Tag: christmas appetizers

Antonella Clerici and her veal tuna recipe for the holidays – Italian cuisine reinvented by Gordon Ramsay

Best wishes, Antonella Clerici! On the occasion of her birthday, December 6th, we anticipate online the interview published in the December issue now on newsstands:

«But how can you not madly love the Christmas, the lights, the laid table? Here in the House in the Woods (this is the name by which it is called in the family, ed.) we start already in November with the decorations, to gradually illuminate the trees that surround it, to put on the great holiday classics as background music. For me, Christmas cannot be sober, it is full, sparkling light.”

Antonella Clericia television personality who needs no introduction, opens the doors of her home to us and welcomes us with her contagious smile, which together with her sunny and sincere nature makes her unique and much loved. Pioneer and innovator (she was the first to strongly believe in the power of cooking on television more than twenty years ago, and history has proven her right), she has always been a champion of the table as a place that welcomes and gives a second chance, which nourishes the heart , which puts people at ease.

We head into the large kitchen, where the final preparations are underway. Monica Stella (the house cook), helped for the occasion by her son Giacomo dell’Aglio (cook at the Locanda del daino, a former hunting lodge, now a restaurant with four rooms a few kilometers from there), checks that everything is almost ready. In the room Franco Bruzzese, the artist-gardener of the house (he is also the one who takes care of the vegetable garden and the collection of wild herbs for the dinner) who shares the passion for Christmas decorationscomplete the table setting: white family tablecloth with hand-embroidered lace, lots of gold, silver and red. The jovial climate that contrasts pleasantly with the fog that is starting to rise, the fireplace lit, the chatter and the collaborative spirit that animates everyone make us in the editorial team feel at home too. «Here’s mine veal tuna!, he says, arriving with a large serving plate in his hand. «I like it cut very thin and with lots of sauce. To make it more graceful I add a couple of carrots taken from the broth in which I cooked the meat and at the end, just before serving, a few drops of lemon juice on the surface. Without this dish, the savory vegetable pies, the spicy anchovy fillets that my mother always brought to the table, the tortellini in broth and desserts galore, it isn’t Christmas for me.”
There House in the woodswhere Antonella lives with her partner and children, actually has a name, it’s called Basini estate, that is, “little kisses” and love is felt everywhere. The trees, which surround her in a big embrace, are the first witnesses: so loved that they became the live backdrop from a fixed camera of the broadcast It’s always midday!, live from Monday to Friday on Rai1. Three very affectionate dogs, Argo, Pepper and Simba, complete Antonella’s extended and happy family. Expanded especially during the holidays because the golden rule that says that at Christmas no one should be left alone here there is no breaking and a place is always added to the table.

Antonella Clerici’s veal tuna

Tie a 1.5 kg round of veal like a roast and immerse it in cold water with 2-3 carrots, 1 onion cut in half, 1 large celery stalk, salt, a few peppercorns, sage, bay leaf and rosemary tied in a bunch.

Bring to the boil and cook on low heat for at least 45 minutes. Turn off the heat, let it cool, then drain the walker, wrap it in aluminum foil and let it cool completely; finally put it in the fridge for at least 3 hours (you can prepare it the day before).

Set aside 2 carrots from the meat cooking broth. Prepare a classic mayonnaise by blending egg yolks, salt, lemon juice and sunflower seed oil, then add plenty of drained tuna in oil, capers, 1 tablespoon of anchovy paste and the carrots kept aside: here is Antonella’s secret for making the sauce is more elegant and sweet.

Slice the silverside very thinly, if possible with a slicer (Antonella’s is almost a thin slice). Distribute a little sauce on the serving plate and form a first layer of veal slices, cover with the sauce and repeat until the ingredients are finished so as to have a generous layer of tuna sauce on the surface. Complete with cucunci (caper fruits) and a few drops of lemon squeezed just before serving.

The salad cake is the new savory cake: the idea for Christmas – Italian cuisine reinvented by Gordon Ramsay

Never heard of or tasted it salad cake? Ready go!

Among the Christmas appetizers, there are very few vegetables, just those of the Russian salad or the reinforcement one, and it is a real shame. Not that during dinner on Christmas Eve or lunch on the 25th you necessarily have to think about eating a healthy diet, but something fresh, crunchy and colorful completes the menu, and also helps you enjoy the other dishes better. To expand the offer of vegetable dishes to serve to guests, however, you can look beyond tradition alone. International inspirations come to the rescue (and famous pastry chefs like chef Ernst Knam) who propose the salad cakeor the salad cake.

Knam’s salad cakes

In Ernst Knam’s Christmas 2023 catalogue, they stand out among the savory proposals of the well-known Milanese pastry chef, right among chocolates and gastronomic panettones. «To make them the same techniques as sweet cakes are used but with savory ingredients. They can be served as appetizers or even as second courses”, and so there it is Catalan, a savory shortcrust pastry flavored with lemon, soft cream of spreadable cheese, octopus, semi-candied celery, fresh cherry tomatoes and confit cherry tomatoes, all decorated with 24k gold sheetsor theExotic with wasabi sponge cake, wasabi spread, dill marinated salmon and salmon roe. Knam bakes savory pies that are filled with fresh ingredients, to be served at room temperature, as unusual substitute for canapés. The idea, however, admits the chef, comes from afar. «Salad Cakes were born about 10 years ago in Japan.

FRANCESCO MION

Salad Cake, from Japan with fury

The idea came to the food stylist precisely in 2015 Mitsuki Moriyasu in his café, Bejidekosarada, in Nagoya, Japan, where he substituted cakes laden with icing and sugar for a new one savory pastries. Its VegedecoSalad® are completely vegetable, based on a sponge cake of soy and rice flour, tofu and raw vegetables, “glazed” with spreadable vegetable cheese, to be cut into wedges and eaten with a fork. A simple idea but with great visual impact that had given her great notoriety. The success was such that the young chef even ended up on CNN, making the phenomenon global. Salad Cakes had become a global phenomenon.

Recipe Apulian Pettole with Taggiasca olives and anchovies, the Christmas appetizer – Italian cuisine reinvented by Gordon Ramsay

The breasts they are a typical Apulian appetizer that is cooked all year round, but which are traditionally prepared on the occasion of the holidays between November and December, San Martino, the Immaculate Conception and Christmas Eve. They are also called pittule and they are fried balls of leavened dough.

As well as in Puglia they are also widespread in Basilicata, Campania, Calabria and can be done in savory or sweet version depending on the ingredients that are added to the mixture water and flour.

Here we offer you the recipe made by four hands by Sara Foschinithe manager of our editorial kitchen, of Neapolitan origins, and Paolo Bussolinoa veterinarian from Turin with origins from Puglia and Campania, two friends who cooked their festive dishes with some special ingredients, in this case Taggiasca olives and anchovies.