Holidays Feasts in Rome

Holidays in Rome and Italy in general are always very much food related.  I must say I love that and at the same time I am glad that they are far and in-between.

For the Christmas holidays, we usually prepare a huge dinner on the 24th as my husband is originally from the south of Italy (Naples to be exact).  It’s a non-meat meal which is based mainly around seafood.

Crostini

This year we started off with crostini topped with a variety of smoked fish, tuna, salmon and swordfish.  It was followed by pasta with clams (vongole), then we have some sauteed mussels, octopus salad and a tuna loaf in the shape of a fish.  We ended the dinner with an eggplant parmesan.

An eclectic mix of dishes which I don’t think is a truly traditional dinner but nonetheless sticking to the basic principle of no meat.  Of course the meal would not have been completed without dessert.  I made a chocolate pie which is from my husband’s family and the usually torrone and panettone. 

I was told that in Rome, most families just have a normal dinner on Christmas Eve (without meat also) and their meal is centered around Christmas lunch.  This meal is around meat.  If you are lucky like my sister-in-law who celebrate the 24th and her husband’s family who celebrate the 25th, your stomach can really be challenged by the amount of food you eat for these two meals.

Tortellini with broth

Since it was just 5 of us for lunch on Christmas it was supposedly lighter.  We had some cheese, salame, olives and mortadella as starters followed by a northern Italian dish of tortellini with broth and then roast leg of lamb with roasted pototoes, saute mushrooms and artichokes roman style.  Our desserts were heavily chocolate based with the chocolate version of panettone which is called tartufone.

Pasta with calamari

To round it off, we then have New Year’s Eve dinner which we decided to have a lighter meal.  I was full by the time we were finished with the appetizers where we had a pate of tuna with orange.  The pate was so good I had more than my share.  The pasta with calamari I couldn’t refuse because it was made by a friend and only had one serving.  The calamari was so soft as they had cooked it for 3 hours.  My cousin who usually has problems digesting calamari had no issues with this one.

As it is tradition, there was also lenticchie and cotechino but  I was happy to pass on that.  For desserts we a variety ranging from mandarini, torrone, gianduiotto chocolates, panettone and ciambelline al vino.

Panettone

Besides the food, it’s always nice to be around family and friends during the holidays in Rome.  Especially when they are young ones around who are filled with excitement.  Hope everyone enjoyed the holidays whether you were in Rome, other cities and towns in Italy or half way across the world.

Wishing everyone a Fabulous 2011.  Buon Anno a tutti!!