Cook Italian gourmet on a budget by keeping a few simple tips in mind. Just take the time to cook, get to know the culture, and learn which ingredients you can skip and which ones are indispensable.

Think of Italian food and pasta almost always comes to mind first. But there is another staple that has been part of the Italian diet for centuries: gnocchi. Their name in the native tongue - lump - describes their shape, but not their taste. Made from potatoes one might think that taste would be bland and boring, filling, but flat. Oh, how wrong that thought would be...

Fettuccine Alfredo is among the simplest, yet tastiest pasta dishes.

Italian sauces are well-known throughout the world. But there is a region of the country that offers something distinctively different: Sicily. Legally part of Italy, Sicily has often gone its own way politically. That same independent spirit is found in the cuisine of this sun-drenched island, and most particularly in its fine sauces.