The Italian traditional dishes for the festivities

This is the second Christmas on this blog and if last year I told you about the tradition of the Christmas eve, this year I will tell you a bit more about the traditional Christmas day menu.

As you probably know this day in Italy it’s really important, especially for the religious meaning of the celebration. So we respect the old tradition to don’t eat meat on the 24^th in the night and to have just dishes made with fish or vegetarian recipes. Last year I cooked Spaghetti with Smoked salmon and cream of courgettes but another classic, especially in the south are the vermicelli o linguine with clams.

On the 25^th instead everyone is free to cook anything you want, but the classic Italian tradition normally sees as a starter in the north some fresh pasta like the classic tortellini filled with meat, while in the south is really famous the timballo di maccheroni.

This recipe is so famous that has also been included in a really funny movie: BIG NIGHT, and here is the trailer where you can even have a little glimpse of it.

This is the recipe from the movie if you want to live a truly Italian Christmas Lunch.

Ingredients for around 8 people:

500g Millerighe di Gragnano, Pastificio dei Campi (for something a little smaller you can use the Mezzani Rigati), 50g butter 400g mozzarella 100g grated Parmesan 500g pork loin, 1  onion ,100g of pancetta in slices or bacon if you can’t find it, 1 glass of white wine, oil,salt, pepper, thyme, rosemary, 3 bottle of tomatoes puree, bread crumbs, 1egg.

For the shortbread: 500g flour 250g sugar 6 egg yolks 250g butter.

Ok the recipe is a bit complex but it’s something you can actually do for a special occasion like the Christmas and you can even prepare it in two times. The first day you prepare the sauce, wrap the meat in the bacon, then brown it in a little olive oil with the chopped onion and herbs, pour the white wine, then add the tomatoes puree. When the sauce is thick, turn off the fire and pull out the meat, which you will use to prepare small meatballs (adding parmesan cheese, and egg and bread crumbs, soaked in milk and than squeezed). Then fry them in a little olive oil. 

The second day, prepare the dough, working all the ingredients and letting it rest for at least an hour. Meanwhile cook the pasta and add to the sauce, butter and Parmesan cheese. Grease a ring cake tin and cover with a disc of dough. Fill the dough alternating pasta, meatballs, mozzarella and more Parmesan cheese diced, and end with a layer of pasta (like in the picture from selfishcooking ). Close with a disc of puff pastry and seal well, brushing with a little 'egg yolk. Bake in the oven at 180 degrees for 30 ', let it cool and serve.

Merry Christmas to all of you!

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From the Christmas eve dinner party, pasta and traditions

As i told you in the previous post, this year i was ready to prepare the Christmas dinner in a very traditional way, cooking just fish but also trying to present to my guests a dish that could be a bit original. I thought could have been nice to put together products from Italy and UK, so i choose to use the Wild Smoked Scottish Salmon from Forman & Son.

This is in fact a 100 year old family business supplying smoked salmon, caviar and other smoked and fresh fish to the world's leading hotels and finest restaurants in UK and from 2002 is also online on Forman & Field, fine food mail order company specializing in fresh, traditional British produce from small, independent producers. 

This was just a part of my special treat for my guest on Christmas. They still didn't know Pastificio dei Campi, the pasta that was going to be used to create the main protagonist of the Christmas eve dinner: Spaghetti with Wild Smoked Salmon and cream of courgettes.

Here the ingredients for 6 people:

600 gr Spaghetti Pastificio Dei Campi

200 gr of Smoked salmon

4 courgettes of a medium size

1 fennel

4 spoons of  pine nuts

4 spoons of Mascarpone or single cream

some garlic cloves,

salt, pepper, some fennel seeds

a glass of white wine

Cut the courgettes and the fennel in little cubes, then place them in a pan with some olive oil and chopped garlic cloves. Let it cook for around 10 minutes adding some salt and pepper and then pour the glass of white wine. When evaporated, turn a bit down the fire and cover the pan.

Now in a big sauce pan prepare the water for the pasta, add some salt and when it starts to boil, add the spaghetti. Let them cook and in the meantime blend the vegetable with the pine nuts until creamy. Now put everything again in the pan you used before with also the mascarpone or single cream and the smoked salmon in strips.

When the pasta it's "al dente" drain it and toss it in the pan with the salmon and the cream. I added here some whole pine nuts too and I serve it hot with a sprinkle of fennel seeds. If too dry, you can even add a bit of olive oil but not Parmesan. We don't normally use it with the fish and you could risk to cover some flavors.

This dish it's perfect for Christmas, but it's also a quick and easy recipe to cook any day of the week, being a very complete main course. I hope you will try it!

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3...2...1... and it's Christmas day: all the steps to arrive prepared.

Have you finally bought all the presents you needed? Have you wrapped them all. Fantastic! You are half the way to your perfect Christmas. Now you just need to be sure that everything will be ready for your Christmas lunch or dinner!

Here some quick suggestions to don't miss anything and to enjoy the day in the best way!

The first step is of course to chose the menu': are you going to cook the classic turkey or are you looking for something different? Maybe a bit more... italian?

We have the tradition to cook a big dinner on the 24th and also a big lunch on 25th, meals that we normally share with our family and close people. On the 24th the Christian tradition is to don't eat meat, so all the dinner will be based on fish and each region has is own tradition. In the south are very famous the "Spaghetti o Linguine 'a Vongole" (Spaghetti or Linguine with clams) while in Rome the "Capitone"(large eel) is the typical fish cooked in the Christmas dinner...or at least this was happening in the past.

Recently we just care to cook fish but any kind of recipe is accepted. The only thing sure is that we will serve and enjoy a little aperitif, a pasta dish, a fish with some vegetables and of course all the classic italian Christmas desserts: pandoro, panettone, torrone depending buy the regional traditions.

So whatever will be your menu', first of all decide all your courses and then make a list of all the ingredients you will need. Then check you have all the cooking equipments necessary for your dishes and if you are a bit unfamiliar with certain recipes and way to prepare them, search online any suggestion or video explanation you can find and follow them carefully.

Then don't forget to think about the way you will present them: do you need any decoration or some more ingredients to put them on each plate? Put them too in the list with also any missing cooking equipment and then go out for the last shopping!

In case you have guests and they will bring some dishes to help you out in the preparation of the dinner, it's always better to discuss this with them directly to avoid any duplicate.

If you can't find all you need at once, make sure you create a second list with the missing ingredients and go in other specific shops to buy them.

After that make the cooking easier sipping a glass of good wine or Prosecco and then be ready to relax and enjoy the dinner!

What i'm going to cook for Christmas? You will know it in the next post...but you can be sure will be a pasta dish with fish.

Meanwhile I wish you all to have an amazing time with family and friends. Merry Christmas!

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Some original ideas from the Pasta World for your Christmas.

Just few days are separating us from Christmas, so it's time to put together all our energy to buy the latest presents and prepare the house for our guests. This will be the focus of my next posts.

Let's start directly with the first idea: the Christmas pasta tree. A new way to decor your tree and your house for the festivity, using some natural and easy material like pasta... ok it's not exactly something that I suggest everyone to do, but it's just something that come up in my mind observing the pasta from Pastificio dei Campi: it's not just great to eat but it's really beautiful! A pleasure for the mouth and for the eyes :) Just have a look a this "Santa Pacchero!"

Let's speak now about something a bit more interesting and serious like the gift list: are you sure you have bought all the presents you needed? Have you already wrote all your desires to Santa or are you still putting down the latest ideas? Here few more suggestions all absolutely "pasta related".

Do you often cook the same shape of pasta, or you try to combine the right pasta shape  with  sauces? Do you need help and some more learning about this? here is the book for you (and for me, considering is at the top of my personal wishes list).

“The geometry of pasta” by Caz Hildebrand e Jacob Kenedy. " The perfect shape + the perfect sauce = The perfect Pasta!" Problem solved. Kenedy is the chef and owner of the restaurant Bocca di Lupo in London, while Hildebrand is a designer. By their union has born this elegant, simple, but extremely beautiful and interesting book to learn how to team up sauces with pasta shapes. Really unique in its genre, this book it's really something useful even for an italian like me, who can always miss some perfect combination. Is better penne or eliche with arrabbiata sauce? Spaghetti or bucatini for carbonara? etc.

Then for the ones in troubles with the long pasta, like linguine, spaghetti or bucatini, instead of the classic spoon to help you with, why don't try this technological fork? I have to admit I found it a bit weird, but maybe could be a real solution. Do you have a friend always in trouble when eating pasta? Or you simply don't want to splash sauce and pasta everywhere  anymore? Another problem is solved with Hog Wild’s Twirling Spaghetti Fork

Finally if you simply want to give a nice pasta hamper for Christmas, Pasta di Gragnano PGI from Pastificio dei Campi, is here to help, offering you one of the most high quality products on the market.... and look at the packaging. It seems to be made to be a gift!

You can buy this directly here in the shopping section of the website, or on Food in the city site, or you can even purchase them in all the Harvey Nichols shops around England. Finally you can even try to win an hamper on the blog Eat like a girl, but run because you won't have so much time left.

I hope this guide will help you with your latest presents, or simply letting you know a bit more about the pasta world!

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For you the Maxi Cube Tasting or the Maxi Cube Custom!

Finally it's the 8th of December. Today in Italy is holiday and the majority of the people will spend their  time decorating the Christmas tree or shopping for the latest presents still in the list.

Have you already bought all your presents or you are just starting to think about them? But especially, are you the one who loves doing and receiving surprises or you prefer to buy or receive something requested?

We could stay here discussing hours about that and I personally prefer people who try to guess your taste and give you something, also little, but with an effort, than who is asking you 'what do you want for Christmas?". This sounds to me a bit lazy and simple. And there is no comparison with the surprise to open a packet and find something you didn't expect!

However for all of you, Pastificio dei Campi has a great solution: you can finally shop for your favorite shape of pasta on the same website, clicking on the e-commerce section.

Here you will find 3 options:

The Maxi Cube Tasting: a perfect pack for those who want to know (and be surprised by) the production of the pasta factory and loves to try many different formats. It consists of five kilograms of pasta Gragnano IGP, bronze drawn and slowly dried at low temperature, given in 10 different sizes selected from among those that best represent our company: paccheri, calamarata, pennoni, candele spezzate, penne ziti lisce, penne mezzani rigate, orecchiette, tubetti, spaghetti, linguine.  A nice gift idea for all lovers of pasta.

The Maxi Cube Custom:  a customizable package, designed for people who already know our Pasta Gragnano IGP or for those that have very decided tastes. Choose the contents of your package: this is left entirely to you. 8 packages of pasta, 500 grams Gragnano IGP in most popular formats.

Then of course, it's almost Christmas and you can also buy the fantastic gourmet gift box,  made in limited edition for Christmas 2010. Here the pasta di Gragnano IGP is accompanied by two other symbols of the south gastronomic tradition, an high quality extra virgin olive oil and tomatoes as explained here. (And the first five to leave a comment on the post will receive a 15% discount to buy this Cube).

So undecided or  ready to choose your  pasta shapes and Maxi Cubes?

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The Maxi Christmas Cube has now arrived with the online SHOP too!

Are you planning to be the most successful Santa ever? Are you keen to please everyone this Christmas? Here is a very special idea for you and your loved ones.

This year Pastificio dei Campi has thought about all the food lovers and those passionate about cooking, creating a unique version of the very famous red and black cube, "The Maxi Christmas Cube"! The Maxi Christmas Cube is a limited edition, only 150 will be available.

The cube includes 4Kg of Pasta di Gragnano PGI from Pastificio dei Campi, along with a selection of high quality products from the region, including a "starred" Extravirgin Olive oil, L'arcangelo and the amazing tomatoes "il Miracolo di San Gennaro, very well known by the real food experts.

The 3 products are in fact 100% made in Italy and represent the finest, classic products the region has to offer, from the grain of Southern Italy, to the olive from the marvelous Sorrentina Peninsula, to the Sanmarzano tomatoes, defended by the Slow food international association. These are some of the unique products, the perfect companion to this high quality pasta, all packed together in a box to allow you to experience authentic and flavoursome italian food.

The 6 different shapes of pasta were selected based on their popularity and are the most commonly used in Italy, for the Christmas festivities and to cook with oil and tomatoes.

And another surprise is following this announcement: this ideal gift present can be NOW ordered directly on the site www.pastificiodeicampi.it. Today in fact Pastificio dei Campi officially opens its ONLINE SHOP, where you will be able to order the Maxi Cube and their wide range of pasta too.  

Finally, Pastificio dei Campi would like to thank you, all the readers of this blog with a little Christmas present… Pastificio dei Campi will give a 15% discount on 'The Maxi Christmas Cube' (coming to £65 pounds + shipping expenses) to the first 5 people who will leave a comment to this post, with their name and email address. Tell us how much you love pasta!

So if you hurry, the Maxi Christmas Cube could be yours and with it part of the culinary traditions and products of Italy, that we are sure you are going to appreciate.

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Do you have any plan? Here are some ideas for you

Since few days in all UK started to snow and you have definitely the sensation to be already in Christmas. All the decorations, all the people running for shopping and lots of ice rings around the city. In Italy we use to decorate our house and Christmas tree  the 8th of December, that is holiday and it's a good occasion to stay with all the family.

So I have decided to spend  next weekend in markets and typical english events around London to look for my Christmas decorations and typical products to be ready for the 8th.

Here are 3 nice events for all the people who love food and the Christmas mood and atmosphere:

The first one is  the Real Food Christmas market taking place at the Southbank Centre Square this weekend:

"Traditional seasonal fare of mince pies and mulled wine will sit alongside other delicacies including fabulous cheeses, delicious chutneys and pickles, wild game, hams and charcuterie and all manner of chocolate delights. Why not stock up your Christmas larder with gourmet goodies and find the perfect food gifts for your friends and family"

The second one I can suggest you is Taste of Christmas held at ExCeL London, located just 10 minutes from Canary Wharf.

"Twelve of London’s top restaurants will be serving up seasonal menus of everything from traditional classics to cutting-edge cuisine - plenty to fire up the imagination, and your tastebuds."

There will be stands with the typical ingredients for your Christmas dishes and famous chefs will share their secret recipes for some special menus'.

And last but not the least, is the Underground Christmas Market organized by Marmitelover, great food blogger and creator of one of the first UK supperclubs 'The Underground Restaurant'

On Sunday the 5th of December, in her secret house in Kilburn there will be music, an ironing board cocktail bar,  a ruffle, cooking demonstrations, Christmas puddings, craft stalls and lots more! When you will buy the ticket here, you will be informed about the precise address.

Are you curious to know which one i will choose? You will see it in the next posts. In the meantime I hope you will enjoy the weekend in one of these events or just staying at home and maybe cooking a good plate of pasta.

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