There was a time when the rich Brianza was anything but rich. A time when there were no small buildings dotting the hills, but courtyards and farmhouses up to the gates of Monza. A time when gardens and poultry were the food reserve for a large part of the population. It is in that era that the recipes of the Brianza Christmas tradition have their roots: recipes never elaborated, but enriched for the occasion to compose a menu that finds in the meat, a luxury, the protagonists. Even today in Monza and its surroundings those who follow local customs bring to the table, strictly for lunch on December 25th, dishes with a warm and genuine flavor: it starts with "Italian" appetizers, cold cuts accompanied by pickles or a salad Russian, including the typical one liver mortadella; and among the appetizers a place of honor goes to the nerves, the "gnervitt", which have nothing to do with the nerves, up to the gastronomic panettone. Continue with the ravioli, stuffed with meat, made with a much lighter pasta, poorer than the Emilian one, served with melted butter and parmesan or in capon broth: boiled (and not roasted) capon is the main dish, accompanied by a colorful mustard of Cremona. To close can not miss the panettone, served with a spoonful of fresh mascarpone.

The recipes for the Brianza Christmas menu

Nervets in salad

Ingrediants:
2 veal trotters
1 calf knee
1 stalk of celery
1 carrot
1 onion
vinegar, olive oil, salt, pepper

Method:
Bring plenty of salted water flavored with celery and carrot to a boil in a saucepan.
Dip the legs and knee in and let them cook for 2 and a half hours, or until tender.
Drain and let them cool, then remove the cartilaginous parts from the bones and cut them into strips: you will have obtained the nerves.
Collect them in a salad bowl, add the finely sliced ​​onion and season with oil, vinegar, salt and pepper, mix and serve.

Monza ravioli

Ingrediants:

For pasta
300 g of white flour
1 egg
salt

For the stuffing
300 g of pork loin
100 g of Bologna mortadella
100 g of luganega from Monza
100 g of grated parmesan
1 egg
nutmeg, butter, salt, pepper

To serve
100 g of butter
grated parmesan or capon broth

Method:
Prepare the filling: in a pan, roast the pork loin with a knob of butter and a pinch of salt.
Let it cook over low heat and covered pan for about an hour.
Remove from the heat and let the meat cool, then chop it together with the mortadella.
Collect the mince in a bowl together with the peeled and crumbled luganega, the parmesan and the egg.
Scented with a little nutmeg, season with salt and pepper and mix everything until you get a uniform mixture.

Prepare the pasta: work the flour for a long time with the egg and as much lightly salted lukewarm water as needed to obtain a firm and elastic dough (about half a glass).
Shape it into a ball, place it in a lightly floured bowl, cover it with a napkin and let it rest for at least an hour.

Roll out the dough into sheets that are not too thin; place a strip of dough on the ravioli machine and place a hazelnut of filling in each of the hollows.
Cover the filling with a second strip of dough and pass the rolling pin over the surface, pressing to cut out and seal the ravioli.
Bring plenty of salted water to a boil in a saucepan, add the ravioli and boil them al dente.
Drain the ravioli, transfer them to a bowl, toss with the melted butter and plenty of grated parmesan.
Alternatively, boil them and serve them directly in the capon broth.

Boiled capon

Ingrediants:
1 capon
1 stalk of celery
1 onion
1 carrot
coarse salt

Method:
In a large pot, bring abundant salted water to a boil flavored with celery, carrot and onion, peeled and cut into large pieces.
Immerse the capon in the water and cook it for about an hour and a half in a covered pot and over low heat.
Drain the capon and serve hot, accompanied by the mustard.