Merry Christmas from the Country House (part 1)

Copyright 2009, Maria Liberati
Christmas has deliciously arrived at the house in the country, branches of  fresh rosemary for  decoration and a roaring fire in the caminetto, the scents our freshly baked Christmas lasagne in the oven, that’s (part of) what Christmas means to me.
Although the temperature is 64 degrees in the mountains of Abruzzo and no snow in sight, the scents, sights and sounds of the season abound..after arriving yesterday to celebrate vigilia (or Christmas eve) and our first Holiday meal of the season. Today will be a series of meals and eating and visiting and visiting and eating. Breakfast today consisted of a cappucino only, too full to eat from last night’s celebration and need to leave room for today’s lunch and dinner feasts.
Our menu for Christmas Eve was:
*Insalate di Mare (fresh seafood salad)
*smoked salmon
*freshly steamed shrimp
*Vongole (clams) and Cozze (mussels) cooked in a fresh tomato based ‘acqua pazza’ over toasted crusty bread
*Riso al pescatore
*insata (salad)
*sorbetto di limone
*Semifreddo torronata (a frozen cake with bits of chocolate and torrone inside)
*accompanied by a white Trebbiano for Abruzzo
*chocolate torrone made locally in Abruzzo
Today’s Christmas dinner, freshly made lasagne for sure (it is baking in my oven), the rest will be a surprise. Since we are eating with friends and family who will be making other dishes to coordinate….one thing for sure they will be delicious, and I will have many recipes to share.