Italian Christmas Dinner

There's no planned Christmas meal in Italy. Italy is a country with different traditions for different regions. So it's obvious they have their own set of Italian foods for Christmas. However, some Christmas dinner recipes are still common and today we are going to learn to make the most of them.

Christmas holds a special place in Italy. It is a season for joy and merry making. As the festival itself is more than 2000 years old, it is obvious that many traditional recipes from the country would be included in the dinner menu. Here are some recipes which are considered a must have in an Italian Christmas dinner.

Ingredients
♦ Finely chopped onions, 1 cup
♦ Low-sodium chicken broth, 4 cups
♦ Ground beef, 1 pound
♦ Ground pork, ½ pound
♦ Finely chopped garlic, 5 cloves
♦ Lemon zest, 2 tbsp
♦ Chopped fresh oregano, 4 sprigs
♦ Parsley, 1 tbsp
♦ Instant tapioca, 1 tbsp
♦ Crushed red pepper, 1 tbsp
♦ Olive oil, 3 tbsp
♦ Sugar and salt to taste

Preparation
Take a mixing bowl and add both meats, ½ cup onion, garlic tapioca, sugar and salt. Now sprinkle little red pepper and 1 tbsp water on the mixture. Cover it and keep it for cooling. Take a stock pot, add 1 tbsp olive oil and start heat it over medium flame. Now add the remaining ½ cup onion and 2 cloves of garlic and cook for few minutes.

Pour the broth, water and the remaining crushed pepper, oregano and parsley sprigs and cook it well. Now take out the meat mixture and blend it in a food blender until smooth. Shape them into 1 inch meat balls and keep aside.

Take a saucepan and heat it over medium flame. Add the remaining olive oil and add the meat balls. Now cook the meatballs until they get brown. Now add the meatballs in the pot and heat the mixture over medium flame until it is well cooked. Your Italian meatball soup is ready.

Ingredients
♦ Distilled white vinegar, 1 cup
♦ White sugar, ¼ cup
♦ Canola oil, ½ cup
♦ Peeled and thinly sliced cucumbers, 2 cups
♦ Thinly sliced carrots, 2 cups
♦ Ground black pepper, ½ tsp
♦ Celery seed, 1 tsp
♦ Chopped celery, ½ cup
♦ Onions sliced into rings

Preparation
Put sugar, celery seeds, black pepper, vinegar, oil, and salt in a jar. Shake well so that all the ingredients mix well. In a separate mixing bowl add all the vegetables and pour the dressing over them. Mix it gently and keep it to chill for almost 3 hours.

Ingredients
♦ Linguine (long pasta), 1 pound
♦ Chopped flat-leaf parsley, ½ cup
♦ Bottled clam juice, 1 cup
♦ Tomato puree, 3 cups
♦ Dry white wine, ½ cup
♦ Olive oil, ½ cup
♦ Chopped garlic cloves, 4
♦ Dried thyme, ½ tsp
♦ Red pepper flakes
♦ Fresh-ground black pepper, ½ tsp
♦ Salt to taste

Preparation
On a medium flame heat oil in a frying pan. Add garlic and keep cooking for a minute. Add wine, thyme, and red-pepper flakes; bring to a simmer. Cook well for about 5 minutes. Now add in the tomato puree, juice and salt. Cook for about 10 minutes.

Now add the clams. Continue stirring until the clams are cooked well. Now add the parsley and black pepper. Taste to see if it requires more salt. Take a pot of boiling water and add the linguine. Cook for about 12 minutes. Drain it and add the linguine in the sauce.

Ingredients
♦ Red Zinfandel wine, 750 ml
♦ Water, 2 cups
♦ Sugar, 1 cup
♦ Star anise, 4
♦ Pears with stem, 8

Preparation
Take a 6 quart Dutch oven add wine, water, sugar and star anise and heat it. Peel of the pear skins. Place the peers in the mixture and heat it for at least 10 minutes until pears become a little tender. Remove the pears and set aside on a platter.

Heat the mixture for another 15 minutes on a boil to thicken the liquid. Turn of the flame and after the liquid is cooled pour it on the pears. Wine dipped pears is one of the best Christmas recipes from Italian cuisine.

Other than these delicious and scrumptious recipes mentioned, here are some more recipes that are perfect for Italian festive dinner party. Roast fish bass, salt cod, fried calamari, crab, roasted halibut with fennel and potatoes, rack of lamb with warm apple and lentil salad, lasagna noodles, champagne risotto, and some panettone are popular items.