{"id":1994,"date":"2015-01-03T20:03:14","date_gmt":"2015-01-03T19:03:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.belpiemonte.com\/en\/?p=1994"},"modified":"2015-01-11T19:09:29","modified_gmt":"2015-01-11T18:09:29","slug":"christmas-inspirations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.belpiemonte.com\/en\/christmas-inspirations\/","title":{"rendered":"Christmas inspirations"},"content":{"rendered":"

This year, quite unusual (maybe because it\u2019s untypical year for me), I spent Christmas holidays in Italy. Instead of Christmas tree I prepared decorations of picea branches, despite traditional Polish dishes I cooked Italian risotto with funghi porcini<\/em> (my recipe you can find below) and as a bonus I was enjoying wonderful views and warm, sunny weather\u2026<\/p>\n

\"Italian<\/a>
my Italian Christmas tree<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"The<\/a>
sunset in the Langhe<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

<\/p>\n

My Polish friends often ask me about Italian way of celebrating Christmas and I always respond that from my experience it\u2019s quite similar to Poland, but here people take it much easier than in Poland: less crazy cleaning, less crazy cooking… Christmas period is not only time dedicated to the family, as people often meet with friends and who has more money takes these days off to go for skiing or to lie on the beach in some warm countries.<\/p>\n

\"Monviso,<\/a>
such wonderful views I was enjoying<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Langhe,<\/a>
it’s seems to be springtime, not December<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In Poland Christmas Eve dinner is the most important time, in Italy it\u2019s pranzo natalizio<\/em>. 25th<\/sup> of December all family gets together to eat an abundant lunch or at home, or in the restaurant. Dishes are simple and change from one region to another. In Piedmont small dumplings (agnolotti<\/em>) stuffed with meat and vegetables are the most popular in these days, in Lazio and in Tuscan other type of dumplings (cappelletti<\/em>) are the first choice too, but served in broth, in Sardine a lamb with potatoes and typical bread carasau <\/em>is a traditional Christmas dish, while in Campania, Molise, Calabria – different types of fishes.<\/p>\n

\"Italian<\/a>
Italian ham and sausage<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

However, independently from the region, the real king of Italian Christmas is Panettone, a\u00a0 sweet bread loaf, mainly stuffed with raisins and candied orange inside (although it can be filled with chocolate as well). Because of laborious and complicated process of backing, it\u2019s rather bought then prepared at home. The price oscillates from 3 \u20ac (industrial one) to 15 \u20ac (artisan one) per 1 kg. Pandoro (it’s similar to Panettone but made with a different type of pasta, dusted with icing sugar, normally without filling is another famous Italian Christmas sweet.<\/p>\n

\"Panettone,<\/a>
Italian Panettone<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A Christmas Crib is another very characteristic Italian Christmas symbol. Presepi <\/em>decorate hoses, churches, hospitals, they are built in cities and in little towns. Figures, stable, artificial moss \u2013 everything it\u2019s needed to create a nativity scene you can do yourself or it can be bought in supermarket or stationary shops.<\/p>\n

\"Italian<\/a>
Christmas Crib in Roddi<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Italian<\/a>
handmade figures<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

And below you will find my Christams inspiration – a simple and fast risotto<\/em> with delicious funghi porcini<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Risotto with funghi porcini<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Risotto<\/a>
risotto with funghi porcini<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Serves:<\/span><\/strong> 4<\/p>\n

Ingridients:<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

20 g of dried mushrooms (funghi porcini)<\/p>\n

350 g od rice<\/p>\n

3 garlic gloves<\/p>\n

0,5 l of stock<\/p>\n

1 tablespoon olive oil (not extra vergine)<\/p>\n

1 tablespoon of butter<\/p>\n

200 g freshly grated Parmezan cheese<\/p>\n

Served with:<\/span><\/strong> white dry wine type Chardonnay<\/p>\n

Preparation method:<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

30 minutes before cooking you need to soak dried mushrooms in warm water. Then dried them (but don\u2019t pour out obtained brown infusion!), chop mushrooms on small pieces. In a small pot prepare the stock. Heat olive oil in a large saucepan, add sliced garlic and fry for 1 min, then add funghi porcini and fry for another 1 min. , then pour rice. As it cooks keep stirring it so rice doesn\u2019t stick to the bottom of the pan. Poor one ladle of stock and one ladle of infusion, continue stirring until absorbed and repeat this operation until the rise is fully cooked. Add some salt. At the end take the saucepan off the heat, add butter, stir well and wait for about 2 minutes before serving. The Parmesan cheese you can add directly to the dish or sprinkle on your plate.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This year, quite unusual (maybe because it\u2019s untypical year for me), I spent Christmas holidays in Italy. Instead of Christmas tree I prepared decorations of picea branches, despite traditional Polish dishes I cooked Italian risotto with funghi porcini (my recipe you can find below) and as a bonus I was enjoying wonderful views and warm, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[9],"class_list":["post-1994","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-italian-cuisine-recipes","tag-recipes"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.belpiemonte.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1994","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.belpiemonte.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.belpiemonte.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.belpiemonte.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.belpiemonte.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1994"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"http:\/\/www.belpiemonte.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1994\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2012,"href":"http:\/\/www.belpiemonte.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1994\/revisions\/2012"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.belpiemonte.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1994"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.belpiemonte.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1994"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.belpiemonte.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1994"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}