It's amazing what you don't forget when it comes to the Holidays. After so many years of enjoying the Thanksgiving Day with family and friends, I find it is not the immediate joys surfacing at the present family dinner, but the ones form the past...those backed by tradition, by family members long gone, by stories told and retold until we could speak them from memory.
Everyone who has ever participated in a Thanksgiving dinner would be surpised to see what is prepared at an Italian Thanksgiving meal. Now, if the aroma of turkey roasting and pies cooling aren't enough to get your saliva glands oozing, try this:
Thanksgiving Italian Style.
Start/antipasto--salamis, cheese, olives, roasted peppers pepperoni, artichoke hearts shining in
100% virgin Italian olive oil. Crusty bread and individual dishes of 100% Italian
olive oil for dunking. And plenty of cross conversation.
Soup/zuppa--the traditional Italian Wedding soup. Not too much conversation. hard to slurp and talk
at the same time.
Pasta-- usually la sagna or stuffed manicotti, attended by a phalanx of meatballs, sausage and brochiole ( a stuffed, rolled beef cutlet cooked in the Italian gravy, sliced and
drizzled with 100% Italian olive oil).
Salad/ensalata--a plain green salad dressed with red vinegar and 100% Italian olive oil, ( served mid-
way through the meal as a digestive).
Turkey--Traditional stuffed turkey, rubbed with 100% Italian olive oil before roasting.
Vegetables--sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, creamed corn, creamed string beans, and cauliflower
dripping with a rich cheese sauce.
Dessert--Italian pastries whose name I can pronounce but can not spell. Apple and pumpkin pies,
and Italian cookies called "Knots."
Coffee--Espresso served with twists of lemon rind and sugar cubes and regular served with (no, I'm
not going to say 100% Italian olive oil). Regular coffee was served with cream and sugar
or black.
After coffeee--assorted nuts, fresh fruit, figs and dates (sugared and plain).
Last--Conversation, stories new and repeats...especially liked the war stroies told by my
uncles.
Wines:
A dry, white, pinot g rigio first with antipasto.
A hearty chianti served with pasta and gravy meats.
Either served with the turkey according to individual tastes.
Dessert wines, sauterns or ports.
Now, if you are wondering how long it took us to consume this feast. No less than 6 or 7 hours. We'd start at 1pm and finish around 8pm. Slow and easy. Every course digesting making room for the next.
All this food was served on several dinner sets And the least amount of guests you'd invite was 16; anything less was considered a paltry affair.And just think, we had no dishwashers.
The following day none of your clothes fit around your waist.And you didn't want to see an antipasto or a turkey rubbed in 100% Italian olive oil until Easter.
either
In case you are wondering. . . this meal took hours to eat. We'd usually start about 1pm and finish
well afater 8pm.
