3 Superfoods You Should Be Using in Italian Dishes, According to Giada De Laurentiis

Do you keep pasta in your pantry? Considering that it’s affordable, long-lasting, and can be transformed into dinner with whatever you have on hand, it’s likely that you do. (I certainly always stock pasta in my kitchen for quick and easy meals.)

But if you’re focused on building more nutrient-dense meals, there are a few other ingredients that cookbook author and Food Network star Giada De Laurentiis says you should also keep on hand for delicious Italian dishes.

Since her early days as a chef at Wolfgang Puck’s fine-dining spot, Spago, De Laurentiis has established herself as a household name and expert in Italian cuisine. Although you may know her as an American television host, she was actually born in Rome, where she grew up watching family members prepare classic Italian cooking. Her lengthy resume includes 10 previously published cookbooks, with her eleventh set to drop on March 4.

Related: 30 Italian Dinner Recipes to Try Tonight

De Laurentiis' upcoming book, Super-Italian: More Than 110 Indulgent Recipes Using Italy’s Healthiest Foods, is packed with dishes that rely on superfoods to deliver nutrient-dense Italian meals. In anticipation of launching an exclusive version of her book on HSN on February 25, which includes an additional recipe, De Laurentiis sat down with Food & Wine to talk about what this newest project means to her, and what a superfood actually is.

You may be familiar with the word “superfood” as a term used in marketing — which it is — and although this isn’t a nutritionally recognized category of foods, it typically refers to an ingredient that is rich in nutrients. As the Cleveland Clinic explains, this often means high amounts of antioxidants, minerals, vitamins, fiber, flavonoids (a phytochemical compound found in plants), healthy fats, and other compounds that support your health. Many of these nutrients are valued for their immune-boosting, anti-carcinogenic, and anti-inflammatory properties, plus their ability to help prevent heart disease, to name just a few benefits.

Related: These 8 Iconic Pasta Shapes Share a Surprising History

These are the kinds of nutrients and properties that De Laurentiis is hoping to highlight through the ingredients in her recipes, and she notes that, for her, a superfood is “a combination of a lot of different things. It's [rich in] antioxidants, it's high in polyphenols, it's high in vitamins, it's all of the nutrition that we are constantly missing.”

In her new book, you’ll find specific recipes that harness the power of superfoods, but you can also incorporate more of her favorite nutritious ingredients into your daily cooking, no recipes needed. If you don’t know where to start, she spilled the beans on which superfoods are versatile, flavorful, and easy to start in all your Italian cooking at home.

Olive oil

I have excellent news for you, which is that an oil you probably already keep in your kitchen is a great source of nutrients. Giada tells Food & Wine that “Olive oil is one of the superfoods... Italians use olive oil — all different types of olive oils — different flavors from different regions of Italy depending on what they're doing, whether they're cooking with it, or finishing with it….

“If [it’s] not a synthetic oil and [it’s] real olive oil from real olives [it’ll be] high in polyphenols, really great for the heart, really great for all of the circulation in your body. It gives you so much energy. It also gives you clarity. It also keeps your skin and your heart running really well.”

Olive oil is indeed rich in polyphenols, a compound found in plants that have been shown to prevent or slow the development of cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases, in addition to having antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. Per UC Davis Health, if you want an olive oil with the highest amount of polyphenols and other antioxidants, make sure you select an extra virgin option.

Cruciferous vegetables

This family of vegetables is big, and many people around the world use cruciferous produce in their cooking. But if you’re looking for options that are especially well suited for Italian cuisine, Giada suggests “Wild arugula. It could be artichokes, it could be dandelion greens, it could be broccoli rabe.” Wild arugula or dandelion greens can be enjoyed raw, making a simple and peppery salad. Try roasting bitter broccoli rabe to add it onto Italian-style sandwiches, or fold some canned artichoke hearts into your next pasta dish.

The exact nutrients you’ll reap from these vegetables will vary depending on the one you’re eating, but they all contain similar advantages. In general, you can expect cruciferous veggies to provide ample amounts of fiber, antioxidants, compounds with anti-inflammatory properties, and vitamins such as vitamin C, K, and B9. 

Anchovies

If you’re searching for a superfood that’s packed with flavor, De Laurentiis says anchovies are “an underrated ingredient that is incredibly nutritious for us.” While these tiny, saltwater fish are a significant part of many food cultures, not just Italian cuisine, she recognizes that some Americans may be less familiar with them. But De Laurentiis emphasizes that “a lot of Americans love Caesar salad. What do they think is in a Caesar salad dressing? It's always anchovies. It can be anchovy filets, it can be anchovy paste, it can be anchovy oil, known as colatura. But anchovies are the backbone of all of those flavors that we all love.”

Caesar dressing is the perfect example of how deeply savory these tiny fish can be. And if you’re worried about getting big bites of anchovy, you can use anchovy paste to add umami that will melt right into whatever you’re making.

But what nutrients can you reap from them? According to Healthline, a two-ounce serving of anchovies (the size of most common commercial tins), will provide a surprising 14 grams of protein. But even if you’re not eating the entire tin, these fish are rich in vitamin B3 and selenium, a mineral that has strong antioxidant properties.

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