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Chi Siamo (who we are)
. . . the Cositutti Group is a unique travel and lifestyle resource for the Food, Wine, Art and Design of Northern Italy, Tuscany and Umbria. Our newsletters are meant to inform, excite and encourage you to experience the Italy of our family and friends with information on travel, tasting events, culinary history and generational family recipes. With artisan Italian food products and handcrafted items from CosituttiMarketPlace you can bring Italy home and with our small group tours at ItalyTasteandTravel you can experience the Italy of our Italian family and friends with lifestyle itineraries way beyond a show and tell tour.
In this newsletter I talk turkey when I'm reminded of a day spent cooking Italian tacchino with my friends near Piacenza in Emilia Romagna to eat, drink and make memories.
Divertiti! - Enjoy -
Pamela Marasco
Founder and Owner, The Cosituttti Group
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Eat, Drink and Make Memories
There's no better time to live the Italian lifestyle style than during the holidays. The warm and generous hospitality of the Italian people, their love of friends and family and their appreciation for good food and wine inspire us to bring Italy into our hearts and homes for the holidays.
And it really doesn't matter if you're Italian! because there's something about the locality and customs of regional Italian food that we all seem to relate to.
Almost every cupboard in America has a jar of sauce or a package of pasta on its shelves and Italian food and its many variations remain the most popular food on the planet.
Here are a few EDM ( eat, drink and make memories) ideas for bringing Italy home for the holidays.
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Eat
One of my best EDM moments in Italy (eat, drink and make memories) centers around Thanksgiving. I wrote about it a few years ago in a newsletter on cooking in Italy and in particular about cooking with Chef Daniele Sorrento, a young Italian chef from one of the cooking schools I work with in Emilia Romagna.
His take on turkey (tacchino) was brillant. Rather than roast a whole bird he uses the turkey breast. Although Italians do not celebrate the American version of Thanksgiving, they like turkey and consider it to be very much a family dish. Using ingredients typical of the region (prosciutto, parmigiano and pecorino cheese) he makes a stuffed turkey breast that will bring Italy home with a twist on our traditional concept of Thanksgiving turkey.
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Drink
- Chef Michael Chiarello suggests Zinfandel for Thanksgiving calling it the "golden retriever" of red wines saying it likes whatever you have in your mouth with it
- Italian wine expert Joe Bastianich, son of Italian food icon Lidia Bastianich and restaurant launch partner Mario Batali suggests reds with notes of raspberries, currants, tobacco and cedar or a creamy, rich white with notes of apples and citrus
- tart,rich hard ciders are becoming more popular
- for after dinner, an Italian digestivo like Amaro
- for the most popular of Thanksgiving pies, pumpkin, a chocolate coffee stout which I happen to have in my frig right now
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Chianti Red Wine Jelly Cranberry Sauce
1 cup (200g) sugar1 cup (250ml) water 4 cups (1 12 -oz package) fresh or frozen cranberries In a saucepan bring to a boil water and sugar, stirring to dissolve sugar. Add cranberries, return to a boil. Reduce heat, simmer for 10 minutes ou until cranberries burst. Remove from heat and stir in 3 T Chianti Red Wine Jelly (or more to taste). Cool completely at room temperature and then chill in refrigerator. Cranberry sauce will thicken as it cools. Recipe makes 2 1/4 cups. | |
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Featured Artisan Producer For:
Our artisan source in Loro Ciuffenna Tuscany, husband and wife Viviano Venturi and Sandra Masi, produce regionally inspired products from local recipes and heirloom cultivars. Organic apples from the Arno Valley, sweet spices and Chianti red wine are used to create a jelly that also serves as a unique condiment or perfected glaze. | |
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Make Memories
More than seven in ten (71%) Americans agree that the best way to continue their family traditions is through gatherings and celebrations. Over six in ten (61%) say that holiday meals are becoming more important to them as they get older, and as families are sitting down to share a holiday meal this season, nearly seven in ten (68%) will have at least three generations gathered around the holiday.
Wishing you a wonderful Thanksgiving creating new memories while enjoying those of the past.
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