Christmas in Italy: Aldo Zilli's recipes

In the first of our series on how to celebrate Christmas three different ways, celebrity chef Aldo Zilli shares three recipes that are tradtional in Italy

Panetone, the sweet and citrus dome shaped Italian bread, has undoubtedly imbued British Christmas tables in the past few years, but these are not the only traditions that Italian enjoy over the festive period. But traditional flavours for Italian Christmas spreads include seasonal ingredients such as chestnuts, almonds, sage, dried and spiced fruits and anchovies and artichokes.

Fish is often eaten on Christmas Eve, where meat – and sometimes dairy – are not eaten prior to the big day. And after midnight mass, traditionally many eat a slice on Pantone and match it with a mug hot chocolate.

In southern Italy, the main dish is known as Capitone, a large female eel which is roasted, baked or fried. Other dishes from the area include tortellini in chicken stock, crostini with liver pate, and lamb with lentils and vegetables. While desserts include panforte and pandoro – slight variations of panetone bread.Northern Italy feasts on a mainly pork, where the skin of the lower leg, known as lo zampone is eaten, and the foot is stuffed with spiced minced meat and called il cotechino.

Italian born Celebrity chef, Aldo Zillo, suggests three dishes from his home country to create your own Italian inspired Christmas feast.

Struffoli (Neapolitan fritters with Umbrian honey)

Serves four

500 grams flour
4 eggs 
2 grams salt
2 tbsps white sugar 
2 tsps vanilla essence 
1 litre vegetable oil
500 grams honey
2 tbsps butter
Zest of 1 orange and 1 lemon 
Handful of Hundreds and Thousands 

Take four eggs and two tablespoons of white sugar and whisk together until meringue texture.Add a pinch of salt, two teaspoons of vanilla essence, two tablespoons of butter and 500g flour. Mix all ingredients together thoroughly into a dough then separate into small marble sized dough balls and fry in vegetable oil. The dough balls will sink to the bottom of the fryer as they cook, when ready the dough balls will rise to the top. Lift out of the fryer and leave for a minimum of 8 hours after cooking. Take the honey (should be firm in texture not too runny) and roll the cooked dough balls in the honey to coat them and assemble in a pyramid shape. Add sprinkles and serve.

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Chicken broth with bread and parmesan dumpling, black winter truffle

1 full chicken
2 carrots (diced)
2 celery (diced)
1 onion (diced)
60g salt
3.5 litre water
500g ice
2 bay leaves
40g parsley (whole)
20g Olive oil

For the dumpling:

400g  Chopped Ciabatta (2 day old - needs to be dry) 
1 garlic
80g pecorino cheese
100g unsalted butter
20g parsley

Heat the oil, add diced carrots, celery and onion. Once crispy add the water. Add the ice and then the chicken. Leave on a slow boil. When water has evaporated by approx. 50% (approx. 1.5 hour) take out the chicken and vegetable and remove fat residue. Take broth and return boil. Mix all ingredients into a dough. Check consistency. If dry add more butter. Once mixed, separate the dough into small dumplings and keep refrigerated 3-4 hours Add dumplings to the broth and cook for 1.5 minutes Serve with shaved truffle.

Slow cooked Beef cheek in Barolo with chestnuts, Friarielli and truffle potato

Serve 4

800g beef cheek
60g Olive oil
2 carrot (diced)
2 onion (diced)
2 celery (diced)
1 bay leaf
30g rosemary
30g thyme
1.5 litre Chianti or Barola
60g flour
150g chestnut for veg mash
100g for garnish

Coat the beef in plain flour and seal in hot oil in the pan - season with salt and pepper - cook for 10 minutes. In a separate pan, fry off the diced vegetables for 5-10 minutes and season. Add half the wine and bring to boil. Add the remaining wine to the beef bringing to the boil. Combine the beef, vegetables and wine adding the bay leaf, rosemary and thyme. Cover and simmer on a low heat for a minimum of 2 hours. Check frequently, adding water if required. Once cooked, remove beef and vegetables. Mash/puree vegetables with 150g chestnut adding the remaining chestnuts to garnish. Place beef back into red wine sauce and heat for 20 minutes until consistency thickens. Serve with spinach and roast potato.

Aldo Zilli is Chef Consigliere for the San Carlo Restaurant Group sancarlo.co.uk and hosts “Buongiorno with Aldo Zilli” on Soho Radio sohoradiolondon.com