Do you want to amaze your family and friends with a delicious gourmet Christmas menu this Holiday Season? Here are four fine-dining recipes proposed by LeiTV, with unusual pairings, precious ingredients and technical preparations for a sublime epicurean experience!
Starter: gourmet crackers with poppy seeds, vodka cream cheese and Beluga caviar
Put in the mixer 140 g of flour, a pinch of salt and one sachet of yeast for savoury pies. Add half a glass of water and work for about ten seconds until you get an elastic dough. Add one tablespoon of poppy seeds and proceed to knead with your hands. Roll out the dough into a thin sheet (about 1 mm), cut it with a knife to give it your desired shape and bake at 180° C for 10 minutes. After this time, turn the crackers over and cook for ten more minutes. In a bowl, put the cream cheese and one tablespoon of vodka, mix well and – once the biscuits are cool – put a teaspoon on each. Cover with a teaspoon of Beluga caviar, decorate with fennel and serve.
First course: fresh maltagliati pasta with black truffle, pine nuts and apples
Prepare the fresh maltagliati pasta, then roll it out into a thin sheet and cut it into irregular triangles of dough. In a hot non-stick pan, toast the pine nuts with a sprig of rosemary, which will release its essential oils with the heat. Remove the pine nuts and, in the same pan, add a knob of butter and the peeled and diced apples. Cook, season with salt and pepper and turn off the heat. Boil the maltagliati in boiling salted water, drain after 4 minutes and dip them in the sauce with a few tablespoons of the pasta cooking water. Mix well, add the pine nuts and serve. Grate the truffle on the plates directly on the table.
Main course: caramelized scallops with sweet and sour julienne and crunchy pumpkin
Julienne the vegetables (carrots, celery, spring onions and courgettes). In a pan, pour a glass of white wine vinegar and three tablespoons of sugar, mix well, add the vegetables and cook for 10 minutes. Drain the vegetables from the cooking juices. Cut the pumpkin pulp into thin threads and fry them by immersing them in boiling seed oil. When they are crunchy, drain them on kitchen paper. Clean the scallops, remove the coral and brush them with honey. Add very little extra virgin olive oil and scallops in a very hot pan. Cook for one minute on each side. Serve the scallops on a bed of sweet and sour vegetables and decorate them with the pumpkin threads and a pinch of salt.
Dessert: mini ricotta cheesecake with mango
Christmas desserts are unmissable on the Italian holiday menus! Panettone, pandoro, panforte and nougat are real icons among classic dessert recipes. But if you are looking for novelty and fine-dining recipes, here is a delicious, easy and surprising option. Prepare a classic cheesecake and arrange it in small cups. Let it cool for the necessary time, and then serve it with mango slices.
Buon appetito e Buon Natale!
Professional cookery course in Italy
With our professional cookery course in Italy, you will study and work within the venues of one of the most renowned culinary businesses in Florence in an intensive course that will provide technical, practical and theoretical knowledge of everything that concerns food production, preparation, consumption, management and business.
The skills, vision and professional training acquired during the course will allow you to start or enrich a career as Food & Beverage Entrepreneur, Food & Beverage manager, consultant, Chef, and Food & Beverage Event manager.
Check out more information on the Culinary Programme in Florence or contact us: we will be delighted to assist you by chat, telephone or email. You can also request a virtual meeting to meet us online.
Recipes Source: Cucina LeiTV
