Three tasty no-cook Italian recipes

One of the many advantages of Italian cuisine? The opportunity to enjoy fresh, healthy, and delicious dishes without having to spend hours in the kitchen!

Today we'll show you three delicious recipes that are a snap to prepare, perfect for summer, and ideal to bring on a picnic or a lunch break away from home.

1) Prosciutto, melon, and olives

A timeless classic of Italian cuisine, prosciutto and melon is a perennial favorite that children adore. In Italy, dry-cured prosciutto from Parma is the usual go-to, but you can also opt for cooked deli ham, which is more subtle in flavor. It's incredibly easy to prepare:

• Cut the melon in half lengthwise, and scoop out the pulp and seeds.
• From each half, cut slices 4 or 5 cm wide and remove the peel.
• Arrange the melon slices on a serving dish and add the prosciutto or ham.
• For an even zestier bit of flavor, garnish with a few olives.

And for a zero-waste kitchen, don't throw away the melon scraps! After washing and air-drying the peel, you can reuse it to create a fragrant infusion. As for the melon seeds, they're packed with health-boosting goodness. You can toast them in a pan or in the oven, and add them to soups, stews, curries, sandwiches, salads, yogurt, and smoothies.

2) Caprese salad with tomato, mozzarella, and basil

Fresh, colorful, and authentic, the caprese salad is one of the Mediterranean diet's most iconic dishes. Perfect as an appetizer or an entire meal, it's an ideal choice even for those who aren’t very handy in the kitchen. The recipe listed below is for two people.

• Slice two vine tomatoes and two balls of mozzarella, preferably buffalo mozzarella.
• Arrange alternating slices of tomato and mozzarella on a plate.
• Garnish with a drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil and some basil leaves.

You can also sprinkle some oregano over the top if you'd like: its notes of citrus and spice will give the dish even more pizzaz!

3) Sandwiches with goat cheese, arugula, and pesto

Finally, we've got a mouth-watering idea for you that's perfect for eating on the go: sandwiches with goat cheese, arugula, and basil pesto! This is a perfect example of how you can create something that's tasty and versatile from just a few simple ingredients. The blend between the strong flavor of the goat cheese, the fragrant pesto, and the arugula's slightly bitter note makes them truly irresistible!

All you have to do is spread the goat cheese on a slice of sandwich bread, garnish with arugula and pesto, then add a second slice of sandwich bread... and voila!

If you'd rather serve this recipe as an appetizer or aperitif snack, you can roll it up and slice it into mini rolls for a visually stunning effect!

Follow our blog to discover more tasty, authentic, traditional Made in Italy recipes!