Italian Christmas Foods
Italian Christmas foods vary slightly from region to region in Italy. For example, Dalmatia begins with cabbage soup and the main course is turkey that is stuffed with cabbage leaves, which is in remembrance of the soldiers that fought the Turks. While in Tuscany cold cuts are served and followed by cappelletti and a variety of roasted meats. However, even with these slight variations, there are some standard Italian Christmas foods that are a holiday tradition. Does this Spark an idea?
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Antipasto-The Feast Of Seven Fishes
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White fish The Feast of Seven Fishes is a Sicilian and Italian tradition of incorporating seven types of fish into the Christmas meals. The theory behind the meaning of the seven fishes varies, such as the seven fishes represents the seven days of the week to eating no meat on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Antipasto is one way to incorporate the seven fishes into the meal. Antipasto is an appetizer that includes mozzarella and provolone cheese, roasted and hot peppers, olives, artichoke hearts and Italian bread, along with different meats. However, instead of meat fish is used, such as baccala, calamari, shrimp, crab, clams, oysters or mussels and white fish. The fishes are fried, marinated, steamed and baked.
Tortellini In Brodo
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Tortellini In Brodo is a pasta with chicken in a clear broth. The pasta can be hand made or pre-made and stuffed pasta can be used as well. The dough should be kneaded for at least 10 to 15 minutes to make sure that it is smooth and there are no lumps as this will make flattening and cutting the dough much easier. The chicken is turned into a paste and spooned, about a teaspoon of chicken, into the pasta to be cooked in the broth stock. This dish can be served with grated black truffle or grated parmesan on top.
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Mostaccioli
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Mostaccioli is a cake-like spice chocolate cookie with white sprinkles on top. The dough is usually prepared into 1 inch balls on a cookie sheet and placed 2 inches apart. The dough is sticky, wet and can be hard to work with, but keeping the work surface and your hands lightly floured will help. The chocolate glaze is a simple mixture of 1 cup confectioner's sugar, 1/4 teaspoon of almond extract and 1 to 2 teaspoons of water to thin the mixture. It can be drizzled or brushed over the top of the cookies along with a topping of white sprinkles.
Salumi Calabresi
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The Salumi Calabresi is a cold cut tray which is comprised of a large variety of sweet and spicy meats and cheeses. Such items include, sweet and rosy culatello made from the best parts of a ham, Sardinian dry sausage made with pecorino cheese and olives that have been marinated in olive oil, garlic, vinegar and parsley or mocetta with honey and toasted bread. To add spice to the tray Calabria cold cuts can be added, as well as hot soppressata or capocollo calabrese.
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- Photo Credit various christmas decorations on the christmas tre image by Elnur from Fotolia.com series object on white - food - fried fish image by Aleksandr Ugorenkov from Fotolia.com
