Christmas lunch, a real ritual that Italians do not give up.Also for this end of the year 2022, tradition characterizes the festive table, enhancing the specialties and the ancient culinary art of the various territories. A cuisine of memories as well as tradition, a comfort food to be savored with gusto, dedicating the necessary time to the preparation of the dishes: time which is itself a gift and love.
The party table
Each region has its typical dishes and each family its own but there is no arguing about the main courses! Even if the diffusion of vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free and similar diets has further enriched the menus. First courses and desserts can be considered the fundamentals, a little more freedom is allowed on hors d'oeuvres, as well as on second courses. Succulent dishes which, traditionally, on Christmas day are based on beef, veal, pork, chicken and more. Rich and substantial meat-based dishes to compensate for the lean menu on Christmas Eve, where you eat exclusively fish.
For lunch on December 25th, there is broth almost everywhere. In Genoa the natali which resemble ziti, 20 cm long and with a slightly oval shape. They are cooked in capon broth in which chunks of sausage are placed, considered auspicious because they symbolize coins. Alternatively there are pansoti, ravioli stuffed with wild herbs, with the walnut sauce and for the second course cappon magro with salsify and green sauce.
In Bologna they are cooked in capon broth on Christmas day cappelletti; followed by the big boiled meat (beef, veal, chicken, zampone or cotechino) in green sauce e Friggione, the typical side dish of onions macerated in sugar and then stewed in tomato. In Turin, the capon is stuffed and in addition to the cappelletti in broth, agnolotti stuffed with meat are used. Tradition has it that they are served with roast gravy, sage butter and Parmesan.
The capon is also the master in the Milanese Christmas menu with rred meat avioli in broth and for second roast with stuffed with chestnuts or truffle flakes. All accompanied by mustard, better if pears and pumpkin. In Venice we start with the sandwich panettone (a tasty specialty now in fashion throughout Italy). Then continue withbigoli (spaghettoni) with duck ragout or Treviso risotto.
A Trieste gnocchi with Montasio triumph on the table, typical cheese of Friuli. Even in Florence there is no shortage tortellini in broth accompanied by chicken in jelly, a rather elaborate recipe preceded by liver croutons for appetizer. Chicken livers on croutons also in Perugia where the first course is dry with agnolotti with tomato sauce or pappardelle with wild boar or spaghetti alla nursina with oil, anchovies, parsley and truffle flakes.
From North to South, tradition is a must
In Naples, the maximum tradition of the Christmas lunch is la Maritata soup, where maritata indicates a variety of elements with seasonal vegetables including cabbage, escarole and borage, boiled and then transferred to meat broth. Then there are also those who add a few pieces of chicken meat and sausage, but there is also the second first course, i.e. baked pasta stuffed with mozzarella, meat sauce, peas, eggs and tomato sauce.
In Molise, maccheroni with cauliflower are the most popular, but also polenta with tripe and offal. Strascinati al ragù are the main dish in Basilicata, while the variant with turnip tops is a classic of the Apulian table. In Bari at Christmas people eat broth made with white meat, chicken or turkey.
In Sardinia the ricotta ravioli or goat cheese and piglet. While in Palermo it cannot be missing at the table the pasta 'ncasciata, a baked pasta made with meat sauce, eggs, aubergines and lots of cheese. And what do you eat at Christmas in Rome? Among the many specialties there is the stracciatella which has always been given an auspicious meaning.
Among various side dishes and mixed fried foods, stracciatella, cappelletti in broth and boiled capon are also a must on the Capitoline table. The dinner on Christmas Eve, of course, is based on fish and vegetables all over the Belpaese. Lean menu from the Alps to the islands as a prelude to the lavish lunch of the real feast: the blaze of tricolor gastronomic excellence that truly has no equal.
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