CHRISTMAS IN ITALY

-Christmas little ring- Shaped

cakes

• Ingredients:

• 1 Cup of oil;

• 1 cup of water;

• 1 table spoon sugar;

• lb ½ flour;

• 1 liter olive oil for frying

• Sugar.

• Mix the flour with water;oil and sugar and

knead until it is soft and smooth enough that

it doesn’t stick to your fingers. Piece by

piece take the pasta and make a breastick

like form in a thickness of a finger,then cut it

into a lot of stiks of about 8/10 cm. From

these stiks make so many little ring-shaped

cakes,then fry them in boiling oil. Drain and

decorate them with sugar.

Fried dried cod. Ingredients:•lb 2;•oz 3 dried cod;•oz 7 flour;•2 cloves of garlic;•3 spoonfuls of white winegar;•a pinch of salt;•3/4 lt. seed oil for frying; •3 spoonsfuls olive oil.

HOW WE DO

Soak the dried cod for three days in a bowl full of cold water, taking care of changing the water twice a day.On the fourth day, when the fish looks well soaked, strain it, cut it to pieces, pass it in flour and fry it in a frying pan full of hot oil.In another frying pan you will shallow fry a little bit of chopped garlic and when golden lay the frie dried cod with a little bit of winegar and some water.Cover and let the oil evaporate at a very mild fire.

Pandoro

Pandoro appeared in remote times, the product of the ancient art of breadmaking, as the name, Pan d'oro ("literally: Golden Bread"), suggests. Throughout the Middle Ages, white bread was consumed only by rich people, while the common people could only afford black bread and, often, not even that. Sweet breads were reserved for nobility.

Breads enriched with eggs, butter and sugar or honey were served in the palaces and were known as "royal bread" or "golden bread".

His birth dates back to 1800 , as an evolution of the " Nadalin " , Verona sweet . On October 14th 1894 Melegatti Dominic , founder of the confectionery industry in Verona , filed at the patent office a sweet soft and the characteristic body -shaped eight-pointed star , by the artist Angelo Dall'Oca White , impressionist painter .

• Brewer’s yeast 18 g

• Flour Manitoba 450 gr

• Sugar 125gr

• Eggs 3 and a yolk

• Vanilla

• Salt a teaspoon

• butter170 g

• Milk 60 ml plus three spoons

Panettone

The cook in the service of Ludovico il Moro was commissioned to

prepare a sumptuous Christmas dinner for many nobles of the

district , but the sweet , forgotten in the oven , almost charred .

Given the desperation of the cook , Toni , a small kitchen boy ,

proposed a solution : " With a bit ' of flour , butter , eggs , zest of

lime and some raisins - this morning I cooked this cake . If you have

nothing else , you can bring it to the table . " The cook agreed and ,

trembling , stood behind a curtain to spy on the reaction of the

guests. All were enthusiastic and to the Duke , who wanted to know

the name of that delicacy , the cook revealed the secret : " L'è 'l pan

del Toni ." Since then it is the “ pane di Toni " , or the " panettone " .

PetraliCookies typical of Reggio Calabria made of crescent-shaped pastrystuffed with figs, walnuts, almonds, orange peel and tangerine. Theexterior is usually garnished with a brushed with beaten egg yolk andsmall balls of colored sugar, or alternatively can be trimmed with icingsugar, dark chocolate or white chocolate. These cakes are usuallyprepared and eaten during Christmas time.

How to do them

• FOR THE PASTRY: On a table make a mound offlour,in the center add the sugar, eggs, vanilla bag, lard, baking powder and grated lemon peel. Mix ingredients slowly, forming a dough too soft, butstill compact and homogeneous. The doughshould not be a lot of work with your hands. Wecover, then, with a damp towel and let it rest for a half hour.

FOR THE FILLING: Chop figs and put them in a bowl, soften them with hot coffee alreadysweetened and cooked wine. Chop walnuts, almonds, orange peel and that of mandarin. Addthat together with raisins and a pinch of cinnamon. Mix everything and let rest for at least two days. (Itshould stir from time to time and if necessarypossibly add more coffee).

TO MAKE PETRALI: floured the work surface, pull with a

rolling pin a very thin sheet from which we will derive some

discs with a diameter of 10 cm. about. We place on half of

each disc, a tablespoon of filling and we cover with the

other half. We put the ornaments in the oven at 180 °, on a

buttered baking sheet.

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We have the petrali on a tray, brush with beaten

egg and put devils colored.

(Petrali can be covered, always just on top, with

icing sugar or chocolate or white chocolate)