Traditional and Not-so-traditional
We have lived in Italy since 2014 and during the holiday period between Christmas and New Year’s Day we have enjoyed some wonderful meals with family and colleagues. There are, of course, traditional dishes that show up in most households. There are regional differences, but you can pretty much count on most Italians cooking some sort of fish the day before Christmas. On Christmas Day it’s lasagna or a pasta such as cappelletti in a home-made broth. The main course is often beef or lamb.
My cousins in Torino always cook fish the day before Christmas. Here are some of the dishes my cousin, Massimo, cooked in 2017. He’s a master chef when it comes to seafood!
Cappelletti in home-made broth is quite common here in Umbria.
This year, we were locked-down, so it was just the two of us. For Christmas eve I decided to cook locally-made sausage in a tomato sauce with cannellini beans. I served them with polenta!
In a previous blog post I mentioned that Italians eat many different kinds of chicken. They have a special Christmas Chicken (Pollo di Natale) which is quite large. This year I prepared one that weighed 5.25 lbs! I roasted it with a homemade spice rub and it turned out really well!
The Tandem Spirits LOVE spicy butternut squash soup this time of year. This is definitely not on the Italian menu! I roasted radicchio in olive oil and we drizzled it with balsamic vinegar.
What holiday-season meal would be complete without panettone? As you can see, Virginia couldn’t wait to sink her teeth into this chocolate-covered delight!!!
New Year’s food traditions in Italy include lentils, pork, rissotto and cappelletti in broth!
This year, I made a curried butternut squash soup which was really good. We had roasted pork loin medallions that I seasoned with various dry-rubs. I made a basic basmati rice and grilled vegetables.
Virginia and I hope that in the not-so-distant-future the world will return to a new “normal.” Being separated from family and friends this holiday season has deepened our appreciation of family, tradition and good health. Here’s wishing you the best in 2021!!!
