Tag: Eve

Pumpkin tortelli, the Lombard recipe for Christmas Eve – Italian Cuisine

Pumpkin tortelli, the Lombard recipe for Christmas Eve


On 24 December, while waiting for the big party, traditionally we eat lean, we prepare pumpkin ravioli, the ancient recipe of Lombard peasant cuisine for Christmas Eve dinner

  • 1 Kg pumpkin
  • 400 g flour
  • 200 g mustard
  • 160 g Grana Padano Dop
  • 80 g dried macaroons
  • 6 pcs yolks
  • 2 pcs eggs
  • extra virgin olive oil
  • butter
  • sage
  • salt
  • pepper

For the pumpkin tortelli recipe, cut the pumpkin into slices, remove the seeds and arrange them well spread out in two baking trays. Season them with salt and a drizzle of oil, then bake them at 180 ° C for about 30 minutes. Take them out of the oven, let them cool, then cut out the pulp and mash it with a fork; salt, if needed, and pepper. Finely chop the mustard and add it to the pumpkin, together with the crumbled amaretti and grated parmesan. Evaluate the humidity of the dough: if it is too wet, add a few tablespoons of breadcrumbs or, better still, other crumbled amaretti. Let the mixture rest for 2 hours.
FOR THE PASTA: Mix the flour with the eggs, egg yolks and a pinch of salt. Knead the dough until it is homogeneous and smooth. Let it rest wrapped in plastic wrap for 2 hours. Roll it out into thin sheets, arrange over the filling in piles equally spaced as large as walnuts, then fold the sheet and close the ravioli, then cut them with a notched wheel, obtaining about 60 ravioli of 4 × 4 cm. Boil them in salted boiling water and drain them gently. Season with plenty of melted butter with a sprig of sage leaves and grated parmesan.

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Pizza di Scarola: a delicious appetizer, a Campanian specialty on Christmas Eve – Italian Cuisine

Pizza di Scarola: a delicious appetizer, a Campanian specialty on Christmas Eve


Solidly anchored to tradition and reassuring in its annual repetition that does not tire, but rather is expected, the escarole pizza is one of the essential specialties of Christmas' Eve, in Naples as in all of Campania. A plate of lean, as is customary, to be enjoyed as a treat while waiting for the dinner that starts late, as an appetizer the same evening or for lunch the next day and so on for all holidays, until New Year's Eve.

In the family they prepared at least two, always available on the sideboard, because the escarole pizza it is also good cold.

A bit of history

The first written documentation of this traditional preparation dates back to the nineteenth century, when it was published in the practical theoretical cooking manual by Ippolito Cavalcanti, Duke of Buonvicino. The literary aristocrat and gastronome told in Neapolitan dialect the courses of the sumptuous Christmas Eve menu "that if only we use our de 'Napule". A "vruoccoli", vermicelli and fried eels followed the "cod mpasticcio", a sort of shortcrust pastry filled with escarole flavored with garlic, black olives and capers, alternating with layers of fried fish with anchovies and finally baked in the oven in the tiesto (the terracotta casserole also used for meat sauce). Over time, the use of cod has been lost and shortcrust pastry has given way to leavened dough, the same that forms the basis of common round-shaped pizzas. This version (proposed on the following page) is described by Jeanne Carola Francesconi in La cucina napoletana (1965), considered the bible of authentic Neapolitan cuisine after Cavalcanti's recipe book.

The predilection for escarole

It has remained essential and faithful to the original recipe escarole, a winter vegetable with a use so rooted in Campania cuisine (as well as in all southern cuisine) that it gives rise to colorful expressions commonly used in the dialect. Escarole are curly-haired girls, with reference to the curly variety, while "dicere escarole" means talking nonsense, perhaps due to the amount of water they release in cooking. Not surprisingly, the Neapolitans until the eighteenth century, or before the invention of the die and the massive appearance of pasta on their tables, were known as "leaf eaters", due to the prevalence of vegetables in their diet. In confirmation of this predilection, in the seventeenth century the Neapolitan dialectal poet Giulio Cesare Cortese wrote: "My Napoleon, tell whoever wants / don't Napoleon cchiù, yes not aie leaf" Naples, if you have no leaf). Three centuries later, we find the curly endive in broth among Eduardo De Filippo's favorite dishes in the collection of recipes Si cucine cumme vogli'i ', told by his wife by the Neapolitan master. The predilection for escarole The endive, a winter vegetable with a use so deeply rooted in Campania cuisine (as well as in all southern cuisine) has remained essential and faithful to the original recipe as to give rise to colorful expressions commonly used in the dialect. Escarole are curly-haired girls, with reference to the curly variety, while "dicere escarole" means talking nonsense, perhaps due to the amount of water they release in cooking. Not surprisingly, the Neapolitans until the eighteenth century, or before the invention of the die and the massive appearance of pasta on their tables, were known as "leaf eaters", due to the prevalence of vegetables in their diet. In confirmation of this predilection, in the seventeenth century the Neapolitan dialectal poet Giulio Cesare Cortese wrote: "My Napoleon, tell whoever wants / don't Napoleon cchiù, yes not aie leaf" Naples, if you have no leaf). Three centuries later, we find the curly endive in broth among Eduardo De Filippo's favorite dishes in the collection of recipes Si cucine cumme vogli'i '…, told by his wife by the Neapolitan master.

First New Year's Eve to cook in advance – Italian Cuisine

First New Year's Eve to cook in advance


The crepes in each version, the rice sartù, but also the lasagna, the stuffed conchiglioni or the cannelloni are all excellent recipes to cook to go ahead with the dinner menu: discover all our ideas, including the light one

How nice it is to spend the new Year's Eve dinner in the warmth of its own home, surrounded by many friends and eating delicacies of all kinds. To bring a Luculianus menu however, it takes a fair amount of time, which certainly isn't on the afternoon of the 31st before the guests arrive. The solution? of early New Years to prepare in advance, so you can enjoy friends, toast and carefree dinner.

Crepes for all tastes

He closed folding them in four, cannelloni or bundle crepes they are a rich and versatile first course, the only limit for the filling is fantasy. This is the classic dish to prepare in advance in large quantities and keep both cooked (only to be heated at the right time) and raw, ready to bake. Crepes with turnip greens, radicchio and casera bring all the flavors of winter to the table and are also perfect for vegetarian guests, while crepe pie is a decidedly rich first course and great occasion. If, on the other hand, you cannot give up salmon during the holidays, try the crepes au gratin with robiola and salmon, they will not disappoint you.

Early New Year's Eve to be prepared in advance directly from Naples

The Sartù Rice it is not among the dishes of the Campania cuisine best known outside the borders. Too bad, because it conquers at the first taste. It is one rice pudding topped with meatballs, peas, cheese and every good thing. Preparation takes time, but being able to cook it in advance you can organize yourself and make a great impression, leaving guests speechless.

All crazy about baked pasta

Finding some early New Year's Eve to prepare in advance isn't actually difficult, just look at the tradition. There lasagna it is a great classic that, in fact, the next day is even better. If you are looking for a variant compared to the usual ragù, try it with sautéed artichokes, scamorza, bechamel and sausage (crumbled and sautéed in a pan).
Elegant to serve also in single portion cocottes are, instead, i conchiglioni Fillings. You will have to arm yourself with a little more patience than the lasagna to fill them one by one, but it will be worth it. The conchiglioni stuffed with broccoli, scampi and ricotta could be a suitable first course, and different from the usual, for a fish dinner.
Speaking of baked pasta, there is also the cannelloni. Why not try them in a vegetarian version, stuffing them with stir-fried radicchio with pine nuts and raisins and then au gratin with bechamel and cheese?

The light recipe

If, on the other hand, you are looking for recipes for New Year to prepare in advance that do not make your guests too heavy, do not disdain the velvety: they can be prepared in advance and then heated, assembled and completed with a last-minute gourmet touch. There cream of pumpkinfor example, it looks great on gods shrimp wrapped in a slice of bacon and cooked briefly in the oven or in a pan, while the Mushrooms Pureed Soup can be completed with gods porcini. A velvety lobster or one velvety with scallops and turmeric instead, they are already quite tasty in themselves.

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