinnamon in crisp cannoli. It’s also excellent on a pizza where it complements robust toppings like sausage and onions.

Carlino’s Semi-Soft Cheeses

"Green-veined Gorgonzola is Italy's contribution to the world"

“Blue-green veined Gorgonzola is Italy’s contribution to the world”

Every great cuisine has a notable blue cheese, and pale, blue-green veined Gorgonzola is Italy’s contribution to the world. Gorgonzola’s powerful, tangy taste makes it a perfect foil for dressings, dips and sauces where just a few crumbles of the cheese can add big flavor. You’ll also spot it on cheese plates where it goes well with walnuts and pears or on antipasto platters where it adds piquancy to pickled vegetables.

Provolone is to mozzarella what brandy is to wine – a distillation and concentration of an already delicious product. Cheese-makers press and age mozzarella, sometimes smoking it for extra flavor, to transform it into provolone. Sandwiches become special when dressed with a few slices of melted provolone to give them a rich, creamy texture and flavor. It’s also delicious in salads where its smooth texture contributes almost as much as its mellow taste.

Carlino’s Hard Cheeses

"Pecorino Romano is Italian for “little Roman sheep" where this ultra-sharp cheese comes from"

“Pecorino Romano is Italian for “little Roman sheep” where this ultra-sharp cheese comes from”

Parmesan and Parmigiano-Reggiano are close to the same, but not quite. The former term is the English name for a hard Italian cheese with a powerfully salty, nutty, almost peppery flavor; the latter refers to Parmesan cheese made according to centuries-old traditions in the Parma region of Italy. Just as champagne is more than sparkling wine, Parmigiano-Reggiano is more than Parmesan cheese. Both are exquisitely sharp and hard enough to grate over pizza or pasta, but Parmigiano-Reggiano is good enough to eat in thin shards all by itself. It’s a mainstay of Caesar salads as well as an essential topping for tomato sauces.

Pecorino Romano is Italian for “little Roman sheep,” and that’s just where this ultra-sharp cheese comes from. Often used with grated Parmesan, Pecorino Romano – sometimes shortened to Romano – is a traditional topping for anything with a savory tomato sauce.

Sincerely,

Carlo, Wali and all your friends at Carlino’s Restaurant of Mineola

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Light Choices for Hot Summer Days

July 7, 2012 Carlino's Restaurant no comments
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“Italian cuisine evolved under the powerful Mediterranean sun”

The summer has been scorching already, and forecasters predict more of the same for weeks. When it’s this hot, let someone else do the cooking and keep your kitchen cool. Italian food is a natural choice for keeping cool on the sultriest of summer days because the cuisine evolved under the powerful Mediterranean sun. Italian cooks didn’t want to heat their kitchens either, so they devised plenty of light recipes that taste as refreshing as that first crisp day of fall.

The quintessential light summer dish is the antipasto course. The term literally means “before the meal,” but this selection of cured meats, cheeses, relishes and pickled delicacies easily fills in as a light, refreshing lunch by itself. Served hot or cold, antipasto plates satisfy you without leaving you feeling stuffed. Briny olives, cured salami and marinated artichoke hearts pack plenty of flavor into small packages. Antipasti are also a good choice if you’re not quite sure what you want; with so much variety on the plate, you’ll always find something to love.

carlinos-antipasto-salad
“Antipasto satisfies without leaving you feeling stuffed”

Steamy weather can leave you feeling a little wilted, but eating a salad with crisp, cool leaves and chilled dressing is a good way to beat back summer’s heat. Salads can take center stage rather than playing a supporting role to your entree, especially when they’re big and loaded with toppings. If you love the classics, go for iceberg lettuce and slices of fresh tomato in a light Italian dressing. For a more adventurous plate, mix sweet and savory flavors by topping your salad with diced apples and orange sections, then tossing it with a balsamic vinaigrette dressing. Carlino’s house special fruit salad also includes slivered pears and curls of Romano cheese to add piquancy to the dish.

You may not think of a slice of pizza as summer fare, but it’s commonly served for easy summer dinners in Italy. Because its thin crust cooks so quickly, pizza doesn’t heat a home the way a slow-cooking dish like lasagna or a slow-simmered Bolognese sauce might. Italian cooks also love to take advantage of what’s fresh in the market, and the tomatoes that go into freshly made sauce are at their best in the summer. Another trick to beat the heat: Sprinkle a few red pepper flakes on your pizza. The spiciness of the pepper actually helps you cool off, which is one reason that spicy foods are so popular in hot climates.

Anything you eat instantly becomes more refreshing with the right drink beside it. Italian white wines are typically more bracing and crisp than their French counterparts, so they’re an excellent choice to pair with a slice of cheese pizza or a salad. Lemonade’s blend of tartness and sweetness makes it especially good on a hot summer day. Get the same lip-puckering effect with a little bit of a kick from a lemon drop cocktail made with the Italian liqueur limoncello.

Don’t let summer win; keep your cool with dishes and drinks that grew up under hot Mediterranean skies. Enjoy the lighter side of Italian cooking and beat the heat.

Sincerely, Carlo, Wali and all your friends at Carlino’s

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Spring, Italian Style

April 15, 2012 Carlino's Restaurant no comments
"Celebrate Spring with bruschetta"
“Celebrate Spring with bruschetta”

Spring means gloriously long afternoons and the kind of weather that inspires you to spend every moment outside. New York and Naples share a line of latitude, so the same lengthening days that entice you outside are also luring Neapolitans outdoors. A balmy Mediterranean spring means more than just gorgeous weather and more sunshine, though; it also means a bounty of exquisitely fresh fruits and vegetables. You’ll find some of spring’s freshest flavors on Carlino’s menu, too.

The Italian word for spring is primavera, and you can enjoy its fullest flavor in pasta primavera. As its name implies, the dish is a celebration of spring; vegetables are the star here, and pasta plays a delicious supporting role. This culinary creation of pasta, grated Parmesan cheese and a bouquet of colorful fresh vegetables has roots both in Italy and in America. Italians contributed the fresh, bright spring flavors of olive oil, Parmesan cheese and vegetables to the dish; when it came to America, it acquired its silky, creamy sauce. Enjoy a plate of pasta primavera with a slice of crusty Italian bread or tangy bruschetta.

"Insalata Caprese from the Bay of Naples"
“Insalata Caprese from the Bay of Naples”

Another favorite that appears on Italian tables in the spring is tricolore salad. This refreshing dish pays homage to the red, white and green of the Italian flag in the most delicious way. Every household has its own version; around the Bay of Naples, insalata Caprese, or Capri-style salad, is the most popular. A simple preparation of fresh mozzarella cheese, snipped sweet basil leaves and ripe red tomatoes with just enough sea salt and black pepper to bring out its flavor, this take on tricolore salad unites three classic Italian flavors in one flawless dish. Other versions switch tomatoes for sweet red peppers or rest on a bed of green lettuce, but every recipe is a springtime delight.

When spring turns especially warm, nothing tastes more refreshing than a salad that perfectly blends sweet and savory flavors in a profusion of spring color. Carlino’s fruit salad echoes the magnificent salads that grace Italian tables. Fresh greens, fruits, cheeses and balsamic vinegar come together in a salad that’s bursting with lively flavor. The mixture of fruit, cheese and balsamic vinegar’s sweet tanginess comes from Renaissance dishes that regularly mixed sweet and savory tastes in surprising harmony.

You might not consider pizza a spring treat, but even this classic gets a lift when the weather turns warmer. The artichokes, peppers and tomatoes that top a pizza taste a little brighter when they’re in season. Cows that eat tender spring grass give sweeter milk for mozzarella cheese, so many Italians reserve the traditional pizza margarita for spring. The next time you sit down to a slice, savor it and see if you can taste that little extra “Wow!” that comes with the season.

Celebrate primavera with a meal that makes the most of it at Carlino’s.

Sincerely, Carlo, Wali and all your friends at Carlino’s

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