A Christmas gift from our Butcher

It's a HUGE holiday weekend here- Christmas Eve, Christmas and then Monday, Santo Stefano day.Santo Stefano day (Festa di Santo Stefano) is the celebration of the announcement of the birth of Jesus and the arrival of the 3 wise men. Three important holidays back to back, and that translates to  LOTS of eating.  So, we've been getting ourselves prepared  for the last few days.

Thursday I spent the morning at the Rialto fish market picking up everything we needed for our Christmas Eve feast. Traditionally, Christmas Eve  (Vigile di Natale) is the day Italian families usually eat fish. The Christmas Eve dinner in most parts of Italy is called the Feast of the Seven Fishes. Seven courses, all fish. We're not going quite that far- but we will have some smoked salmon, shrimp, oysters and baked salmon.  We'll be stuffed at that point, but must leave room for a traditional Italian Christmas dessert- Panettone!

Another mission on Thursday was to find the duck breasts we're making for Christmas dinner. Mission accomplished.  By the time I finished marketing on Thursday, I had just about everything needed for the weekend food fest.  When we double checked our cooking plans after I got home from shopping all over Venice, I discovered there were a few items still needed, so I sent Mike out with a list yesterday afternoon.

Mike's first stop was the butcher's to pick up some sausage for Christmas morning breakfast. As he was paying, the butcher gave him a Christmas gift- a Cotechino!!!!

I've seen them in the grocery store, and knew what it was, but have never eaten one. Cotechino is a traditional Italian meal served on New Year's day. It's sausage like, made of pig parts and lots of spices including mace, cumin, coriander, nutmeg, cinnamon, clove and cayenne. I had to look up a recipe for it.  You pierce the skin with a fork, wrap it tightly in foil, and either simmer it in water for several hours, or cook it in the oven. When ready to serve, you peel off the casing, slice it in thick slices and eat it while it's still hot with either polenta, lentils or potatoes.  Guess what we're eating for New Year's??

The butcher on the corner by the Scuola dei Carmini ,who has been open a little under a year now, has been one of our favorite new additions to our little neighborhood. Besides the fact that he has the best meats, this is another opportunity for us to shop local, and develop a relationship with the owners.  For us, one of the draws of the Italian lifestyle has been the little mom and pop stores.  We love being able to pop into the wine store, the cheese store, our local fish guy, or the butcher on a regular basis. It's a good life.



Buon Natale a tutti.

Another new addition to our neighborhood

Not long ago, a new butcher shop ( macelleria) opened in Campo Santa Margherita, right across from the Scuola Grande dei Carmini. This came as a shock to us, as the majority of shops opening up all over Venice are ones that cater to the tourists- selling magnets, postcards, and imported masks or glass jewelry.  Shops that tend to the daily needs of locals are shutting down, not opening. So having our new butcher is a blessing, and we make a point of patronizing his shop often.

The other day  as I was running my daily errands, I stopped in at the butcher shop, with no particular plans for what I was going to buy.  I was hoping I'd see something behind the glass case and be inspired for dinner that night.  My inspiration did come, but in a very unexpected way.  As I waited, I paid attention to what the other customers were ordering. One woman asked for twenty meatballs. I looked into the display case, and sure enough, there was a large stack of meatballs- large, round, mouthwatering meatballs. I watched as the butcher counted out all twenty for her.  She paid for her order and left. The next woman ordered 15 meatballs. I began to wonder if these women all knew something I didn't know!  When it was my turn I could not control myself.   "Dieci polpette"  (10 meatballs) came out of my mouth, almost without me knowing what I was doing. Yes, ten went home with me.

Dinner was spaghetti and meatballs.  After eating my meal, I knew why everyone was buying meatballs from our new butcher. They were delicious!  The perfect blend of beef and veal, along with some herbs. Now I know where to find homemade meatballs just like my mom used to make.  Life is good.