Chef Pietro Fortunati's menu for Christmas lunch

So the time of the Christmas holidays has arrived, an opportunity to be in the company of relatives and friends, celebrating with large binges of excellent homemade dishes, all together.
What do you eat at Christmas in Tuscany? Christmas recipes are based on simple and genuine ingredients of popular cuisine that become a triumph of flavors on our tables. They are typically fish-based dishes stewed or in soups for Christmas Eve and succulent meats and roasts for Christmas lunch.
Each house has its variants and traditions that are handed down from generation to generation, from grandparents to grandchildren, which generally remain unchanged over time, because they carry with them those childhood and family memories that are so precious in our culture.
Even if the Borgo Scopeto Relais gates are closed at Christmas, our Chef Pietro Fortunati decided to share with us his family's menu and its traditions for the Christmas lunch.

Starters

At our chef's home they eat appetizers based on cold cuts and croutons, just like most of the tuscan people.

• Cured meats such as seasoned sausages and small salamis and local cheeses such as fresh and aged pecorino from Monte Amiata.
• Spleen croutons. They are prepared with Tuscan bread that is usually toasted on the embers of the fireplace and seasoned with a sauce based on beef spleen, capers and anchovies. Then they are soaked in the capon broth.

First courses

Usually two first courses are offered; one dry and one in consommé.

• Lasagne topped with a ragù based on beef and “giallerini” mushrooms (chanterelles) together with ricotta and spinach. The pastry is strictly homemade and seasoned by mixing together the ragù with ricotta and spinach.
• Tortellini, also handmade, in capon broth, are an inevitable dish in this period on many tables in central Italy.

Main courses

For the main courses there are also two proposals to serve, one more usual for the period, the other more unusual.

• Capon with potatoes in tomato sauce. The capon is first roasted in the oven and then sautéed in the pan with tomato sauce and potatoes.
• Roast lamb with potatoes.

Desserts

As a dessert you can eat both traditional Italian desserts such as Panettone and the typical Tuscan ones. As for the Tuscan tradition, panforte, panpepato, and the "topi di Castell’Azzara", a dry pastry typical of the Amiata Grosseto area, which consists of a crescent of puff pastry filled with walnuts, honey, cinnamon and orange peel.

And what do you eat at Christmas? Let us know by commenting on our post on our Facebook page!