Roasted pigling with an apple in its mouth
Italians rear pigs so they can kill them a month before Christmas and enjoy a traditional pork-filled holiday season
Italians love their pork. Most families rear pigs, and then kill them in the month preceding Christmas. From then on, almost every part of the pig is utilised in some way — to make Prosciutto, ham, bacon, pork chops and salami. In many Italian homes, Christmas is a pork feast, from roast pigling to pork sausage or Capone (stuffed pig's trotters) in the boiled mixed meat concoction called Bollito Misto. Giovanni Autunno's home in south Italy is no different.
The chef-cum-owner of Don Giovanni in Juhu may be spending his Christmases in Mumbai now, but his dinner remains as traditional as ever. The Christmas lunch starts with the antipasto which usually includes cheese, olives and other cured meat. This is followed by a good broth. "From central to south Italy, the broth is made with a whole turkey, usually killed around mid-November," says Giovanni, adding that the turkey is reared in corn fields where they feast on grasshoppers. The Pasatelli in brodo is a broth made with brown pasta (rolled like Christmas kulkuls) that contains parmesan cheese and bread crumbs.
A peek into the Christmas menu at Don Giovanni reveals simple, tried-and-tested favourites from home. There are standard pasta dishes, the extremely light papardelle con funghi porcini (wild mushroom pasta which is best eaten hot), gnocchi di zuccha (pumpkin gnocchi with prawns and zucchini), and then the piece de resistance, ravioli de carne. The ravioli is stuffed with chicken, beef, Prosciutto (parma ham), cooked ham and mortadella (pork sausage made with finely ground pork meat, salt, white pepper, peppercorns, coriander, anise, pieces of pistachio and wine stuffed in a beef or pork casing).
The main course is either a roasted pigling "with an apple stuffed in its mouth", a stuffed turkey or both.
One staple at the Christmas table is the Cassata Siciliana. "This traditional cake is usually presented to visiting families. It is a round cake with fruit juices, liqueur and ricotta cheese, and has Arab origins," says Giovanni. Dessert is the crispy almond biscotti, the southern Italian special Cartellate pugliesi al sugo di pomegranate (a fried pastry-like dish topped with pomegranate syrup) and the Panzerotti (pastry filled with lemon marmalade and topped with pomegranate sauce). "Drinks are obviously strong wines, like the sweet moscato, or rosé wines called rosato," he says.
Italians rear pigs so they can kill them a month before Christmas and enjoy a traditional pork-filled holiday season
Italians love their pork. Most families rear pigs, and then kill them in the month preceding Christmas. From then on, almost every part of the pig is utilised in some way — to make Prosciutto, ham, bacon, pork chops and salami. In many Italian homes, Christmas is a pork feast, from roast pigling to pork sausage or Capone (stuffed pig's trotters) in the boiled mixed meat concoction called Bollito Misto. Giovanni Autunno's home in south Italy is no different.
The chef-cum-owner of Don Giovanni in Juhu may be spending his Christmases in Mumbai now, but his dinner remains as traditional as ever. The Christmas lunch starts with the antipasto which usually includes cheese, olives and other cured meat. This is followed by a good broth. "From central to south Italy, the broth is made with a whole turkey, usually killed around mid-November," says Giovanni, adding that the turkey is reared in corn fields where they feast on grasshoppers. The Pasatelli in brodo is a broth made with brown pasta (rolled like Christmas kulkuls) that contains parmesan cheese and bread crumbs.
A peek into the Christmas menu at Don Giovanni reveals simple, tried-and-tested favourites from home. There are standard pasta dishes, the extremely light papardelle con funghi porcini (wild mushroom pasta which is best eaten hot), gnocchi di zuccha (pumpkin gnocchi with prawns and zucchini), and then the piece de resistance, ravioli de carne. The ravioli is stuffed with chicken, beef, Prosciutto (parma ham), cooked ham and mortadella (pork sausage made with finely ground pork meat, salt, white pepper, peppercorns, coriander, anise, pieces of pistachio and wine stuffed in a beef or pork casing).
The main course is either a roasted pigling "with an apple stuffed in its mouth", a stuffed turkey or both.
One staple at the Christmas table is the Cassata Siciliana. "This traditional cake is usually presented to visiting families. It is a round cake with fruit juices, liqueur and ricotta cheese, and has Arab origins," says Giovanni. Dessert is the crispy almond biscotti, the southern Italian special Cartellate pugliesi al sugo di pomegranate (a fried pastry-like dish topped with pomegranate syrup) and the Panzerotti (pastry filled with lemon marmalade and topped with pomegranate sauce). "Drinks are obviously strong wines, like the sweet moscato, or rosé wines called rosato," he says.
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