The Abruzzo way
Instead of warming his hands over a charcoal brazier, surrounded by family and food in a small village in Abruzzo, our Executive Chef, Dario D’Agostino is sharing his table with our readers in Australia. But, the sights, aromas and sounds of home are strong.
Story by Dario D’Agostino
Madonna Della Croce, our little village in the region of Abruzzo, has snow covering the Gran Sasso Mountain and La Majella. The days are short and by about three in the afternoon it is already dark and cold.
By the beginning of December, everybody is preparing for Christmas. In the nearby town of Popoli, the festival honouring L’Immacolata Concezione has finished, all the Christmas trees have been sold and everybody is trimming them and setting up the nativity scene.
In Madonna Della Croce and all the towns nearby, the Christmas lights are on - green, red and blue. The yuletide atmosphere is here and everybody is feeling it.
At my house, Christmas has already started. By the end of November, my grandfather, nonno Guido (pictured) and my dad, Antonio, have been preparing traditional gifts to send to the people who helped all year by picking the olives and grapes.
And then, there are the friends and relatives overseas. The gifts are going to America, for godfather Giovanni; Canada for cousin Michele e Graziella; Australia for uncle Camillo; France for aunty Maria and a family friend, Manfredo. The list goes on. Wines, olive oil, torroni, panettone, parrozzo (a typical cake from Abruzzo), centerba, amaro della majella and much more are going into the parcels. It’s a tradition that started when so many left during the main migration periods. My nonno keeps it alive. Sending them a taste of home.
Christmas cards are arriving from all over the world. Every day, around two in the afternoon, the postman joins us at the table for a coffee and biscotti and to leave the cards. Many are for mum, Anna and dad, but mostly they’re for nonno. He
did a lot for the people who left after World War II and they still show him gratitude, great respect and heartfelt Christmas wishes.
The table is never without food. People are continually dropping in. My mum automatically has food on the table at all times of the day and night.
On Christmas Eve, the atmosphere is great. Family, friends, friends of friends, acquaintances – they are all around the table, with a glass of wine and pecorino, moscato with biscuits, sausage with fresh bread, prosciutto, olives. We would be around the table in the dining room playing cards. They all have a glass of something and a little plate of food. They concentrate hard to play well and win and someone is asking to eat again. No problem, there’s pasta aglio e olio, with anchovies, dried chilli and parsley cooking in the kitchen. The aroma wafting through the room is fantastic. The garlic smells strong and warm on a winter night and calls for more wine.
While all of this is going on, the main Christmas menu is being planned in the kitchen. There will be both a full-on lunch that will extend into dinner. The family is too big to get together only for one meal.
“La Vigilia di Natale non si butta pane al cane.” It is our tradition. The day before Christmas, we avoid wasting anything. Lunch will be a big affair and will consist of seafood only. Fritto misto, cod, seafood stew, grilled whole fish and scampi. We would be around the table until late after lunch and more people would be joining us for coffee and cake and to talk about planning for the New Year.
It all starts early in the morning on Christmas day. It is cold outside, but the aromas in the house are fantastic as mum gets on with the cooking. We leave her to it and head out for a Martini or sambuca, an espresso, a few hard biscotti, or an aperitivo at Il Bar Del Corso or Il Capriccio. The bar is full, the Prosecco gets poured and is served with assaggini.
Around midday we go back home. All the family has arrived, aunties, uncles, cousins - we are numbering 45. The table is set with the best plates and cutlery for the occasion and a red table cloth. After Christmas wishes, we all sit down for antipasti. The first courses, such as brodo di gallina with stracciatella, start to arrive from the kitchen. My nonno is sitting at the head of the table in his black suit and red tie with dad opposite him, but more casually dressed. Dad and my uncle would take charge of the grill. It has been that way since my nonna passed away.
The rest of us sit along the table. There is no order, but we seem to have sorted ourselves from the youngest to the oldest. I’m not sure why, but nonno suggests it’s a natural selection. But, the most important part is that we are all together. Lunch has just begun and by 2pm some are already full, despite the grills heating up outside. We start to smell the burning oak. Dad and my uncle start the grilling, just outside the door, with the smoke wafting inside. Mum complains. She has dressed up the house in immaculate white linen and doesn’t want it to absorb the smell.
Fortunately, the smoke changes direction, but the aroma now greeting us is of meat and fish over charcoal. Fantastic! Rosemary, garlic, red wine – all distinctive as they cook. Dad has his brush made of fresh rosemary and keeps brushing the meat. He’s done a special job of it for many years. People offer to pay him for his grigliata, but he won’t charge. It’s a family thing, he says, not for sale!
Half of us have gathered around the giant charcoal grill outside. My uncle contemplates how good the seafood is. His old school friend, Peppino, got it all fresh off the boat early in the morning the day before. The meat speaks for itself. The lamb and pork is from our farm.
The grill is keeping us warm, along with the wine. Everybody is chatting and attention is turning to what we will do and eat for new year. The topic doesn’t change much, it’s about food, food and more food!
By 3pm the grilled meat and seafood is on the table, with many side dishes, potato, salads and all sorts of pickles. Per usual, mum and the aunties have done a fantastic job. It is mainly the adults who sit down to this wonderful spread. The children have slipped away to play with their presents and others are on the phone calling or talking to the ones not with us. The phone won’t stop for several hours.
By 5pm, all that’s left are the bones from the meat and seafood and a few lemons. Again, mum and dad have prepared exactly the right amount of food. After years of professional cooking, I’m still not sure how they do it – absolutely no wastage. I always have a bet with my cousin that mum will over prepare and every year I lose!
A few friends arrive. We are all full and asking for coffee or an amaro to help digest the meal. Some have gone for a walk. But, within a few minutes, the table is groaning with food again - biscotti, torrone, panettone, parrozzo, pandoro, caggionetti, fresh fruit and marinated fruit. There are liqueurs, grappa, moscato, mosto cotto and coffee. Two 24 cup espresso machines are also ready to go. There’s 48 perfectly maintained cups from my grandmother’s wedding presents in 1950. They only come out for Christmas. Even before the coffee is poured, we get the lecture. “Mi raccomando, attenti alle tazzine, erano di mamma e sono antiche, attenti a non romperle,” mum says. In other words, we have been warned to take care of the little cups that belonged to her mother. They are antiques and must be handled with care.
It is dark and very cold outside, but the door is open. People are still coming and going. There are chestnuts roasting on the grill outside. We can hear them bursting out of their shells. The men are gathering at the dining table again to play cards.
Mum and the aunties are preparing a few platters just in case we feel like more food a little later and the tombola would be starting soon. The card game is quiet, not much talking, but in the other room the tombola is going and il tomboliere is calling numbers – “13 la fortuna.” “6 l’epifania”…. Christmas will go on until the next day.
This is my family. It’s all about family, food and wine. We will keep the customs. We admire how my nonno keeps it as close as possible to how he’s done it for 45 years – teaching us the secrets and the ways to ensure it endures into the future.
Buon Natale!!