Sometimes, you need more than a spiked brownie. You need a meal and one that you can have more than a few bites out of. You need the satisfaction of feeling full and satisfied, paired with the benefits of cannabis. Let's be honest: we have outgrown the desire for baked goods every time an edible is in order – while it's nice every once in a while, it is not a sustainable method of consumption. Sometimes life calls for raising the stakes, as well as the sophistication factor.
For those times, when elegance or healthiness or heartiness win out over sugar and baking, Italian food sounds like the perfect option. It's filling, delicious, and hits the spot.
When you crave Italian spaghetti and pasta and bread and can't risk grinding up your weed on top of your favorite Olive Garden dish, turn to your own kitchen. (It probably wouldn't taste that great anyway.)
Try out these three cannabis-infused Italian recipes.
Table of Contents
Recipe 1: Parmesan and Garlic Pasta ala Weed
This green-twist on pasta is extremely quick and convenient to make, and it adds an extra punch. The cannabis infusion comes with the canna-butter, so be sure and pick out a kind that you like, whether its main ingredient is CBD or THC. Be aware of potency and tolerance; this amount is a loose suggestion and should be determined by preference. This recipe makes about six to eight servings.
Ingredients
2 tbs canna-butter
2 tbs regular butter
1 package angel hair pasta
7 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
salt and pepper, to taste
¾ c grated parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Heat the two kinds of butter together on a large skillet over medium heat. Once they have melted, add the garlic. Cook until the garlic about three to five minutes, or until they turn light brown.
- Remove the garlic and butter mix from the heat and set aside.
- In a separate large pot, bring generously salted water to a boil. Once the boil is rolling, add the pasta to cook, for about two minutes or until it achieves the desired softness.
- Drain the pasta, reserving ½ c of the water.
- Return the spaghetti to the pot. Add in the garlic and butter mix, plus salt and pepper. Stir the ingredients until well mixed.
- Serve with the parmesan cheese either mixed in or on top, in heaping amounts.
- Enjoy!
Recipe 2: Canna-Chicken Parmesan Delight
This main course meal is a mainstay in any cannabis-infused Italian-lover's recipe book. It's a take on chicken parmesan, made with canna-oil and served with pasta.
Ingredients
2 chicken breasts, thinly sliced
½ c salt
½ c sugar
4 c water
½ c flour
1 egg
1 c breadcrumbs
3 tbs cannabis-infused olive oil
marinara sauce, either store-bought or homemade
1 lb pasta, any type
½ c parmesan cheese, per chicken breast
Instructions
- Brine the chicken several hours before making your meal. Mix together salt, sugar, and cold water until dissolved. Add the chicken, then cover and place in the fridge between 30 minutes and three hours. The longer the better, as this will produce more flavor.
- Take out the chicken about 45 minutes before you would like to eat your meal. Remove chicken from the brine, and use a paper towel to dry it off.
- Set the oven's temperature to 350 degrees F.
- Create an assembly line for the flour, breadcrumbs, and egg wash. Bread the chicken breasts by dipping into each, one at a time. Start with the flour, then the egg, then the breadcrumbs.
- After the chicken is breaded, place the canna-oil in a pan over medium heat.
- Add the chicken breasts into the hot oil, and fry until each side turns golden brown. When this color is achieved on both sides, place the chicken on paper towels away from the heat.
- Take a 9 x 13" rectangular pan and coat it with a ¼-inch layer of marinara sauce. Lay the chicken breasts on top of the sauce, and then cover with more sauce. Add cheese to each chicken breast.
- Cover the pan and its contents with aluminum foil. Bake for either 25 minutes or until the internal temperature of the chicken is 165 degrees F.
- While the chicken is baking in the oven, cook the pasta on the stove top. Boil water, plop the spaghetti in and cook until it's al dente. Strain the angel hair and set aside.
- When the chicken is done, take it out of the oven and serve it over the spaghetti. Make sure to only eat one serving at a time, to ensure that the cannabis matches your tolerance level. Enjoy!
Ganja Gnocchi
This famously mispronounced dish is a cannabis-infused Italian delicacy. The soft, gooey pillows of gnocchi are made with canna-butter, which keeps the integrity of the food with an added layer of herbal spice.
Ingredients
3 large potatoes (we recommend baking potatoes)
1 tbs olive oil
1 tsp baking powder
1 large egg, slightly beaten
3 c flour
1 serving cannabis-infused butter
1 clove of garlic
salt, to taste
grated parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Leaving the skin on, rinse the potatoes. Then, boil the potatoes in salted water until tender.
- While the potatoes are still hot, remove the skins and mash the potatoes through a sieve. Ensure that no lumps remain.
- Combine all the ingredients together using a larger wooden spoon. Plop the mixture onto a floured board, and hand-knead the mix until it becomes a dough.
- Roll out part of the dough – into cigar-sized strips – and cut it into smaller thumb-sized chunks. Cover the non-cut dough to prevent drying.
- Either use your thumb or a fork to make an indentation on the uncut side of the dough, which will help them cook.
- Boil salted water in a small pan. Add one or two of the cut pieces of dough into the water, and cook for about four minutes. The texture should be firm, but not hard. Taste them. If they seem okay, proceed. If something is off, try adding more flour to the dough rolling station.
- Cut the rest of the dough into pieces. Next, put the cut pieces onto a cookie sheet and flour. From here, the dough can be either frozen (stored in a plastic, freezer-safe bag) or used immediately.
- To cook, add the dough to a large pot of boiling salt water and add a tablespoon of olive oil. The dough chunks will rise to the top of the water. When they do, cook for five minutes.
- Drain the dough by pouring the pot over a sieve or colander. Rinse the gnocchi pieces under hot water. This will remove the flour that was sprinkled on top, and keep them from sticking.
- Set the gnocchi pieces aside in a large bowl or platter. Combine a splash of olive oil with the cannabis-infused butter and the clove of garlic in the frying pan. Lightly brown the garlic. When done, pour the mixture over the gnocchi pieces, evenly covering each chunk.
- To serve, add parmesan cheese on top in generous amounts. Enjoy!
Whether you are enjoying this meal with a partner or having a date night for one, enjoy these cannabis-infused Italian recipes and don't forget to consult Leafbuyer for all your weed cooking needs.
Disclaimer: All information on this site is for reference purposes only. Leafbuyer is not responsible for the outcome of any recipe you try from the Website, or any website linked to from this site. You may not achieve desired results due to variations in elements such as ingredients, cooking temperatures, typos, errors, omissions, ingredient quality/potency, or individual cooking ability. Recipes available on the Website may not have been formally tested by us or for us and we do not provide any assurances nor accept any responsibility or liability with regard to their originality, quality, nutritional value, or safety. The cannabis amounts specified in this recipe are a loose suggestion. You should adjust the amount based on desired potency and the strength of your cannabis.
