An American Italian Christmas Dinner

What would an Italian family have for their traditional Buon Natale (Christmas Day) feast? That really depends upon the region, much like here in the United States. But there are certain similarities just like there are common dishes found on many American tables at Christmas dinner. And one thing is for certain, the feast will be huge and will consist of several courses. Some form of antipasti would begin the meal, followed by some type of regional pasta. While there might a fish course, many regions of Italy serve herb roasted poultry, often a turkey. Italians do not typically eat many desserts but for Christmas there might be some classic desserts like Panettone, or Tiramisu

Italian Antipasti for Christmas Day

All special Italian feasts begin with an appetizer platter known as antipasti or antipasto. The antipasti for Christmas Day would consist of the very best high quality components. Take a large decorative platter and attractively arrange some of the following into an appetizing antipasti.

Prosciutto - the very best your budget can afford, fresh marinated mozzarella balls, artichoke hearts, Cerigonola Green Olives, Mianossa Ripe Olives, Parmigiano-Reggiano, a good Italian salami, and dilled goat cheese.

Accent your antipasti platter with fresh cut strips of peppers, cherry tomatoes, and matchstick celery and carrot sticks that have been drizzed with olive oil, salt and pepper. Serve with focaccia bread slices or a Mediterranean flat bread, perhaps a Carta Di Musica bread.

Gnocchi with Fresh Marinara Sauce

Gnocchi are little pillow shaped potato dumplings that done well are sensational, done poorly they are mediocre. This method of making gnocchi is almost fail proof.

Preheat oven to 375. And wash about 2 lb. Of russet baking potatoes.

Spear the potatoes with fork or knife to pierce and vent them.

Bake in their skins unwrapped about an hour.

After they cool slightly, scoop out the potatoes from the skins and mash them by hand or rice them.

Add 1 and ½ c. flour, 2 beaten egg yolks an dash of salt.

Mix by hand until dough is pliable. Do not overmix.

Prepare a work area and dust with flour. Take the dough and roll into long rolls about ¾ inch in diameter.

Roll gently and carefully.

Then cut the long rolls into one inch long pieces.

Using your fingertip, make a slight indentation in the little pillows of dough.

As the gnocchi are finished, place them on a flat baking pan, that has been lightly with parchment or wax paper. You can freeze the gnocchi at this time, or you can cook them.

To cook them, drop the gnocchi in simmering water a few at a time.

As they rise to the surface of the water, remove them with slotted spoon, drain well and arrange in warm serving dish.

When all the gnocchi are finished, pour a heated pasta sauce over them and sprinkle them with fresh chopped parsley. If desired, a sprinkle of Parmesan can be added to entire dish.

Roast Turkey with braised root vegetables

A herb encrusted roast turkey would be a typical Italian Christmas dinner main course. For your Italian American Dinner, prepare your turkey as you would for any other day, but first rub with olive oil, and then add an herb rub of the following spices. Dried rosemary, sage, ground coarse pepper, garlic powder, paprika, and sea salt.

Rub and pat entire turkey inside and out with the spice rub.

Roast in oven as normal, stuffed or unstuffed.

Serve turkey with a variety of braised root vegetables, like fennel bulbs, carrots, and sweet potatoes brushed with olive oil and sprinkled with herb blend. Roast alongside turkey but in separate pan, placing in oven to roast about 1 hour before turkey is completed

Add a string bean medley or fresh asparagus as an additional side dish to be served with the turkey, root vegetables, and gnocchi.

Tiramisu Italian Cake for dessert

This is an easy version that has all the essential elements but isn't quite as difficult as true tiramisu, but it's close!

First you must use mascarpone cheese, no substitutes like ricotta, won't work.

In large bowl, mix 1 pound of mascarpone, 1/3 c. sugar and 2 T. of amaretto liqueur.

Whip 1 c. heavy cream till soft peaks form. Fold the cream mixture into the mascarpone mixture.

Brew 1 c. of espresso or "very strong coffee" (you can make an instant espresso) Place the espresso in a flat dish or cake pan.

Dip 12 ladyfingers (purchased) in the espresso, carefully just to soak up the espresso flavor and lay them in a single layer in an square 8 or 9 inch cake pan.

Spread half the mascarpone mixture over the ladyfingers. Sprinkle with grated dark chocolate or a bittersweet chocolate. (I prefer the dark) about ½ c.

Dip another 12 ladyfingers in the espresso and make another layer over the mascarpone layer. Layer rest of mascarpone over the ladyfingers and again sprinkle with chopped or grated dark chocolate.

Cover with saran wrap and chill several hours or even overnight. Can be made 2 days ahead of serving event.

Enjoy your American Italian Christmas dinner feast with family and friends. Buon Natale!

Recipes from Betty Malone's private personal collection

Additional resources:

Ladyfingers havenlytiramisu.com/lfingers.htm

this is a great website that demonstrates how to make gnocchi (slightly different recipe but great article)
http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/how-to-make-gnocchi-like-an-italian-grandmother-recipe.html

A great antipasti book:

http://books.google.com/books?id=ylhmOGX7BZQC&dq=antipasti&printsec=frontcover&source=bl&ots=QJgzgKy5Fc&sig=aFk2Eh5Y3v6IRxZiAuh0norK-EI&hl=en&ei=FBPaSqaVH5LT8QaPppS3BQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=12&ved=0CCQQ6AEwCw#v=onepage&q=&f=false