Some of our favorite Italian dishes to enjoy with family and friends for dinner.

Italian Dinner with WeShallProgress

We love Italian food!

This #rigatoni with #VodkaSauce is flavored with garlic and basil, ground beef, turkey or chicken (feel free to use an alternative like 'beyond beef, plant based ground beef' for vegetarians) and the creamy sauce is served over rigatoni with #Feta and #ParmesanCheese. I usually add butter and half an onion and green pepper to enhance the taste.

The vodka is cooked off leaving a fruity undertone. Then it's blended with Parmesan cheese until smooth. The vodka sauce pasta ends up so full of flavor, it’s worth every second of that simmer. Serve with a #CeaserSalad and a #Chardonnay for pairing.

The Caesar Salad with bacon, red onions and cherry tomatoes is a quick recipe.

It's dressing consists of 1 pasteurized large egg yolk, a 1 1/2 teaspoons Dijon mustard, 1 small clove garlic, grated parmesan, Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper and 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice. Top with some shaved parmesan, and it's great to serve before any of the Italian dishes in this blog.

If you like mussels, this dish will become a favorite of yours: mussels marinara! This is another Italian-inspired dish that is on my favorites list and is often on restaurant menus, but you don't need to go to a restaurant to have this dish. It’s really easy to make right in the comfort of your home.

My husband and I love to cook, and this dish has become one of our go-to dishes to make. #Mussels are simmered in a spicy marinara sauce, with added basil and garlic for flavor. After they’ve soaked up the marinara flavor, they’re poured over an al dente spaghetti pasta, it all takes about 30 minutes to prepare. It works best with a #CapreseSalad and #CabernetSauvignon for nice date or a #DinnerParty

The word “summer” could definitely be defined by a #CapreseSalad. It is perfect as an appetizer or a fresh side salad with your #pasta. The caprese salad is quite easy to prepare, all you need are garden tomatoes, #mozarella, fresh #basil, or #cilantro, balsamic drizzle, a decorative plate and its ready to serve.

This #lasagna is made with real ground beef (or an alternative like 'beyond beef', a plant based ground beef for vegetarians) cooked until browned and then broken apart to pieces into a #PregoSauce, or Italian sausage Prego Sauce. Add some brown sugar to the sauce to break the acidity and stir to a simmer.

The easier way is to use the non-cook pasta for lasagna, if you want to boil your pasta, go for it. We tested the recipe with no-boil pasta, and found they soak up a lot of the sauce and the lasagna loses its sauciness; we recommend the regular dry pasta that requires pre-boil. We add some fresh basil and garlic salt to the #ricotta for more taste. The rest is layering as usual, start with sauce in the pan, then paste, ricotta, pasta sauce, shredded #mozzarella cheese and start over again.

BUON APPETITO!