Natale con I tuoi, Pasqua con chi vuoi / Christmas with yours, Easter with whoever you choose says a proverb which seems the same as “Carnoa do’ che te troi, Natà a casa tua se poli” it’s the Macerata dialect and it means: “Carnevale where you happen to be, Christmas at home if you can”.
This is to say that it is tradition for the family to reunite around the table and eat good food.
The Xmas festivities begin with the “cenone”, the dinner on Xmas Eve, consisting of fish , like eels and finishing with a lot of cakes.
Lunch on Xmas Day is richer than the cenone. It starts with a mixed antipasto of pork products, as a first course we usually have cappelletti in chicken broth and as a second course galantina , boiled chicken with gobbi (cardoons, ), parmigiana of gobbi ( aubergine casserole)and various kinds of meat. At the end of the meal the traditional cakes: torrone ( a kind of nougat), panettone ( Christmas yeast cake with raisins and candied fruit)) , pandoro ( Christmas yeast cake)) and the traditional cake from the Marche region: pizza de Natà a cake with ingredients such as walnuts, dried figs, cocoa and raisins. Why these ingredients? The walnut is one of the plant associated with the Great mother and so a symbol of regeneration; the fig is a plant linked to cult of Dionysius, the god who took care of the fertility of plants and animals. And it is not a chance that grapes preserved from the previous harvest are eaten on the first day of the year as an augury of prosperity and abundance.
Here is the recipe of the “Pizza de Natà”
INGREDIENTS
2 kilos of bread dough,
200 grams walnuts, 150 grams almond, 150 grams hazelnut, 100 grams raisins, some dried figs
500 grams of sugar,
half a glass of oil
PREPARATION
Buy the bread dough from a baker , add the sugar , then the oil, the walnuts cut into pieces and the other ingredients. Knead the dough well for about ten minutes . Then divide it into loaves , cover with a cloth and leave them to rise in a warm place. When the loaves have risen, bake in a hot oven a 180°C for about 40-50 minutes.
A good wine to drink with the cake is the vino di visciole, wine made from wild cherries. Delicious!
Fabio, Giulia and Sara
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