The Tandem Spirits were invited to have Christmas lunch with our friends Leonardo, Alessandra and their family. The party was at their excellent agriturismo, Il Moraiolo, located in the hills above Foligno. We have been there for a number of parties over the years, and we are always happy and honored to be invited.
As it turned out, the weather was terrible, so we didn’t have an opportunity to walk around the property. So, we’ve taken the liberty to post several pictures of Il Moraiolo from past visits:
Leonardo’s mother was cooking for Christmas, and the menu was top secret (although there was one thing we were pretty sure would be on it).
We started with appetizers and a sparking wine from the Emilia-Romagna, Pignoletto. For the first course, his mom had made cappelletti in broth – delicious meat stuffed packets in a rich broth.. This is what nearly everyone in Italy had for a first course on Christmas, and what we guessed wold be on the menu. We could have stopped right there, but this being Italy, there is always more. For the main dish there were two meats and poultry. We drank a 10 year old Sagrantino with the pasta and main course.
We ended the meal with a number of desserts including a luscious home-made Yule cake. Desserts were paired with a Viognier passito(concentrated dessert wine) from one of our favorite wineries, Madonna del Latte.
It was a wonderful afternoon of food, fun and friendship.
