Christmas Menù Meal 2023

Christmas menù 2023

In addition to my heartfelt Christmas wishes for all of you, I would like to present to you a culinary menu for the festive season so that you can replicate it or perhaps take some cues from it.

It consists of three classic starters, three unusual first courses! 

Here are three tasty starters to suit all tastes, ranging from the classic Vitello Tonnato to Vegetable Muffins and then a crispy Octopus in pea sauce.

Veal in Tuna Sauce

Several cuts of  veal meat can be used.

Ingredients for 5-6 persons

• Veal rump 6-7 hectolitres
• Medium carrot 1
• Medium onion 1
• Celery rib 1
• White wine 200mL
• Olive oil 2 tbsp
• Salt and peppercorns to taste
• Water 2L
• For the tuna sauce
• Tuna in oil 125g
• Eggs 3 
• Capers 15-20
• Broth 250mL

Procedure:

Wash the vegetables, cut 1 carrot, 1 onion and 1 celery stalk into pieces and put them in a saucepan with two tablespoons of oil, turn on the heat and brown them for a couple of minutes on a low flame. 

After a couple of minutes add the meat, peppercorns, salt and approx. 2L of water to the casserole. 

Cooking Veal:

We cook in water with the lid on for an hour and a half on a low heat.

In the meantime we can devote ourselves to preparing the tuna sauce. Boil 3 eggs and when they are hard-boiled, drain them, peel them and put them in a blender with 125 g tuna, 15-20 capers and a ladle of cooking stock from the casserole dish. 

Blend everything to obtain a homogeneous sauce.

When cooked, remove the meat from the casserole dish, place it on a chopping board and allow it to cool before slicing.

Place the sliced meat on a plate and garnish with the sauce and perhaps some capers.

Crispy octopus in cream of green peas.

Ingredients for 4 persons

• Octopus 2 kg
• Celery 1 rib
• Shallot 2
• Green peas 400g
• Vegetable stock 1/2L
• Butter 30g
• Cream 70g
• Basil 5 leaves
• Sage 1 leaf
• Garlic 2 cloves
• Salt and pepper to taste

Procedure:

We gut 2 octopuses and rub them with coarse salt, rinse them with plenty of water and transfer them to a pot, cover them with water and boil them over a low heat for about an hour, seasoning the water with a sage leaf.

While we are waiting for the octopus to cook, we prepare the pea soup. In a saucepan we place 2 shallots and 1 stick of celery finely chopped and sauté with 30 g butter and a clove of crushed poached garlic. 

Once the shallots have browned, add 400 g green peas, cover with 1/2 litre stock and cook for 20 minutes.

Turn off the heat and add a few basil leaves, a clove of garlic (optional) and 70 g cream to the peas. Blend everything with the minipimmer until a smooth, velvety cream is obtained and season with salt and pepper.

Drain the octopus from the cooking water, cut off the tentacles and dry them. Heat a frying pan with a little oil and a crushed clove of garlic and allow the oil to flavour for a couple of minutes.  

We add the tentacles and toast them for a couple of minutes.

Now we can serve by placing the velouté on the bottom of the plate and the octopus tentacles in the centre.

Vegetable muffins

Here is my recipe for beautiful and tasty savoury vegetable muffins to enjoy anytime from appetiser to side dish.

Ingredients for 10 muffins

Mixed vegetables 210g (carrots, courgettes, peppers, aubergines, etc.)

• Onion 1
• Flour 00 170g
• Milk 120ml
• Whole eggs 3
• Seed oil 80ml
• Parmesan cheese 90g
• Instant yeast 15g
• Salt and pepper 

Procedure:

Wash all the vegetables we want to use for a total weight of about 210g, cut the onion and vegetables into cubes and in a non-stick pan sauté them with 15ml of evo oil salt and pepper.

In a bowl, break 3 eggs and beat them together with 120 ml milk, 170 g flour and the sachet of yeast without creating lumps, 80 ml oil and 90 g Parmesan cheese to obtain a fluid and well-blended mass.

We can add the sautéed vegetables to the mixture and after stirring well, we transfer the mixture into lightly oiled aluminium ramekins without exceeding half the container.

Baking:

We bake in a hot oven at 180° for 25 minutes.

Here is a selection of three very tasty first courses for Christmas lunch:

Christmas Risotto with Mulled Wine

Ingredients x4 persons

• Carnaroli rice 340g
• Vegetable stock 1L
• Glühwein/Vin Brulé wine 100mL
• Cooking cream 30ml
• Red onion 1
• Butter 60g
• Salt & pepper to taste
• Olive oil 15mL

Procedure:

Finely chop a red onion and brown it, in a saucepan with a handle, with 15mL of evo oil and half the 30g butter, turning it with a wooden spoon.

Now add the rice and toast it for a couple of minutes, stirring continuously. 

We then add 100mL of aromatic Glüwein/Vin Brulé wine, which must completely evaporate until the alcohol part is lost. Once the wine has evaporated, we add the boiling stock, one ladleful at a time, for the entire cooking time, which will be 17-19 minutes, continuing to stir with a wooden spoon so that it does not stick to the saucepan.

Nearly cooked, we add the 30ml cooking cream, cook for a further two minutes, turn off the heat, season with salt and pepper, stir in the remaining butter and serve. 

Garnish with a cinnamon stick or star anise and perhaps a slice of caramelised orange.

Linguine Nere in a Shrimp and Hazelnut 

Ingredients for 4 persons

• Black Linguine 400g
• Peeled prawns 80g
• Courgettes 2 
• White onion 1/2
• Cooking cream 50 ml
• Milk 50ml
• Cherry tomatoes 10 
• Chopped hazelnuts 80g
• Fresh basil one tuft
• Mint leaves 5
• Olive oil 20ml
• Salt and pepper to taste

Procedure:

Click on " Tagliatelle al Nero di Seppia" if you want to make the dough yourself, or buy 400g fresh tagliatelle.

Wash the cherry tomatoes and cut them in half for later use, cut the onion into very thin slices. 

We prepare the courgettes after washing them, cut them into cubes and sauté them in a non-stick frying pan with salt and pepper and a little olive oil for 10 minutes.

Put them in a blender with 50 ml cream and 50 ml milk, a mint leaf, salt and pepper and blend until creamy. 

We put a pot for pasta on the boil, as soon as it boils we salt the water and throw in the pasta.

In the non-stick frying pan used before to cook the courgettes we put 20ml of evo oil and half a white onion cut earlier, let it brown and add the cherry tomatoes, let it cook for 5 minutes and add the shelled shrimps and after a minute the courgette cream we created earlier. 

Drain the pasta al dente about 3 minutes before it is completely cooked and toss it in the pan.

Serve and sprinkle with the hazelnut kernels and a mint leaf.🍃🍃🍃

Gnocchi with Parmesan Cream and Coffee

Just reading the title of the recipe makes your mouth water, gnocchi with Parmesan cream, saffron and roasted coffee powder.

Ingredients for 4 people

• Gnocchi 500g
• Milk 250ml
• Butter 40g
• Flour 00 30g
• Parmesan cheese 130g
• Saffron 1 sachet (better 2 if you like saffron)
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Mocha coffee powder to taste

Procedure:

First of all we prepare a saffron and parmesan béchamel sauce, in a small saucepan we melt 40g of butter on a low flame, add 30g of sifted flour and cook 2 minutes, thus obtaining a clear "ruox".

We add 250ml of milk and saffron, one or two sachets at your discretion and bring to the boil, turn off the heat and add 130g of Parmesan cheese and with the minipimmer mix and make our sauce "silky".

We correct the salt and pepper after tasting.

We put a pot of water to boil.

Finely chop a quarter of a white onion and sauté it in a non-stick pan with 15 ml of evo oil, add the parmesan and saffron sauce and let it simmer, boil the gnocchi for a few minutes and then finish them in the pan, adding a ladle of the cooking water if necessary.

Serve hot, sprinkle with ground coffee powder and serve.

In the next post two very tasty and tempting main courses and ends with two desserts, including the classic tiramisu.

See you soon..your Chef Mirko Giacometti