When having guests over, you want to cook something great, but it shouldn't be too heavy or too much work. Last weekend, I racked my brain trying to decide what menu I could serve my dear friends. When I ask my husband what he likes me to cook most, his answer is: Lasagna. So, I planned a menu around this dish, and it turned into an Italian menu. The dishes sound very good, are not difficult to make, and most people like them. So, here is a suggestion for an Italian menu that tastes even better with friends:

Cooking an Italian menu for guests

Appetizers:

• Bruschetta Mista (Bruschettas with tomatoes, olive cream, or prosciutto)
• Caprese Salad (tomatoes with mozzarella)
• Prosciutto with melon
• Salami sticks in Parmesan with grapes

Main course:

• Lasagna

Dessert:

• Tiramisu

Drink suggestion:

• Aperol Spritz

Recipes for an Italian menu

Ingredients for 10 people:

Ingredients for Bruschetta Mista:

• 2 baguettes (250 g each)
• 10 tomatoes
• 4 cloves of garlic
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• Salt – or even tomato salt
• 130 g olive cream (e.g., black olive bruschetta, available at Billa)
• 50 g to 100 g prosciutto
• 1 Parmesan, grated
• optional: balsamic glaze
• optional: arugula for garnish
• optional: basil for garnish

Resting time for tomato bruschettas:at least 2 hours

Instructions:

For the tomato bruschettas, dice the tomatoes and garlic and mix in a bowl with a little olive oil. Let the mixture sit in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours.

Preheat the oven to 180° C with top and bottom heat.

Cut the baguette into finger-width slices and spread them out on a baking rack lined with parchment paper. Drizzle the baguettes with a little olive oil and bake for about 5 to 8 minutes until golden brown.

Extra tip:do not let them get too dark, otherwise they will become too hard.

Remove the baguettes from the oven and top them individually with the tomato mixture.

Then spread some baguettes with olive cream or top with prosciutto.

Sprinkle the whole thing with some Parmesan or garnish further, e.g., with a drizzle of balsamic glaze and arugula.

Ingredients for 10 people:

Ingredients for Caprese Salad:

• 400 g mozzarella
• 6 tomatoes
• optional: balsamic glaze
• optional: arugula for garnish
• optional: basil for garnish

Instructions:

Cut the tomatoes and mozzarella into fine slices and arrange them nicely on a large platter. Alternate between a tomato slice and a mozzarella slice. Garnish the whole thing with basil and arugula. If you like, you can also garnish it with a little balsamic glaze.

Ingredients for 10 people:

Ingredients for prosciutto with melon and salami sticks with grapes:

• 200 g prosciutto
• 1 cantaloupe melon (the orange one)
• 1 pack of Salanetti bits Parmesan
• Grapes
• small colorful skewers

Instructions:

Remove the seeds and skin from the melon and dice the flesh. Cut the prosciutto into fine pieces. On skewers, always place a piece of prosciutto first and then a piece of melon, and arrange on a large platter.

I also arranged the salami sticks and grapes around the platter.

Extra tip:For vegetarians, I also added just melon pieces.

Ingredients for 10 people:

Ingredients for a lasagna:

• approx. 24 lasagna sheets/pasta sheets
• 1 kg mixed minced meat/ground meat/wild boar mince
• 2 onions
• 4 garlic cloves, pressed
• 8 tbsp tomato paste
• 700 g tomato purée/passata
• 4 tbsp ketchup
• 3 packs of Pasta Asciutta base
• Salt
• Pepper
• 1 l milk
• 60 g flour
• 250 g grated cheese (e.g., pizza cheese or mozzarella)
• 1 Parmesan, grated
• Casserole dish
• ladle

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 180°C (356°F) with top and bottom heat.

The Bolognese

For the Bolognese, peel and finely dice the onions and garlic cloves. Now brown the minced meat in a pot, then add the onion and garlic. Add the tomato paste and stir briefly. Then add the water for the Pasta Asciutta base and mix everything well. Let it simmer gently. Finally, add the tomato sauce and season with salt and pepper.

The Béchamel sauce

For the béchamel sauce, mix the milk and flour in a pot with a whisk and bring to a boil once.

Caution:the sauce burns very easily, stir constantly.

Layering the lasagna

Layer the lasagna step by step in a casserole dish. Start with 2-3 ladles of tomato sauce, spread smoothly on the bottom. Now add 2 ladles of béchamel sauce and then the lasagna sheets. Then again, first tomato sauce, then béchamel sauce, and then the lasagna sheets. Use up all ingredients, which will form about 3-4 layers. Finish with a layer of tomato sauce and béchamel sauce so that these lasagna sheets also become nice and soft. Always ensure that all pasta sheets are well covered with sauce, otherwise they won't soften. Finally, top the lasagna with the grated cheese.

Place the casserole dish on the lower rack of the oven and bake for 30-50 minutes at 180°C top and bottom heat. The cheese should be slightly brownish and crispy.

Extra tip: If the crust gets dark too quickly, you can cover the lasagna with a piece of parchment paper or aluminum foil.

Tip:the lasagna can be prepared perfectly the day before, as it tastes even better that way. The lasagna can be varied in many ways: whether a vegetarian version with vegan meat (I use Beyond Meat patties for this) or with colorful pasta sheets, or just with vegetables (carrots, zucchini, eggplant, corn, or peas are very suitable here).

Ingredients for 10 people:

Ingredients for a Tiramisu:

• 8 fresh eggs
• 200 g powdered sugar
• 1 kg mascarpone
• 80 to 120 ladyfingers
• a splash of rum
• 300 ml espresso
• Cocoa powder
• Casserole dish

Instructions:

First, prepare the coffee and let it cool down well. Separate the egg whites from the yolks. Beat the egg whites until stiff and stir in 100 g of powdered sugar. Mix the yolks with the remaining 100 g of powdered sugar, add the mascarpone, and mix. Now fold in the beaten egg whites. Mix the coffee with a splash of rum in a bowl and briefly dip the ladyfingers. In a nice bowl, first lay out the dipped ladyfingers and spread some cream on top. Repeat this until only one layer of cream remains. Let the Tiramisu sit in the refrigerator for a few hours. Sprinkle with real cocoa before serving.

Extra tips:

• If you don't have rum, you can also use Marsala or Amaretto.
• If you want to avoid alcohol and espresso, you can use cocoa (milk with sweet cocoa powder) or orange juice instead.
• For children, do not use real cocoa for sprinkling, but rather the sweeter cocoa powder.
• If you also want to avoid raw eggs, use 250 g of curd/quark and 200 g of cream cheese as well as 2 tbsp of sugar instead. Mix these ingredients well and spread over the soaked ladyfingers.

Ingredients for 1 person:

Ingredients for an Aperol Spritz:

• 4 cl Aperol
• 6 cl Prosecco
• 1 splash of mineral water
• 4 ice cubes
• 1 orange slice

Put ice cubes into a large glass, then pour in the Aperol and Prosecco. Finally, add the splash of mineral water. Either attach the orange slice to the glass or add it into the glass. Cheers!

I also put together and printed a nice menu card for the table, so the guests can study the menu right away and get in the mood.

Italian menu – Template for a table card

The menu was very well received by my guests. Of course, as always with me, it was way too much, but very, very good.

Photos by Sabine, meinhaushalt.at

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