Traditional
Italian New years dinner
The
annual rite of consuming good luck food for New Year's Day is
observed all over the world. Exactly what you consume depends largely
on where your ancestors came from and what was available there during
the winter. In Italy, lentils are eaten as a symbol of good luck and
prosperity because they resemble tiny coins. Tuscan's eat lentils
with "Cotechino", a large pork sausage. People in Bologna
and Modena eat lentils with "Zampone", the same sausage
mixture stuffed into the skin of a pig's foo t In the Piedmont,
little grains of rice symbolize money, so New Year's Day menus
feature risotto and for added luck, a plate of beef or chicken would
be served with spinach and lentils.
Cotechino
Sausage
Great
for holidays or when you need to add something special to an
antipasto or cheese
platter.
Cotechino holds a special place in the hearts of most Italians due to
the belief
that
if eaten together with lentils as the clock strikes midnight on New
Year's Eve
you
will be the recipient of good luck for the year to come.
lentil
and Escarole Soup
serves (
4 to 6 )
Ingredients:
1 medium onion,
chopped
2 celery
stalks, chopped
2 small
carrots, chopped
1/4 cup olive
oil
2 garlic
cloves, chopped
2 cups diced
tomatoes
2-1/4 cups
lentils
8 cups chicken
or beef stock
1 head
escarole, chopped
Salt and pepper
1/2 cup grated
Parmesan cheese
Directions:
In a large
saucepan over medium heat, cook the onion, celery, and carrots in
olive oil about
10 minutes. Add the garlic and cook 1 more minute. Add the
tomatoes, bring
to a simmer, and cook 10 minutes to reduce the liquid. Add
the lentils and
stock and bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat to low and cook,
uncovered,
about 30 minutes . Add the escarole, salt and pepper to taste, and
look until
lentils are tender, 35-45 minutes. Ladle into individual bowls and
sprinkle with
Parmesan cheese.
Sausage
and Lentils Delight ( serves 4 to
6 )
Ingredients
350
ml lentils
500
gr cotechino sausage (Italian sausage)
25 ml
olive oil
100
gr pancetta ( or bacon)
1
large onion diced
1
carrots diced
1
celery stalk diced
150
ml tomato sauce
1 bay
leaf
salt
and pepper
Method
1.Place
the lentils in a saucepan ,add 2 liter vegetable stock or water and
bring to a boil.
2.Pierce
the skin of the sausage all over with knife ,place the sausage in the
pan with the lentils
3.
Reduce the heat to simmer ,cover and cook for 45 minutes or until
lentils are tender,remove sausage set a side to cool .Drain the
lentils set a side .
4.When
the sausages is cool enough to handle ,slit open and remove the
skin,cut the sausage into 3 cm slices.
5.Cook
the sausage slices into a skillet until golden brown on both sides
about 2 minutes,remove and set aside.
6.Add
the olive oil to the skillet and heat ,saute the pancetta,onions
carrots and celery
in
the olive oil until soft about 5 minutes or so.
7.Add
tomato sauce,lentils,and bay leaf. Cook over low heat for about 5
minutes,season to taste with salt and pepper,Remove baf leaf ,pour
the lentils onto a serving platter and arrange the sausages around
them and serve with fresh grated Romano cheese
Veal
with Lentils and Pasta (serves
6)
Ingredients:
30 gr dried
porcini mushrooms, soaked in warm water about 15 minutes
1 kg veal for
stew, cut cubes
Salt and pepper
Flour for
dusting
75 ml olive oil
1 medium onion,
finely chopped
250 gr fresh
mushrooms, sliced
1 cup dry white
wine
15 ml fresh
rosemary, chopped
250 ml chopped
tomatoes
750 ml chicken
or beef stock
250 ml lentils
200 gr small
pasta, such as ditalini, tubetti, shells, or elbows
Method
1.Drain soaked
mushrooms, reserve liquid and add it to the stock. Salt and
pepper the veal
and dust with the flour.
2.Heat the oil
in a large skillet and cook veal over high heat until veal is brown.
3.Add the onion
and mushrooms and continue cooking, when onion begins to
brown, add wine
and rosemary, cover and simmer for 5 minutes.
4.Transfer all
ingredients to a large saucepan and add the tomatoes and stock.
Bring to a boil, then cover, reduce heat and simmer about 1-1/4
hours.
5. Add lentils
and continue cooking about 1 hour. Stir often to prevent lentils
from sticking to the pot Cook pasta. Put pasta into individual soup
bowls. Ladle stew over
top. Serve.
Honey-Sesame
Cookies (
48 cookies)
In
roman times,
guests were given honey-sesame cookies so the new year
would
be filled with sweetness.
Ingredients:
625 ml flour
5 ml baking
powder
2 ml salt
2 ml baking
soda
125 ml butter,
room temperature
125 ml honey
2 eggs
About 125 ml
milk
125 ml sesame
seeds
Method
1.In a bowl,
combine flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda. Set aside.
2.In another
bowl, combine butter, honey and eggs with an electric mixer until
well combined.
Gradually beat in the flour mixture. Cover and chill the dough
about 1 hour or
until firm.
3.Preheat oven
to 190 C . Grease 2 baking sheets.
4.Form chilled
dough into 2 ½ cm balls. Roll the balls in a small bowl of milk
then roll them
in the sesame seeds.
4.Place balls
on prepared baking sheets.
5.Flatten each
ball slightly Bake 10 minutes or until golden brown.
Remove cookies
from baking sheets and cool on a wire rack..
