Menu: Easy Classic Italian Food with How to Recipes

Thanks for checking out the Mortadella Head menu.  I created this page so you can get a good idea of what we’re serving here at Mortadella Head.  

My goal is to give you a different menu experience compared to the typical Italian restaurant.  

You’ll be able to take a look at a full version of the menu below.  

But first I want to tell you about some of the delicious food we make here.  I’m also going to show you how we make some of our best Italian recipes.  

I shared some videos for all of the home cooks out there.  These are classic recipes that your whole family will love.

Even if you don’t live in the area and can’t order from us, I want you to be able to taste the food we make.  

Italian food is about sharing.  I want you to watch these videos and get inspired.  There are so many Italian dinner ideas you can make.  

These recipes are perfect for a delicious meal during the week or a traditional Sunday dinner.  They’re also great for special occasions. 

We’ve been working on this menu for a long time.  It’s a combination of the food we ate growing up and some things we learned on our trips to Italy.  If you spent any time in an Italian-American household, I think you’ll appreciate it. 

All of our recipes are made with simple ingredients. We use fresh vegetables, fresh herbs, and fresh garlic.  There’s nothing better than the smell of a tomato sauce simmering on the stove with tons of fresh basil. 

Everything on our menu is awesome, but I want to highlight a few things that I think are special.

Check out some of the easy Italian recipes below. Even though they’re easy you can still make a really good traditional Italian Sunday dinner with them.

Marinara Sauce

This is the perfect red sauce.  We use it in so many of our menu items I have to take it seriously. The tomato sauce can either make or break most Italian dishes. 

It starts off with fresh onions and garlic cloves that are sauteed in olive oil.  Then we add the best quality tomatoes, salt, pepper and fresh basil.   We let it simmer on a low flame until it’s perfect.

You can’t go wrong with this classic sauce.  

Our Meatballs

I love our meatballs.   I get them with ziti to make the perfect pasta dish.  I also love a meatball sub with provolone cheese.  I even eat them as a main dish with a little salad on the side and some crusty bread.

They are made with a mixture of ground beef and ground pork along with fresh garlic, parsley, eggs, and pecorino Romano cheese.  But that’s not all.

I think our meatballs are so good because we add some of our Roman pizza bianca to the mix instead of regular bread.

Roman Pizza

We went to Rome and learned how to make this style of pizza from a guy named Gabriele Bonci.  It’s one of my favorite Italian recipes of all time.  

The dough ferments for 72 hours. During that time it becomes so light, airy and flavorful.  

After you bake the Roman pizza crust you can top it with just about anything. You can also keep it simple and eat it like a Roman with a sprinkle of sea salt and a drizzle of olive oil. 

One of our best selling pizzas is the Buffalo Chicken, Roman style!

If you’re someone who only likes authentic Italian recipes this might offend you.  It’s the perfect example of Italian-American.  

We put classic American flavors on an authentic Italian pizza crust.  It’s so good.

Our Pulled Porchetta

I figured I have to share this story with you.  A while back we decided to find the best porchetta in Italy.  We did our research and put together a little porchetta tour in Rome and the surrounding area.

After eating porchetta for a few days, we found it.  It was in a little town outside of Rome called Marino.  It was made by a guy named Vito Bernabei. 

When we got home we decided to make a pulled pork with the same flavors and ingredients that Vito used.  

I like to say that our pulled porchetta may not be the classic Italian recipe for porchetta…it’s better.

Broccoli Rabe

Broccoli rabe is one of those Italian dishes that you have to love.  When it’s cooked right it’s the perfect side dish for so many types of meat or the classic Sunday sauce.  

The slightly bitter flavor of the broccoli rabe compliments the rich meat sauce like nothing else. 

After lots of experimenting, I decided the best way to cook our broccoli rabe is to roast it in the oven.  I add lots of olive oil, garlic,  parmesan cheese, salt and black pepper.  It comes out perfect every time.

The Homemade Mozzarella Sticks

We don’t serve mozzarella sticks that come frozen and are the size of your pinky!

Our Mozzarella Sticks are really awesome.  They really took off when our video went viral on Tiktok.

This is a good example of something that may not be considered traditional Italian cuisine, but it’s definitely an Italian-American classic.

And we do it right.  

We take a block of whole milk mozzarella cheese and cut it into big logs.  We coat it in egg and bread crumbs…just like a chicken cutlet.

Then we fry it to perfection and serve it with a side of our famous tomato sauce.

The Mortadella Head Sub

I love this sub.  We take the Italian classic, eggplant parmesan and combine it with the Italian-American classic, chicken parmesan.  Then it gets covered in thinly sliced mortadella and roasted red peppers. 

There’s something special about the way the hot bubbly cheese and tomato sauce combines with the mortadella…WOW!

This sandwich is pretty much all of the best things Italian cuisine has to offer inside of a beautiful sub roll.

Take & Bake Lasagna

Lasagna is the ultimate pasta bake.  We make it with layers of fresh pasta, creamy ricotta cheese, provolone, pecorino Romano and mozzarella.

We make a few different versions.  You should check them out.

Our Quattro Formaggi Lasagna is made with our marinara sauce.  

Our Bolognese Lasagna is made with our slow cooked meat sauce.

The Chicken and Broccoli Rabe Lasagna has our delicious garlic cream sauce.  It’s a white sauce that’s similar to an Alfredo sauce. 

The best part about our lasagna is that they are the perfect freezer meal.

We keep them in our display freezer so you can bring them home and cook them when you’re ready.  Pop them in the oven any night of the week and watch your family members come running.