ITALIANNI?S recently introduced five hefty dishes that come with either Caesar Salad or Soup of the Day (chicken or mushroom soup) and melt-in-your-mouth dessert, the homemade Panna Cotta.

?For only P425, diners can get a complete meal plus their money?s worth,? says Jen Santos, Italianni?s marketing officer. ?Italianni?s has always been sensitive to the dining market. We know people are going into recession, but we don?t want them to change their lifestyle by keeping them from going out like they used to. We don?t want to lessen their dining experience, so we offer dishes to suit their budget.?

The first time Italianni?s introduced its value-for-money campaign was in March for the ?Small Price for Big Lunch? promo. It was a success.

?That?s why it prompted us to do another promo, because we realized people always look for something worth their hard-earned money,? adds Santos.

Italianni?s ?Our Big Lunch Just Got Bigger? consists of new set of lunch entrees starting with Beef Stufato, a stew-pasta concoction of beef cubes in tomato herb sauce mixed with freshly cooked pasta.

Stufato is an Italian term for beef stew. It?s not the regular beef stew eaten with rice. The stew is instead tossed in the pasta, so the real beef flavor comes out in every bite.

Meat lovers can have a choice of Braised Ribs, tenderloin back ribs in tomatoes, herbs, garlic and red wine served with buttery mashed potatoes and ratatouille veggies; and Striploin del Manzo, an imported, juicy grilled striploin.

?The ribs are slow-cooked and braised for three hours. The meat is really off the bone and you can return it if it doesn?t,? Santos challenges.

Chicken Picatta is battered and pan-seared chicken that comes with fettuccine pasta in white wine butter sauce.

So far, the fastest-moving dish among all the entrees is Grilled Fish with Fettuccine Gorgonzola, grilled fish with an Italian relish of tomatoes, olives and capers and pasta in Gorgonzola sauce. Gorgonzola is one of Italy?s great cheeses.

?It?s single serving for an order of each dish, but it?s overwhelming for one person already,? assures Santos.

The five dishes are available until September 30, 11 a.m.-3 p.m., at all Italianni?s branches (Bonifacio High Street, Greenbelt 2, Glorietta 4, Alabang Town Center, Greenhills, Gateway Mall, Tomas Morato, SM Mall of Asia, TriNoma, Robinson?s Place Malate and Eastwood City).

Here are the recipes of Grilled Fish with Fettuccine Gorgonzola and Beef Stufato.

Beef Stufato
(beef stew)

1,000 g beef brisket
1,600 ml tomato sauce
2,000 ml water
60g beef broth
30 ml whole black peppercorn
400 g red onion, wedge 1 inch
300 g potatoes, cubed 3/4 inch
300 g carrots, cubed 3/4 inch
300 g celery, cut 1 inch
200 g onion leeks with stalks, cut into 1 inch
100 g beef stew, approximately
6 pcs
40 g carrots, cut 1 inch
40 g potato, cut 1 inch
30 g celery, cut 1 inch
20 g onion leeks, cut 1 inch
120 ml beef stew sauce
150 g spaghetti pasta
1 g parsley, chopped

In a pressure cooker, place water, striploin, beef broth, peppercorn and 200 g red onion wedge. Cover. Let boil until the cooker whistles then start the timer set to an hour. Remove cooker from heat and let the cooker cool down in running water until pressure goes down (do not open the cooker while it?s cooling down).

Open lid slowly then strain the stock. Spoon out the beef meat and pour back the stock into the cooker. Add the tomato sauce, potatoes, carrots, celery and the remaining red onion wedge. Bring to a boil and simmer for another 45 minutes. After simmering, add the onion leeks and let it cook for 5 more minutes. In a rarebit, place 100 g of cooked beef stew meat, carrots, potatoes, celery and onion leeks. Add sauce. Place rarebit on a plate and pasta on the opposite side. Garnish pasta with parsley.

Dory Fish with Fettuccine Gorgonzola

1 pc (180 g) Dory fish
? tsp grill spice
15 ml oil
15 g tomatoes, diced
5 g capers
5 g black olives, sliced
Pinch of basil, julienned
150 g fettuccine
60 ml Gorgonzola sauce
30 ml heavy cream
? tsp salt-and-pepper mix
1/8 tsp parsley, chopped

Season fish with grill spice then grill both sides. While grilling the fish, prepare pasta according to package instructions. In a preheated sauté pan, ladle Gorgonzola sauce then simmer. Add pasta then season with salt-and-pepper mix. In a separate pan, sauté tomatoes, olives and capers in oil.

To plate: In the lower part of the plate, place grilled fish then top with sautéed tomatoes, olives and capers. On the opposite side of the fish, place pasta then garnish with parsley.