5 Italian Fall Recipes

Fall in Italy is all about the harvest: cozy, hearty dishes that make the most of the season's ingredients. When the crisp chill arrives, these five recipes will blow you gently back into your kitchen.

Italian autumn means truffle hunting, mushroom foraging and the local sagre, or harvest festivals, that celebrate regional food traditions. Add these traditional recipes to your weekly repertoire and your kitchen will smell like a fall stroll through the rolling hills of Toscana or a walk in the Piemonte woods.

Pappardelle ai funghi

Toscana may be best known for its bistecca, but nothing says autunno like handcrafted pasta ribbons cooked in a wild mushroom ragù. The name comes from the Italian verb pappare, meaning "to eat." The typically thick width of pappardelle makes this long pasta a match for chunky, earthy sauces.

Risotto ai funghi e tartufi

This rich mushroom and truffle risotto calls for a mixture of wild and porcini mushrooms and fresh white truffles, which are in season only from September to January. The woodsy flavor of the mushrooms meets the al dente bite of the rice for the ultimate fall dish.

Ribollita

Leave it to the Tuscans to find a stew that warms you up and uses your leftovers. A classic of cucina povera, this "re-boiled" soup calls for day-old bread and a wide array of seasonal produce — think Swiss chard, leeks and carrots, or whatever is left from your market haul. The flavors blend and the soup gets tastier over a couple of days, so one pot covers more than one weekday dinner.

Anything with squash

Italians use the entire zucca. Not a part of a precious raw ingredient goes to waste. Where some see decorative gourd season, Italians see a diverse variety of vegetables that can be used from stem to seed. Squash is one of fall's best ingredients, and it works in everything from salads to ravioli and beyond.

Parmigiano Reggiano broth

A cheese this precious deserves better than the trash for its rind. Add the Parmigiano Reggiano DOP rind to a basic vegetable broth and it gains a depth of flavor you would not expect. Use the broth for stuffed pasta in brodo, like agnolotti del plin, or to deepen your next soup.

To get a taste of these Italian autumn flavors, shop your local Eataly, order local delivery or stock your pantry online. Buon appetito.