What does cena mean in italian

Deep-frying is common on Italian Christmas Eve menus. It could be a single fish or a frito misto, combinations of fish and perhaps even a vegetable or two. One involved stuffing squid bodies with nuts and spinach, then baking them in tomato sauce.

Baccala or salted cod is another staple on the Christmas Eve menu. Baccala requires a little advance preparation because the preserved fish needs to be soaked for about 48 hours in water that has to be changed a least twice a day to remove the excess salt. The typical preparation is to gently stew pieces of the fish in a tomato sauce with garlic and onions and perhaps a few other embellishments such as basil, capers or white wine.

A more inviting way to present salt cod at least to non Italians is to make a variation of the French salt cod dish, brandade de morue , which I did using a recipe from Tony Mantuano, chef-partner of Spiaggia restaurant in Chicago and whose family hails from Calabria. The recipe appears in Wine Bar Food Clarkson Potter , which Mantuano and his wife Cathy authored, and calls for poaching the cod in milk with potatoes, onion, garlic and rosemary, then pureeing the mixture and serving it on polenta crostini.

Of course, what would an Italian meal be without pasta? The most common pasta dish is a year round favorite, linguine with clam sauce. However, Buscaglia will be serving gnocchi with lobster and truffle crema and Mantuano black pasta with braised scungilli. Whichever pasta course you choose, keep portions small, no more than two ounces of dried pasta per person. In some families a whole fish is the centerpiece of the meal. Though he remembers his family having a bluefish large enough to serve eight or more people, Cosentino will serve individual branzino with salmoriglio sauce, a warm Sicilian vinaigrette of olive oil, lemon juice and herbs that I served at home on grilled swordfish.

De Costanzi From the first name Costanzo. De Filippis From the first name Filippo. It derives from a nickname given to a big person. De Laurentiis From the first name Lorenzo. Del Carmine From the first name Carmine. Coming from the mountain. De Luca From the first name Luca; derives from the name of the father. De Marchi From the first name Marco. De Marinis From the first name Marino. Clear explanations of natural written and spoken English.

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During times of bountiful harvest or special occasions such as weddings, servants would be invited to partake in the feast by high-ranking officials who would wish them buon appetito before eating. When economic conditions improved in the subsequent centuries, buon appetito transformed from an invitation to the poor into a general exclamation of gratitude.

Yet there is a growing segment of the population that feels the phrase is outdated, even uncouth, as it harks back to a time of class division. Some specifically dislike the word appetito for its association with gluttony. In high class society, many prefer more formal expressions such as prego please. No matter where you stand, there is no question that buon appetito is still very much in use across Italy. Waiters say it with a gleeful smile as they serve you your meal.