Three second courses for Christmas

Three fabulous second courses for Christmas

As every year, you invited friends and relatives for the Christmas lunch, but you don’t have idea of which type of dishes you can prepare, to be original? Here you can find our creative suggestions to not get wrong and leave speechless your guests.

Second courses for Christmas: duck a l’orange

This classic and simple second course doesn’t come from France, but in our Florence, where it was called “Paparo alla Melarancia”. Catherine de Medici has exported it beyond the Alps after her wedding with Henry II of France.

Here you are the necessary ingredients for its preparation: 1 glass of white wine, ½ small glass of liqueur Grand Marnier, 50 gr of butter, 1 duck, 3 oranges.
The first thing to do is to clean the duck, remove the fat and salt it inside, thus, sear it in a pan with the butter. Now, add white wine and water.
According to the size of the duck, let it cook for 45 – 60 minutes, then add salt. In the meantime, sear the orange zest for three minutes in a small pan with hot water and use the juice of other two oranges with Grand Marnier and the zest to season your duck.

Pair this dish with a still red wine like a Cabernet Sauvignon.

Second courses for Christmas: roasted lamb

Roasted lamb is a typical dish of the culinary tradition of Lazio. To prepare it you need 1,2 kg of lamb (both thigh and ribs), little rosemary, 4 slices of garlic, a couple of spoons of olive oil to cook, 1,5 litres of olive oil to marinate, vinegar, salt and pepper to taste.
Make some engraves in the meat where you can insert garlic and rosemary, then leave it marinating in olive oil, with salt and pepper to taste for at least two hours.
After the marinade, bake the lamb in a pre-heated oven (180°C) for an hour, leave it brown.

Serve it with roasted potatoes and a good still red wine.

Second courses for Christmas: stewed Capitone

Capitone is a large female eel (a meter and a half of length and till 6 kg of weight). Because of its similarity with the snake, the symbol of the devil, and its shape that remind the sexual sphere, according to the Neapolitan tradition, eating this dish was useful to kick the evil off and a wish of good luck and a happy new year.
The main ingredients of this dish are: 800 g of eel, 1 kg of tomatoes San Marzano, basil, parsley, ½ glass of oil, 1 glass of white wine.

Preparation
After having cleaned the eel and removing the head, dice the tail and the bowel, without cutting the skin and dice the cherry tomatoes that you will cook it in a pan with oil, basil and a pinch of salt for around 40 minutes, to prepare a sauce. Sauté the eel with salt and pepper in a pan with oil, grinded onions and parsley, then add white wine and mix together the tomato sauce. Leave for around 15 minutes… et voilà, your capitone is ready!

We suggest you to pair this dish with white wine, well-structured and dry.