• Mixed cured meats from Umbria, aged pecorino cheese, home-made fig and balsamic vinegar chutney, and wild boar pate served on toasted Maltese bread
• Fresh ox-tail soup
• Home-made ravioli of broccoli and cotechino served with fresh cherry tomatoes sauce
• Roasted partridge with bacon served with brussels sprouts and roasted chestnuts
• Traditional Christmas pudding with home-made custard

Our antipasto took us through a selection of meats we got from Umbria when we attended the festival of I Primi d’Italia, we also had a well aged Pecorino cheese from Cilento in the Campania region, which we served with the fig and balsamic vinegar chutney my Mum prepared in September. The combination of tastes was delicious! With one bite you can savour the piquant and sharp taste of the cheese and follow it with a spoonful of chutney so you absorb the sweetness of the figs. Could not miss the wild boar pate from France which had a delicate strong aroma.

The ox-tail soup was a succesful experiment! We bought this fresh piece of ox-tail whilst we were at the butcher picking up the partridges. I always wondered what it tastes like so we decided to try the soup. It’s basically a very easy recipe where you leave the ox-tail to simmer in vegetable stock for 3 hours, but it was well worth the wait since its flavour was stunningly rich.

Ahh the ravioli! It was our 5th kilo of home-made ravioli.. must say that our pasta machine had an intensive work out this Christmas! We prepared the filling with boiled broccoli, cooked cotechino and parmesan and produced these ravioli stars. The consistency of the pasta was perfect… thin and light! For the sauce we cooked fresh Maltese cherry tomatoes in some garlic and then blended in the ravioli with some more grated parmesan. Everyone asked for more yet there was the partridge waiting for some space in our stomachs.

The roasted partridge was the result of our ongoing search to try original recipes. We simply basted the bird with some butter, put some bacon slices on top and roasted for 20 -25 minutes. The bird is considered to be game and not poultry, in fact it tastes similar to pheasant with lean and dark meat. We served the roast with gooseberry chutney, new potatoes and a brussel sprouts and chestnut bake.

Finally, for dessert, we had a traditional Christmas pudding (not home-made this time) but served with home-made custard! The light creamy taste lingered on our tongues, alas not for long… only until we sat down again to have a late tea.

Hope you enjoyed our menu suggestion and if you would like any of the recipes we tried please leave us a note and we will follow it up.

In the meantime, enjoy our pictures & best wishes for the 2011!

What did you eat for Christmas? Share with us your menu and experiences.

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Cotechino loaf

Serves 8 (as a starter)

• 6 leaves of savoy cabbage
• 200g cooked cotechino (as per packet instructions)
• 200g minced beef
• parsley
• 3 tblsp breadcrumbs
• 1 egg
• grated rind of 1 lemon
• salt & pepper

Savoy cabbage meat loaf

Boil the leaves of the savoy cabbage in some salted water for 15 minutes. When ready place them on a kitchen towel and pat them dry. In the meantime put some olive oil in a pan, add the minced beef, and the cooked cotechino, chopped. Remove from heat when meat is browned and add parsley, breadcrumbs, egg, rind of lemon, salt & pepper. Cut a rectangular piece of oven-proof paper and spread it with some butter so it does not stick. Place the cabbage leaves on this rectangular paper and put the edges slightly on top of each other so that you form a base where to put the meat mixture. Pour the meat mixture in the middle and with the help of the oven paper roll the leaves to form a sausage with the meat in the middle. Tighten the roll with some kitchen string and place in boiling water for 15 minutes. When cooked leave to cool, remove the string & oven paper and cut into slices. Serve with some fresh tomato & basil sauce.