Tag: emilia romagna

Christmas appetizers: 10 ideas to try at least once – Italian cuisine reinvented by Gordon Ramsay

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!

What wine to use for mulled wine? Our “warm” advice – Italian cuisine reinvented by Gordon Ramsay

The cold is getting more bitter, it’s time to warm up with something warm, like mulled wine. Preparing it is simple, but what wine to use for mulled wine? A widespread custom throughout continental Europe, it is prepared with wine, spices and aromatic herbs that mainly follow the traditional recipes of the place where you find yourself tasting it. However, if someone wanted to prepare it independently, what requirements should they follow for selecting the most important ingredient? In short, which wine is most suitable?

What wine to use for mulled wine? There is only one rule

The final result, as regards the overall quality of the product, necessarily depends on the wine you choose. So what is the best wine for mulled wine? Leave the cheaper offers on the shelf brick table wines, instead opt for labels from your territory of origin or typical of the place you are in at the moment. Keep in mind that mulled wine must smell, seduce those who taste and invite you to sip with its steam: favor soft wines, rich in aromas and structure, possibly with a good residual sugar if you prefer a sweeter taste. The rule, perhaps you have already understood, is very simple: to have a good result, you must start from a good raw material! So, don’t save on the product that will prove decisive in your mulled wine.

Recommended wines

If you are in central Italy, or in Romagna, the best wine for mulled wine is Sangiovese, to be preferred for its strong character, while Emilia, land of Lambrusco, will be able to give you very persuasive aromas: the Grasparossa, Salamino varieties are preferable and Masters for their color charge. In Veneto, however, the color changes and tradition sees the prevalent use of white wines such as international ones Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay (on the red front, if desired, you can also use Cabernet Sauvignon). These varieties are not lacking in South Tyrol, but the local populations appreciate Pinot Noir and Schiava more which, among those who speak the German language, is known by the name of Vernatsch. In Langhethose who are particularly demanding do not hesitate to use Barolo as a base for their mulled wine: if you have another budget available, you can always rely on an excellent Nebbiolo or a rubescent Barbera.

Calzagatti, the Modena snack that “chases cats away” – Italian cuisine reinvented by Gordon Ramsay

The history of cat socks begins with the classic once upon a time… a “rezdora” from Modena who, in the context of a vernacular legend, was preparing polenta in a cauldron. In another pot, our rezdora (this is what Modena calls the person who holds ancient knowledge that he transmits through culture and the art of cooking) was also cooking beans on a wood stove. When it was time to bring the legumes to the table, she would stumble upon her cat crouching on the floor. In this way, the beans would have ended up in the polenta pot: the rezdora, in order not to make her family skip dinner, would have thus invented the cat socks. The cat, in fact, terrified by this tumult, would have run away and hence the name of the new recipe, which chases cats away.

Calzagatti, the poor cuisine of Modena

It may be because of this bizarre name, or because in times of almost austerity we are moving closer to simple, nutritious and economical recipes, but stockings seem to enjoy more attention lately. They bring together the two emblematic ingredients of poor cuisine: beans and polenta, which together enrich each other. The optional final frying transforms the dish into a truly delicious snack.

From a symbolic dish of the gastronomy of Modena and Reggio in the process of becoming extinct, this recipe – especially in the snack version, to meet today’s lifestyles – is returning to occupy the menus of village festivals, restaurants, blogs and mentions in television programs . Most of the stockings that you will find around involve the use of bacon or lard in the sautéed beans and lard as fat for frying, but the homemade ones can be equally delicious even in a vegan version, without meat and fried in the vegetable oil.

The dish is called in different ways, depending on the areas of the Modena province: damnbut also daddy, ciribusla or bagia. It also comes in different variations, like any traditional dish. There are those who add a little cream and parmesan to the polenta or those who, instead of corn flour, use chestnut flour.

They are consumed without cutlery, as an aperitif, paired with a good ketchup sauce and a glass of Lambrusco di Sorbara. Or served on a plate, in the company of a soft cheese, as at Luca Marchini’s Trattoria Pomposa, in Modena, where the calzagatti are placed on quenelles of ricotta.

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