Whether we’re talking about the Christmas Eve dinner or the lunch on the 25th, the Christmas appetizers they are often a big worry. What to do to amaze family members, without taking away the warmth of tradition? No problem: just use your imagination and seasonal ingredients.
A classic, for example, is the Neapolitan reinforcement salad, which has always been a side dish but, given the richness of dinners and today’s lunches, it can easily be “moved” to the starter. One appetizer pull the other one. Staying on the topic of appetizers traditional, also interesting fried cauliflower, typical of Abruzzo and Calabrian cuisine. Or the zeppoline with seaweed, another delicacy of Neapolitan cuisine. But let’s try to revisit tradition: so here are 10 ideas to start Christmas off right at the table
Christmas appetizers: our 10 unmissable ideas
So let’s start immediately with the 10 best recipes in our cookbook, to be revisited with imagination: from quiche to classic crostini to raw fish.
Spicy salami quiche
Speaking of Calabria: why not put spicy salami or ‘nduja in a delicious quiche, for an entirely Mediterranean dish? The savory pie is filled with a filling of ricotta, cherry tomatoes, spicy salami, oregano, olives and extra virgin olive oil. But be careful: the risk is that her taste “cannibalizes” the rest of the lunch…
Crostini with stracchino and sausage
Liver croutons Tuscans they are a classic of the Italian mixed appetizer. And all year round. But we offer you an interesting variant: crostini with sausage and stracchino. After lightly grilling the bread, just fill it with stracchino and crumbled sausage and put it in the oven for a few minutes.
Cockles au gratin or… raw
An excellent appetizer for any dinner, the cockles from the Northern Adriatic can be a truly original idea: the shells must be filled with breadcrumbs, garlic, parsley, extra virgin olive oil, white wine, pepper and parsley. And then cooked in the oven. Or, for those who have a trusted fishmonger, shells and molluscs, all raw.
Savory yule log
The name recalls the famous French dessert, but obviously it is something completely different: take some slices of bread for sandwichessprinkle it with Capricciosa salad and mayonnaiseand then roll them up giving them the shape of a log. A quick and really clever appetizer! A bit like slices of sandwich in the shape of a Christmas tree…
Lasagna cupcakes
Put the Emilian lasagna in the appetizer? You can, by cutting the lasagna into squares and creating scenographic shapes baskets. And seasoning them with sauce tomato, bechamel and sausage.
Speck and cheese rolls
Slices of speckSouth Tyrol roll up and fill with a stick of Asiago and chives. Heat in the oven or on the griddle. Is there a simpler and, at the same time, appetizing appetizer?
Orange prawns
Refined and Mediterranean dish: it is necessary to cut thesliced orange, with all the peel, and cook it lightly in butter. Then, once the slices have been removed, i prawns shelled, they are cooked in a pan with Cointreau, chives, orange juice and salt. And then you arrange the prawns on the orange slices like a crouton. To try!
Gourmet panettone
The most classic of Milanese Christmas desserts also exists in savory version, all to be stuffed. There are ready-made ones: just cut it into a series of discs of dough about one centimeter high, divide them in two and then move on to the filling, adding the butter first. And here the imagination kicks in: salami fantasies, smoked salmon, shrimp with cocktail sauce, cheese layers with taleggio cream, gorgonzola and crescenza. And then again olive pâté, dried tomatoes, grilled vegetables, walnuts, Russian salad, pesto, béchamel sauce, pickles, pickles. A true “tower” of taste!
Radicchio boats
Treviso red radicchio or Belgian endive can be used for spectacular “boats”. The crew? Mozzarella, anchovies and rocket. And you can also use the hoax.
Parmesan Cheese Baskets
They always make an impact on the table. But what they contain should not be underestimated at all: don’t settle for the usual saladbut enrich them with slices of cured meats and cheeses, mushrooms and why not, also use someegg with Norcia black truffle!
