Tag: Holidays

The (auspicious) drinks of the holidays – Italian Cuisine

To face the end of year celebrations you need the right "spirit". Even when it comes to drinks. The perfect cocktails for an evening in front of the fireplace, for relaxation after a day on the snow or for greetings with friends are soft, creamy and warm, but also aromatic and alcoholic, such as the traditional Eggnog of the Anglo-Saxon world, typical of Christmas. as much as ginger cookies.
Having become true evergreens of Christmas banquets, these drinks with a soft and seductive texture, with a full and round flavor and a warming alcoholic touch, are associated with friendship, conviviality and good luck wishes, so much so that they are also often served at Christmas lunch and New Year's Eve dinner. So why not adopt this tradition to give a warm and benevolent touch to the many festive moments that accompany December? Here are 5 easy recipes to try at home.

American classic: Egg Nog
Doses for four people.
Whip four egg yolks with 70 g of sugar in a bowl until the mixture is very light and fluffy. Heat 500 ml of milk with 3 tablespoons of ground coffee. Strain and add slowly over the egg and sugar mixture, stirring with a whisk. Transfer the bowl to a pot with a little boiling water and cook the cream in a double boiler for about 10 minutes. Then let it cool and add a glass of dark rum. Beat four egg whites adding, little by little, 30 g of sugar and mix them gently with the cold cream. Pour into 4 glasses and complete with a pinch of grated nutmeg. And if you want an unusual meringue version click here.

French chic: Lait de poule
Doses for four people.
In a small saucepan, heat 80 cl of internal milk with 8 cinnamon sticks. In a bowl, mix eight egg yolks with 120 grams of brown sugar in crystals and 4 tablespoons of honey. After three minutes, add the hot milk and continue stirring for a few minutes. Pour the drink into large glasses and sprinkle with more cinnamon. Serve immediately, hot.

Soviet Frozen: White Russian
Doses for four people.
Put 12 ice cubes in a shaker and combine 1 part of Tia Maria, 1 part of vodka and 1 part of fresh milk. Shake well. Pour the cocktail into a tall narrow glass, straining it, along with 8 crushed ice cubes.

Oriental greedy: Chocki ladybird
Doses for one person.
Shake 4/10 of cocoa milk with half a tablespoon of cocoa and a few ice cubes. Prepare 4/10 of medium sweetened coffee. Put a teaspoon of brown sugar in the bottom of a glass and, with the help of a teaspoon, pour in the milk and cocoa. Then add the sweetened coffee and 2/10 of lightly whipped cream, making sure that the ingredients do not mix. Decorate with a few coffee beans.

Non-alcoholic Italian style: Coffee delight
Doses for one person.
Blend 2 parts milk, 3 crushed ice cubes, 1 1/2 parts ground coffee, 1/4 part pineapple juice and 1/4 part lemon juice. Blend at full speed for 30 seconds. Pour into a cocktail glass and decorate with chocolate chips.

Bon bon borrach:

Doses for 4 people

2 dl of strong coffee,
1.5 dl of dark rum,
140 g of sweetened condensed milk,
100 g of sponge cake,
cinnamon powder,
a few slices of mango,
mint.

Place a disc of sponge cake cut to size on the bottom of 4 small glasses. Pour over 1.5 dl of dark rum, let it soak the sponge cake well. Then, add 140g of condensed milk trying to make a very compact layer and finally sprinkle it with ground cinnamon.
Complete the preparation by pouring the hot coffee (about 2 dl) to be added into the glass very slowly so as not to mix it with the condensed milk and thus create three overlapping layers of different colors.
Decorate each glass with thin slices of mango and a few mint leaves and, then, serve immediately still warm (see photo on the cover).

Nougat from Abruzzo, sweets for the Christmas holidays – Italian Cuisine

Very few ingredients and a lot of care for a very simple sweet. These are nougats, they come directly from Abruzzo and are prepared for the Christmas holidays

You say nougats and images immediately difficult tempering of chocolate. Nothing more different: i nougat from Abruzzo (they also call them spumini) that they make during the holiday season are truly beginner-proof, quick to make, and gluten-free. In fact, the main ingredients are only 3: almonds, egg whites, sugar. And as in any recipe that includes very few ingredients, it is essential that they are of great quality.

The personal touch is given by the aromas that you decide to add to the dough. The lemon zest and cinnamon, as we propose in this recipe, for example. But also other spices, such as vanilla and cocoa, or you can enrich the covering meringue with almond flakes. Ideal to be served at the end of a meal with coffee or with a sweet wine, nougats from Abruzzo can also be eaten alone as a snack or as a snack.

Ingredients for 12 nougats

300 g of almonds with the skin
2 egg whites
250 g sugar
Grated rind of 1 lemon
1 teaspoon of cinnamon

Method

To prepare the nougat we start with almonds. Toast them lightly in a pan (without salt or sugar). Once browned, let them cool, put them in a mixer and blend them until you get a coarse flour. It doesn't have to be too fine. In a bowl, add 1 teaspoon of cinnamon and the grated zest of one lemon to the almonds. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 90 ° in fan mode.
Separately, whisk the egg whites in a bowl with an electric mixer, adding the sugar a little at a time. When they are well whipped, add about 2/3 of the egg whites with the sugar to the almond mixture. Mix everything together evenly until the mixture is compact.
Now you have to compose the nougats. Insert the mixture into two sheets of baking paper and help yourself with a rolling pin to roll it out until you get a thickness of about 1.5 centimeters in height. Use a large knife to file the edges. Once you have obtained a rather precise rectangle, cut the tile with the knife to obtain the individual nougats. The size, as long as it is long and narrow, is to your liking. Separate the rectangles and pour the remaining third of meringue over each nougat with a teaspoon.
Once the coverage is complete, the nougats always go in the oven at 90 ° for about an hour. This is not a real cooking, the nougats will simply have to dry. If you see them darken, pay attention to the oven temperature, it is certainly too high. After an hour, let it cool and then serve. Torroncini can be eaten even after days.

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Christmas market in Aosta: a train trip for the holidays – Italian Cuisine

Christmas markets, Marché de Noël, Christkindlmarkt: call them what you want, the fact remains that they return, December after December, stainless and evergreen, ready to animate the squares of the most evocative places in our country with their stalls full of merchandise. Reaching them comfortably, without traffic stress and without problems of sudden snowfalls or frosts is not impossible: to start their Christmas shopping no problem, incredulous and skeptical, they just have to get on one of the Trenitalia regional trains that arrive in the most evocative and glamorous locations of the Beautiful country.

Aosta, Roman city
Like Aosta, for example. In the past his name was Augusta Praetoria, a small Rome of the Alps, scattered with majestic buildings wanted by senators, matrons and emperors. Even today, among the streets of the center (a kind of grid typical of the ancient Roman colonies) you come across a Arch of Triumph, dedicated to Augustus and built to celebrate the victory of the legions of Rome over the indigenous population of the Salassi. The ancient decumanus, the main road of ancient Augusta passed right under the Arch and continued until it passed Porta Praetoria, from where the gigantic city walls started, scattered with watchtowers so mighty that they became, in the Middle Ages, the homes of local lords. Another dive into the distant past of the city takes place in front of the Roman theatre, which at the time of Augustus was destined to host shows and performances: one of the surviving facades, embroidered with arches, windows and columns, is still imposing today, as imposing and well preserved is the staircase where the spectators applauded the plays of Plautus or the tragedies of Seneca. It is in the shadow of these two testimonials of Roman Aosta that one of the most popular Christmas markets in the Alps is held.

Stalls of rustic goodness
Here is, for all, the Marché Vert Nöel, open until January 6, 2022: its historical site winds through the arches, the steps and the stage walls of the Roman Theater with about thirty chalets which, ideally, reconstruct an alpine village among firs and pines. Decorated with garlands and lights, they sell wooden objects (the famous grolla and sabot, the traditional clogs) or ceramic, hemp, wool or felt fabrics (such as draps della Valgrisanche), soaps and scented candles. However, craftsmanship and more. Here, in fact, the greedy traveler also finds excellent products to taste and buy: the Bleu d’Aoste (one of the most popular blue cheeses in the valley), the Jambon de Bosses (mountain and Guinness cured ham since it is the highest in Europe), the Lard from Arnad, i wines of the Route des Vins (Gamay and Donnas, Torrette and Blanc de Morgex et de La Salle), jams and honeys, spirits (including Genepy) and beers from local micro breweries.

The arch and the Fontina
For the 2021 edition, the Marché does it in two because even the pedestrian area of theArch of Augustus becomes a location for stands and chalets: here, next to the workstations of local artisans, is the Fontina Chalet, the famous and celebrated DOP cheese produced exclusively in the Aosta Valley and aged in charming aging cellars. The Arco d'Augusto is also the location of the evocative previews of the Sant'Orso Fair (held every year on 30 and 31 January): every weekend the artisans of the Valley show how they create their wonders and dedicate time and space also for visitors under 12 to whom tailor-made workshops and ateliers are reserved.

How to get
Direct connections between the Turin railway station and Aosta are daily thanks to Trenitalia's Regionali Veloci carried out with the new bimodal convoys, which depart practically every hour from the city of La Mole and arrive at their destination in less than two hours. The trains stop in Chivasso, Ivrea, Pont Saint Martin, Hone-Bard (Sundays and holidays), Verres, Chatillon-Saint Vincent, Nus and end the journey in Aosta.

December 2021
Enrico Saravalle