Italian Christmas recipes

Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 20 minutes

Serves: 4, hot
Recipe Ingredients
Butter 1 tbsp
Onion(s) 1 whole Finely Chopped
Freshly Crushed Garlic 1/2 tbsp
Plain Flour (Sifted) 1 tbsp
Milk 1 cup
Parmesan Cheese 1/2 cup
Vol au vent(s) 12 whole
Melt butter in small saucepan. Add chopped onion and freshly crushed garlic. Cook until soft and take off heat. Stir in flour and slowly add milk. Cook over low heat - do not boil. Stir until thickened. While hot add parmesan cheese. Allow to cool slightly. Scoop into vol-au-vent cases and sprinkle with pepper. Bake in a moderate oven 180 degrees celsius for 15 minutes.

Active time: 15 min Start to finish: 1 hr
Servings: Makes 4 first-course servings.

Ingredients
1 (1/3-lb) piece Parmigiano-Reggiano with (roughly 3- by 3-inch) rind
6 cups chicken stock
4 large garlic cloves, thinly sliced
4 sprigs fresh parsley, tied together
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 cup tortellini (24 to 36)
Cut rind off cheese. Combine rind, stock, garlic, parsley, and oil in a 3-quart pot, then simmer gently, partially covered, 30 minutes. Discard parsley and rind and season broth with salt. Add tortellini and simmer, partially covered, until al dente, about 10 minutes. Divide among 4 soup plates, then shave cheese over soup to taste.

Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 90 minutes

3 lb. pork loin, bone in
1/2 c. chopped onion
1/2 c. chopped celery
2 tbsp. butter
2 tbsp. vinegar
Saute onion and celery in butter until soft. Place meat on roasting rack n pan and baste with part of the sauce. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 1/2 hours or until pork is tender. Continue to baste the roast with the sauce while cooking.
Add roasted potatoes!

this is looong... I suggest you to buy it, instead of cooking...

For the first rising:
6 ounces (150 g) fresh yeast cake (or biga; ask your baker for this)
4 cups (400 g) flour
3/8 cup (90 g) unsalted butter
5/8 cup (110 g) sugar
6 yolks
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup (200 ml) slightly warm water
For the second rising:
2 3/4 cups (275 g) flour
5/8 cup (110 g) unsalted butter
1 pound (400 g) sultana raisins
13 ounces 9300 g) mixed candied orange and citrus peels
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon honey
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 yolks
A little flour for dusting the work surface and mold
The afternoon before, begin by cutting the butter into a casserole and melting it over a very low flame or a double boiler; keep it warm enough to remain melted. Dissolve the sugar in about 3/8 cup (100 ml) of warm water.
Put the melted butter, salt, and yeast cake in a mixing bowl and mix well, then add the yolks and sugar, and sift in the flour, stirring energetically all the while. Should the dough be quite stiff add a little more water. Keep beating with great energy for about 25 minutes, throwing the dough against the sides of the bowl, until it has become smooth, velvety, and full of air bubbles. At this point put it in a lightly floured bowl large enough for it to triple in volume, cover it with a heavy cloth, and keep it in a warm (85 F, 30 C) place for about 10 hours.
In the meantime, wash the raisins, picking over them to remove sticks and whatnot, drain them well, and set them on a cloth to dry. Finely dice, but do not mince, the candied citrus peels.
When the dough is ready, turn it out on your work surface (or return it to the mixing bowl) and work in the flour, vanilla, and honey. Beet with considerable energy for about a half hour, then work in all but 2 tablespoons of the butter, which you will have melted as before, and the water, to which you will have added the salt. Continue working the dough until it becomes shiny and dry, and at this point add the fruit, working the dough to distribute it evenly. At this point you can divide the dough into pieces of the size you want; if you want to make your panettoni by weight, use a scale and figure that they'll decrease in weight by 10% during baking.
Lightly grease your hands with the butter and round the balls of dough, then put them on a board or plate and let them rise in a warm place for about a half hour. At this point lightly butter your hands again and put the panettoni in panettone molds (or put rings of stiff paler around their bases). Return them to their board and put them in a warm (68-80 F, 20-30 C, depending upon the season), humid spot to rise for about 6 hours.
Heat your oven to 380 F (190 C). Cut an x into the top of each panettone and put 2 tablespoons (30 g) unsalted butter over the cuts. Put the panettoni in the oven, and after 4 minutes remove them and quickly push down on the corners produced by the cuts. Return them to the oven and bake them until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out dry.
When chefs remove their panettoni from the oven they put them upside down in special panettone holders to keep their flanks from collapsing. In a home situation this is not practical, and you'll dimply have to cool your panettoni on a rack.

Usual Christmas dried fruit includes chocolate-covered figs, nuts, hazel-nuts, dates... they can be eaten alone, or with an hot chocolate fondue!

Not all coffee drinking in Italy takes place at the bar, morning coffee is often made at home using a Moka ( or caffettiera) . This steel coffee maker that is put on a stove and makes coffee by boiling water to force steam through the grounds. The Moka is the Mr. Coffee of Italy and is the most popular home method. It may not be a real espresso, it does make a make a very good full-bodied coffee. Another stovetop method Italians use to make coffee at home is called a Napoletana. It is similar to a Moka except that when the water boils, the whole pot is flipped over to let the water filter through the coffee. It is not as strong as a coffee made in a Moka and is much similar to a percolated cup of coffee.