Tag: cuisine

All the scents of Christmas (to create the right atmosphere) – Italian Cuisine

Cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, orange: use them during the holidays to perfume your home. Here's how to do it

The Christmas it's not just gifts or decorating the tree, Christmas is also a perfume: that of a spicy tea, that of gingerbread cookies in the oven, but also that sweet and enveloping one scented candle a cinnamon or al cardamom, which spreads around the house. If you also want to recreate that warm and cozy atmosphere, typical of Christmas, in your home, here are some idea on how to use i scents typical of this party: thanks to the pot-pourri or a few drops of essential oil, even in your home you will breathe deeply the arrival of Christmas, making the wait sweeter and even more heartfelt.

Essential oils

The essential oils of cinnamon and cloves can be purchased in any herbal medicine. Just spread them around the house with the help of a nebulizer or put a few drops in the radiator humidifiers to perfume the house with memories of childhood and affection.

Infusions

Put a cinnamon stick, one of vanilla, then some slices of apple and orange, with the juice of half a lemon. Boil and then filter: the water obtained can be poured into a nebulizer, to perfume the house from time to time, or in the humidifiers of radiators, which with heat help to spread the scent constantly.

Candles

The scented candles with cinnamon, vanilla, orange or the fragrance that most seems Christmas are perfect not only to deodorize the house, but also to create the soft atmosphere typical of winter. Put one in every room and take care to turn them on only when there is someone in the house, to avoid any danger.

Dried fruit

An ancient idea, down used by our grandmothers, but always current and very Christmas: take a citrus of your choice – orange, mandarin or lemon – and cut into slices, then let it dry on the heated heater. Once dried, tied to the slices also the sprigs of aromatic herbs – lavender, rosemary or sage – and place the bunches scattered around the house: in addition to decorating, will also spread a good Christmas scent.

Potpourri

The Christmas potpourri is an easy idea to perfume the rooms and to make at home: in a transparent bowl put cinnamon sticks, vanilla sticks, dried fruit, rosemary and bay leaves, a few slices of dried orange and cloves. If you want, place in the center of the oranges shingled with cloves. Not only that, this composition will give off a sweet scent of Christmas, but it will also decorate your kitchen or your living room as a centerpiece.

Editorial: first of all friendship – Italian Cuisine

The December issue is on sale! The Christmas number is on sale! Roasts and broths and many many recipes as always. To be at the table with the family, but also with friends, the more they are the better! And then a vast selection of desserts and a special cake "for experts", but also in an easy version. Go and find out what it is and amaze your guests!

I always thought that the family it was above all a group of people who love each other and who a Christmas they gather.

We once ate lunch with our aunts, today we are at my house and over the years the guests have changed. First there was my grandfather Giovanni, a big man who fell asleep immediately after the big meal on the sofa while we played broom or bingo. Then Leonardo and other little cousins arrived.
At our table, however, there have always been friends of passage because that day they were alone and at Christmas nobody must remain alone.
It would also apply to the rest of the year, but in the meantime we start from here, from the day of the feast, that of gifts and great binges that are always the same and always different that mark the rhythm of existence. Sharing, generosity, friendship… we do as we used once in the country when we kept an extra table, ready to use.

Maddalena Fossati Dondero with her son Leonardo.

It matters little if the arrival of a new guest will force us to further tighten the elbows. It matters little if there will be less panettone or struffoli or mostaccioli (we have a service on all the desserts of Italy), what matters is to be together. This is the spirit of our dear Italy forever, this is the spirit of today's Italian cuisine.

P.S. As Johnny Dorelli said in the song Add a seat at the table 1974: "Divide the company, double the joy!".

Recipe Apple and cod fritters on a salad of chanterelles and porcini mushrooms – Italian Cuisine

Ingredients

200 g Desalted cod
200 g Flour
120 g Clean chanterelles
120 g Clean porcini
10 g Brewer's yeast
1 pc Apple Braeburn
1 pcs Egg
Lemon
thyme
Peanut oil
sugar
Extra virgin olive oil
salt

Duration: 45 min

Level: Easy

Dose: 4 people

Stem the yeast in 80 g of lukewarm water, add the flour, a pinch of salt, one of sugar and the egg and mix well. Let the batter rest for 15-20 'above or near a heater.

If the batter is too thick, you can stretch it adding another 10-15 g of water. Slice porcini mushrooms and chanterelles very finely, pick them up in a bowl and toss them with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, a few drops of lemon juice and a tuft of thyme leaves. Divide the cod into pieces of about 15 g each.

Cut the apple into chunks of 15-20 g. Combine the chunks of apple and cod, place them on the prongs of the fork, dip them in the batter and let them drip a little to remove the excess batter.

Fry the pairs of pieces of apple and cod in plenty of hot peanut oil until completely browned. Drain on kitchen paper and sprinkle with salt. Distribute the mushrooms into slices, complete with the pancakes, decorated to taste and serve immediately.