The scenic view from Fiesole
In April of 2008, Cokebaby and I travelled to Italy with his sister and her husband. While there we had a lovely dining experience at a place called Il Latino in Florence.
Each year for the holidays we traditionally have a “luxe” meal with our in-laws slash travel companions. This year we attempted to recreate the meal with the help of a couple bottles of wine that we received courtesy of the restaurateur of Il Latino himself.
Thanks to the international and high-end produce selections at Pete’s Frootique, we were able to find the ingredients required and we were able to bring the tastes of Tuscany right to our dining room table.
Now, I may be a foodie, but I’m not one for overcomplicated dishes that require fine knife skills, knowing how to use a double-boiler and juggling. In recent years I’ve found that the good folks at Epicurious.com have an excellent database of gourmet but fairly straightforward to prepare recipes. Coupled with Food Network shows, Cokebaby and I have been able to put together some yummy meals without breaking a sweat.
Here’s what we pulled together for our “luxe” dinner this year with recipe links (where applicable) included.
Antipasto
These items were served as sharing plates along with high quality olive oil and balsamic vinegar for dipping:
Prosciutto
Bruschetta
Sliced tomatoes
Bocconcini
Marinated artichoke hearts
Olives stuffed with garlic
Primo
We couldn’t decide between the two dishes so we opted for two small portions of each:
Tuscan white bean soup
Wild boar ragu on penne pasta
Secondo
Bistecca alla Fiorentina (Florentine style steak). Here Cokebaby actually roasted prime rib in the oven using this recipe.
Contorno (side dish)
Roasted new potatoes (in the pan with the steak).
Dolce
Sparkling muscat wine
Chocolate hazelnut cake (we cheated and just bought this from Sobey’s Compliment brand)
Digestivo
Choice of Limoncello or Amaretto
We could barely move after the feast but it was a great night that brought back memories of a trip that seems so far off already.
What are some of your holiday traditions? Anything that encourages a New Year’s resolution to diet? I don’t know about you but most of the holidays involved eating in excess.
Kimberly Walsh is a social media and online community manager. You can follow her on Twitter @AliasGrace.
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
Our holidays include a lot of mulled wine. And mince pies (not for me, but my man has a mega-addiction to them). My addiction is to sticky toffee pudding.
Your feast sounds FABULOUS!
That sounds absolutely delicious and by golly, I want to go to Tuscany just to eat the food. At the very least, this post inspired me to have some sort of Tuscan feast of my own in the near future.
Sounds divine. Good Italian cookery is rarely complicated. I once heard a saying that sort of says it all about Italian food:
When the French have had a good meal, they thank the chef.
When an Italian have a good meal they thank God.
Marsha: To me, nothing says comfort like a glass of mulled wine and some roasted chestnuts. Yummy. As for mince pies, I feel the same. My nose kind of crinkles at the idea. More for everyone else though, right?
Jenn: You’ll have to post about your own feast. I’m always looking for yummy (and tested) recipes.
Gifted Typist: That’s a great (and I think true) saying. My brother-in-law is Italian and the only truly complicated dish I’ve seen so far is tiramisu but that’s probably more to do with my skill level than anything else!
My problem with antipasto is that I always fill up on it (finger foods are my weakness) and don’t enjoy the rest of the meal as much as a result. Everything there sounds so amazing, and props for giving yourself a break for dessert: Sobey’s chocolate hazelnut cake is actually pretty good.
Lauren: I have the same problem with antipasto. I’m pretty sure it’s all made with opium. Thankfully we planned with portion control in mind but still wound up eating way too much.