Italy on a Plate - The Week in Italian Food: 12-26-2010

 

Merry Christmas weekend to everyone!  I hope you all had a delicious Christmas holiday.  This week's Italy on a Plate is very much about the holiday.  Top 10 Recipes include many seafood recipes, a few more Christmas cookie recipes.  There are also a couple hearty winter dishes, since the past week also brought on the winter season.  Instead of the Eating Italy section, this week only, I'm sharing many posts I saw over the web covering Christmas Around Italy.  Enjoy and Buon Appetito! 

 

My Choice for This Week's Top 10 Italian Recipes from Around the Web:

Shrimp Marinated in Fennel - The Panini Girl's contribution to Christmas Eve's Feast of the Seven Fishes

Gocce d'Oro (Golden Tears) - Aurelio, the Tuscan Cook, shares his favorite Christmas pasta and his granmother's recipe - Aurelio Barattini

Domenica shares her family's Christmas Eve Calamari on Leite's Culinaria

Cozze Gratinate and a Story of Seven Fishes in Bari - Elizabeth Minchilli in Rome

Tiella Barese - Baked Mussels with rice and potatoes from Bari - Cook Italy

Osso Buco - La Tavola Marche

Canederli - Dumplings from the Alto Adige in Italy with an Austrian influence - Memorie di Angelina

Cucidati - Sicilian fig-filled Christmas Cookies - Proud Italian Cook

Castagnelle - A video recipe for making these country Christmas cookies from Puglia - Cime di Rapa

Couscous Dolce Siciliano al Pistacchio (Sweet Sicilian Pistachio Couscous - A sweet recipe to emulate the secret and revered one of the nuns of the Santo Spirito Monastery in Agrigento, Sicily - Volevo Fare Lo Chef (In Italian, but translate into English)

 

 
 

 

Christmas Around Italy:

Christmas Walkabout in Napoli - Napoli Unplugged

Christmas Lights and Music in Amalfi 2010 - Ciao Amalfi

Christmas in Tuscany - The Best Photos - Around Tuscany

Genoa's Christmas Market - Beautiful Liguria

Christmas Traditions in Ravello - Ciao Laura

Presepe Vivente - A Live Christmas Tradition - Italy Magazine

Christmas Traditions in Italy - Includes descriptions and significance of all the important dates throughout the Christmas holidays in Italy - Charming Italy

 

 

 

 

Upcoming Food and Wine Festivals in Italy:

Cioccolart - December 18 to January 8, 2011 - Taormina, Sicily - In Piazza del Carmine, chocolate, art and culture come together

Sagra della Sfincia - January 6, 2011 - A town outside of Palermo, Montelepre (the town of my grandparents) celebrates the town's sweet fried dough

Cioccolosita (Chocolate Festival in Tuscany) - February 4 to 6, 2011 - The town of  Monsummano Terme, near Pistoia, hosts a chocolate festival and brings chocolatiers from all over Italy with samples!

Sagra del Mandorlo in Fiore (Almond Blossom Festival) - February 2 to 11, 2011 - The town of Agrigento celebrates spring and almond blossoms with this festival featuring typical Sicilian foods

Carnevale di Venezia  - February 26 to March 8, 2011 - A magical event that I would recommend attending at least once in your life, the entire city of Venice becomes a stage

 

 

Comments

[Krista]

I really love these photos. :-) So clear and inviting and festive. :-) My brother's girlfriend is Italian and it's been such fun hearing about her traditions - so very different than our Danish ones. :-)

[Elizabeth MInchilli]

Thanks for including me!

[Tuula]

Oh, this opening photo is gorgeous! Really, looks like it belongs in a magazine - what beauty in that presentation, wow!
I can't believe how many sagra (or is that sagre, lol) there are in Sicily- that has to be the next place we visit- heard the travel experience is one-of-a-kind!
Thanks for giving us another amazing post & hope you have a wonderful New Years!
ps. We're cooking a huge feast in France, it will be a first for me, really excited!

[Paula]

Another great post, Kathy.
Dio Mio, how I miss the old tradition of fish banquets on Christmas Eve before midnight mass.

Just a note about cooking calamari (Also works for abalone if you can get it!) My mom and I have the easiest, most foolproof approach: (1) clean out & "butterfly"(slit open/flatten) the body the squid. Cut off the tentacles but you can cook them, too, if you like them (we do). (2) Dip the pieces in egg wash then a mixture of breadcrumbs + parmesan cheese. (3) Roll the bodies loosely & put pieces onto a lightly greased cookie sheet. (4) Bake at about 350 degrees just enough to cook through (no more than about 10-15 minutes - check for doneness early). If you don't overcook, they will be super-tender. Enjoy.

[Paula]

OOOPS -- I just reread my last post and realized I mis-stated the most important part!!! NOT EGGWASH - DIP IN OLIVE OIL .... mi dispiaciono!!!!

[Kathy]

Krista - Thank you so much. I take that as the highest compliment as your photos are so beautiful.

Elizabeth - You're very welcome.

Tuula - Whenever I'm bummed because one of the food photo websites had declined my photo submission, I look at your comments to cheer me up, too kind. I think most of the sagre are in Sicily in the winter because the weather is better. BUT, check back next Sunday for an update of festivals....there is a chocolate one in the North. I'm always excited to find a chocolate festival, but even moreso because I will be able to go to this one. Can't wait to hear about the New Year's Eve feast in France! I had one of those four-hour (or maybe 6-hour) affairs a few years' back.

Paula - Thanks for the calamari recipe. Great idea about baking them to save on a few calories! Now, YOU have me craving calamari.