In addition to having a unique artistic and historical heritage, Italy is known and loved all over the world for its extraordinary cuisine. And if we have extensively discussed this theme from north to south of the country during the previous appointments with the blog of Teach me Italian, on this occasion we will find out what to eat in Italy at Christmas.
If we are in the north, the dish that represents winter and Christmas tradition can only be represented by tortellini. Filled with pork loin, veal, mortadella and the secret ingredients of grandmothers, tortellini find their perfect match with capon broth according to tradition.
Also for meat lovers, in Liguria dishes we find the tuccu zeneize (Genoese touch), meat sauce prepared with a touch of veal cooked for a long time together with tomato sauce and various spices. The result is a thick and tasty sauce that is combined with ravioli to create an amazing dish. The tuccu, made very soft by cooking over low heat and prolonged, is then served as a second course. The agnolotti del Plin and potato gnocchi in Montasio sauce and leeks, together with the dumplings close the typical Christmas recipes of the north of the country. Dumplings, typical bread dumplings of Tyrolean cuisine from an ancient peasant recipe, are one of the most popular dishes in various northern regions. The base of the dough is made with bread, milk, eggs, flour and spices with the addition, in the case of Trentino of other ingredients such as speck and cheese while other variants combine them with red turnip, spinach and aromatic herbs.
If we move a little further towards central Italy we cannot fail to meet the typical cuisines of Umbria and Marche. Just of the Marche, in particular of the province of Macerata, the Vincisgrassi are typical. The base of this dish is composed of several layers of fresh pasta seasoned with Parmesan cheese and a sauce with cow entrails. But every grandmother from the Marche region has her own version enriched with other ingredients such as béchamel sauce or the addition of other cuts of meat. A tasty first course that contains the meaning of parties and being together. In Umbria and Tuscany we find pappardelle with wild boar sauce and spaghetti alla Nursina. If pappardelle with wild boar ragout and porcini mushrooms have become a real delicacy of Tuscan cuisine, spaghetti alla Nursina owes its origins to Norcia, a city in which hams, sausages, cheeses and truffles are produced. And the black truffle, which is heated together with extra virgin olive oil, garlic and anchovies is the basis of this traditional Umbrian recipe.
In Puglia to dominate is the baked cod with lentil cream, a rich and tasty dish that, with the cartellate, fully symbolizes the splendor of the Christmas holidays. One of the most iconic dishes of Lucanian cuisine is cod with cruschi peppers, typical of the peasant tradition, like the thistle soup in Molise. But it is the Neapolitan cuisine to exalt itself between zuppa maritata based on pork, chicken and beef and always as a first course baked pasta. Among the second courses we can enjoy practically everything, as long as it is fried! Struffoli, susamielle, mostacciuoli, roccocò and pasta reale complete the work. On the islands we find several dishes that have contaminations also coming from foreign cuisines. In Sicily the falsomagro is one of those specialties that can not miss from the tables banned to party. Inside a large roll, consisting of a slice of beef, hides a delicious stuffed with mortadella, lard or caciocavallo, cheese and boiled eggs. The culurgiones de casu friscu are instead a first course of the Sardinian Christmas lunch. Composed of egg pasta and stuffed with fresh pecorino cheese, chard and nutmeg, they are served both in tomato sauce but also fried or baked.
Comments