Christmas Italian food:听as you would expect, an Italian Christmas becomes a true Christmas in the kitchen.
When I was a child, Christmas was my grandmother’s time to shine (or I should say, to shine even brighter, because the woman was a goddess in the kitchen all year round): she would prepare听肠补辫辫别濒濒别迟迟颈听by hand, twisting and turning them one by one, with the skill and the artistry only women of that generation 鈥� she was born in 1917 鈥� had. I would supervise and help, in my own way, most likely by sitting at the table and making sure they tasted the way she wanted: I always loved fresh, raw听肠补辫辫别濒濒别迟迟颈听补苍诲听谤补惫颈辞濒颈,听and still today, I cannot resist the temptation to eat a couple before boiling them, when I prepare them myself. When I do it, my thoughts always go to her and those warm, fragrant afternoons of long ago, and I do miss her even more dearly than every other moment. And they never taste quite as nice as hers.
She loved to talk about her youth and the early years of her marriage with grandpa: they had gotten married on the 26th of December 1939 “at six in the morning and wearing a simple suit, Francesca, not a wedding dress, because the war was coming, we all knew it, and it would have been very inappropriate” (Italy entered the conflict on the 10th of June, 1940). The setting was the Piedmontese countryside of Langhe and Monferrato; the times, the 1940s. The imagery was that of a victoriuous Mussolini and the air had the scent of lavander 补苍诲听础谤辫猫驳别.听No wonder I grew up obsessed with history and World War Two: in many ways, I spent my childhood getting to know those years more than the glitzy neon of the 1980s I physically inhabited then.
I was saying… Nonna would prepare plenty of things and would do everything on her own. We always ate the typical menu her own mother used to prepare for Christmas and we all embraced the tradition happily听although apparently, she used to tell me, it hadn’t been always so.
We always had the largest feast at lunch of the 25th, so that was the meal in question. Around Christmas, while preparing听cappelletti听among other things, she would听tell me the story of why it was her own family Christmas menu we traditionally had on that day.听She and grandpa were about to spend their first Christmas together and it was time to get all that was needed for the dinner. Of course, they听had to deal with living in a country at war, but they came from the countryside and food, there, was still relatively plentyful. The young lovers had forgotten, however, to discuss something seriously important: the menu. Yes, because each household in Italy cooks something different at Christmas, as you would expect in a country known for food and creativity:听genio e sregolatezza,听genius and unruliness, down to the last corner of the kitchen.
My grandfather fully expected his young spouse to embrace his own mother’s risotto 补苍诲听肠补辫谤别迟迟辞听(kid) based menu. Well, let’s just say that wasn’t my grandmother’s 鈥撎齱ho grew up eating听cappelletti in brodo听and hen听at Christmas 鈥撎齪lan.听Fights ensued, but she eventually rose victorious over the dispute, although she never wanted to reveal how she convinced grandpa. Today,听I wonder if she used her womanly charms: in the end, they were both just over 20 years of age then.
This seemingly off-the-topic introduction serves, in fact, a double purpose: the first is to show you how much food, its preparation, its flavors and scents are associated to the memories themselves of Italian听Christmases. The second is to demonstrate, with a little funny anecdocte, how varied Christmas culinary tradition is in my country, so varied that at times it changes from household to household. Of course, it would be impossible to conduct some sort of Christmas food census and see what each and every family puts on the table on the 25th of December: can you imagine how long that would take? But one thing we can certainly do: check out what are the best loved traditional Christmas dishes region by region, area by area, starting from our northern regions.
If you have Italian ancestry, you may be familiar with some of these habits and it would be nice to hear about you and your memories. If you simply love Italy because, well, it’s Italy, then you may take inspiration from some of these recipes,听add a bit of Italian flair to your Christmas meal and maybe create a new family tradition of your own, a tradition grandchildren’ll write about in 70 years, while telling the world how well you cooked and how much they’ll always love you.
An Italian Christmas table: what do we all eat?
The habit of celebrating Christmas Eve with a large dinner before or after midnight mass is not common in every region of the country. On the other hand, Christmas day lunch is a pretty solid affair everywhere: hen broth is often used to cook听cappelletti听and dried fruit, nuts and seasonal vegetables are very much on each and every person’s Christmas shopping list, nevermind where they are from.
Of course, sweets and cakes听are paramount for a perfect Christmas celebration, with pandoro and panettone being sold in every single corner of the country. Typical of an Italian Christmas are also听torrone听补苍诲听croccante, as well as mandarins, oranges, pineapple and, as said, dried figs, dates and peanuts.
A recent article published by the听Secolo XIX, underlines how meat, especially poultry, is the real protagonist of Italian tables on Christmas day: and in fact, pretty much every region tends to have a bird roasting in the oven on the morning of the 25th. It is usually guinea hens 补苍诲听capons being roasted, 补苍诲听hens being boiled in home made vegetable stock. In the period between Christmas and the Epifania听(the 6th of January), it is estimated that at least 800 thousand capons听and 500 thousand turkeys听will be consumed by Italian families.
Common dishes, then, but also plenty of variety and differences from place to place, from family to family, even.
To begin with, then, let’s take a look听to what’s in the ovens and on the tables of northern Italian families at Christmas time.
A Christmas Italian kitchen: the northern regions
Valle d’Aosta听
The quaint and dreamy Alpine region of Valle d’Aosta follows tradition down to a “T” when it comes to Christmas: midnight mass, Christmas markets听and of course, plenty of delicious food. Typical of a Valle d鈥橝osta鈥檚 Christmas is the fonduta valdostana, a creamy dish made with fontina cheese, eggs and milk, served with toasted brown bread. A soup made with cabbage, stale bread and, once again, fontina, called zuppa alla Valpellinentze. Common is also serving sausages and potatoes as a meat dish, as well as the ubiquitous polenta, often accompanied by carbonata valdostana, a red wine based meat stew.
Piemonte听
Ah, my beautiful region! Our Christmas table is influenced by the area鈥檚 proximity to the mountains, as well as the flavors of the Langhe and their hills. Typical of a Piedmontese Christmas are either cappelletti in brodo or agnolotti al pl矛n with rabbit or rag霉 sauce. The agnolotti al pl矛n are small hand made ravioli, closed with a little pinch, 鈥減l矛n鈥� in Piedmontese dialect. Their filling is usually made with meat and vegetables and it is very common to have them with butter and sage, or red wine: yes, you read that right, red wine. Many people in Piemonte, especially of older generations, would pour a glass or two of red wine on the agnolotti 听and eat them like that, without any other type of condiment. In dialect, we call this dish ravi枚re al F没m, that is, 鈥渞avioli with smoke,鈥� as the simplicity of its dressing almost hints at a complete absence of it: impalpable like smoke.
A typical Piedmontese Christmas starter is carne cruda all鈥橝lbese, thinly sliced, extra fresh veal, which is consumed raw, dressed with lemon juice, extra virgin olive oil and parmesan shavings. Another must is vitello tonnato, boiled veal, sliced thinly and served cold with a sauce made with fresh mayonnaise, tuna and capers. Bagna Ca眉da with roasted peppers is also common. The meat dish is usually hen, or roasted capon.
Desserts range from the ubiquitous panettone, to torrone d鈥檃lba and zabajone, a sweet cream made with eggs, milk and marsala.
Liguria
Liguria mixes the sea and the Alps on the table all year round. Christmas, of course, is no exception. Typical main pasta dishes are, once again, filled pastas such as cappelletti or ravioli alla Genovese, characterized by a meat, egg and herbs filling. The broth is usually made with capon, which is then consumed as a second dish, along with spinach and sausages. Typical of a Ligurian Christmas is also roasted Guinea fowl with artichokes.
When it comes to desserts, Liguria is all for its pandolce, which is also known as panettone alla Genovese. It is a fragrant and delicious cake, made with candied fruit and pumpkin, along with raisins and nuts (hazelnuts and pine nuts being the most commonly used).
Lombardia
Lombardia at Christmas is synonymous with panettone. Panettone, in Italy, is the quintessential symbol of Christmas and every single Italian family make sure to have one ready for the 25th.听But there is more to Lombardia than its most famous, fluffy cake. Just as in Piemonte, tortellini in brodo are a typical primo piatto and roasted capon usually follows. A note on tortellini: Lombardia has quite a variety, in fact. The area closer to the mountains, in the provinces of Bergamo and Brescia favor meat and salame filled varieties, such as the traditional casoncelli. Provinces closer to Emilia-Romagna and to the pianura Padana prefer pumpkin ravioli, usually served with butter, sage and parmesan. Beside the afore mentioned panettone and the ever popular torrone, Lombardia鈥檚 Christmas tables love another cake, the sbrisolona, a typical example of Italian cucina povera, made with ingredients that used to be cheap and readily available in countryside farms such as hazelnuts, almonds and coarse cornmeal.
Trentino Alto-Adige
It is difficult to think of an Italian Christmas without thinking of the snowy peaks of Trentino Alto-Adige. The region is a must for all those in love with the atmosphere and cheerful air of Christmas markets, but is also a great place to experience the culinary fusion of Italian and central . Yes, because Trentino Alto-Adige is very much a cultural mix between Italy, Germany and Austria and such a mix is very much present in its cuisine, too.听 At Christmas, canederli are a must on Trentino Alto-Adige鈥檚 tables: called 办苍枚诲别濒 in German, these are deliciously flavorsome bread and milk dumplings, usually enriched with cheese or spinach or speck.听I used to live with an Alto-Atesina (this is how we call people from Trentino Alto-Adige) and she used to make me canederli regularly: they are among the most amazing comfort food one can think of, a mouthwatering symphony of buttery, fluffy richness. Do try them, by all means. My personal favorite are those made with spinach! A typical meat dish is roasted kid with potatoes (much like that favored by my grandfather鈥檚 family) and dessert would usually be a deliciously spiced apple strudel or the zelten, a dried fruit and spices cake.听Don鈥檛 forget to make some 驳濒眉丑飞别颈苍, mulled wine, to warm up those snowy December afternoons!
Veneto and Friuli Venezia Giulia
The east-most regions of Northern Italy offer us a plethora of traditional dishes for Christmas. Friuli Venezia-Giulia is also a fan of roasted capon, but also proposes peculiar dishes for the period, such as trippa con sugo e formaggio, tripes in sauce and cheese, a delicacy certainly common in Italy, but not only offered at Christmas. Polenta with brovada e muset, a soup made with cotechino (a type of Italian sausage eaten boiled or fried, often with lentils) and turnips.
In Veneto, cappelletti or ravioli in brodo are a typical first dish. The broth is usually made with capon, which is then consumed with a horseradish sauce. This is usually served with mashed potatoes and red radicchio salad.听Dessert is, of course, pandoro, which hails from the region, but also almond torrone and dry cookies served with a sweet wine called Recioto.
Try to experiment with some of the recipes suggested here and then go take a look at what Italians in the Centre and in the South of the country put on their tables on Christmas day: which will your favorite dish be?
(See the second part of this article, dedicated to the Centre and the South Italy!)
Francesca Bezzone
I hope there are articles and recipes about vegan italian food.
Jean, I would love to have your family’s recipes. They should live on…
Than you for this post. My grandmother made many of these foods for Christmas and family get together.
I would like to subscribe. I love Italian Cooking and loved to read about Italy. Thank you so much.
I had the job of carrying the fettuccine from the kitchen table to hang over the towels and wax paper over the dining room chair tops or my Nonna鈥檚 bed. On Sunday鈥檚 I helped make the ravioli.
Such treasured memories we have. We are the lucky ones.
Buon Natale
Goodevening Sir ,
I apologize but you can’t generalize the tipical
cuisine in Italy as you did in this article. Not every region but every valley of origin in the north has its typical dishes for Christmas.
In a few distance they are very different.
I’m sorry but I’m true , I’m an immigrant in usa from Bergamo, north Italy val Brembana .
I married into the Italian way with my spouse’s family from Montemuro, Basilicata Region. 7 seafoods with stuffed calimari a must, along with assorted cookies. Anginettis, pizelles and fried dough, (Crispelles), and a Rum Cake with fresh fruit.
Cannoli were always on any holiday menu. My parents worked as a team when making cannoli. I’ve tried, but they don’t, taste, smell or feel the same.
Great sharing. Ciao.
Whoever is the cook in the house decides the tradition – that’s how it has been through time.. I learned the traditions of my mother. My nephews, however, on the other side of the country, don’t know those traditions as they grew up on my sister-in-law’s family traditions. My mother’s skills die with me as my brother never learned them (in those days, boys didn’t learn to cook.) It’s rather sad. All those recipes, written out by my grandmother and great grandmother will have no home.
I grew up in New York City. My mother鈥檚 family was from Reggio Emilia and my dad鈥檚 family from Piacenza. Both of my parents were born in the US Grandma and Mom made the fresh dough and filling for Capalitti (little hats). I was trilled to read your article as it brought back many memories. My mother died in 67 and my grandmother in 69 so the traditional Christmas stopped for our immediate family. I am a Nonna myself and I will try to rekindle those memories and meals with my daughter. Thank you for reminding me of my foundation
I wish things would be like this again, Mary Cassandra
Receipe for Cenci or deep fried bows…
I loved reading this story. I married my husband 7 years ago, he is from Milan, Italy, I was born and raised in Arizona U.S.A. I have always search ed for Italian recipes he grew up eating, I guess its my way of keeping Italy close so he doesn’t miss it so much. Anyways, I loved this story and want to thank you for sharing the different foods eaten during the holidays. I’ve learned a few, but I am constantly searching for more. Again thank you 猫
Buon Natale a tutti/e .
For dessert, I like to make anginetti and struffoli for Christmas. One of my grandmothers used to refer to struffoli as pinulata.
I get these 草榴社区 articles regularly and enjoy reading them as they hit on many of the traditions we followed as I grew up, and we still do. Especially making cappelletti an all family hands on deck affair. The difference is now that we鈥檙e all grown up, wine flows during the making. I never ate one raw though. We have found and visited relatives in Castelnovo di Soto, and have traveled extensively in the Piemonte and Emilia Romagna regions, where our family settled. My great great grandfather immigrated to the town I grew up in and had my grandfather before he became an American, which may qualify me for Italian citizenship under Jus Sanguinis, which I鈥檓 pursuing. I have a wheel of Parmigiano Reggiano cheese coming which I will be cutting up and giving as Christmas presents. My Italian relatives gifted me the proper knives and look forward to the video of this and our cappelletti making party. Also, 2020 will have our Italian family reunion, which I organize every other year. In our last one, I set up a webcam so they could 鈥渁ttend 鈥� from Castelnovo. Buon Natale a tutti voi!
Passatelli is our soup for Christmas…..Marche region.
The seven fish for the 7 sacraments is very popular in the south especially in Compania region. This is on Christmas eve.
May I have the recipe for the panettone. Thank you.