Tuscan Wedding Feasts

Photo courtesy of: http://www.tuscan-dreams.com/.

A typical Italian wedding feast is made up of a combination of four courses.  Antipasti (or starters), Primo Piatto (or first course), Secondo Piatto (or second course), and Dolci (or desserts).  Vino e Liquors (Wine and digestives) are also served. Halfway through the meal you are often served a sorbet with a drop of liqueur in it.  After your meal expect a Limoncello or Grappa served with coffee. 

The antipasti are served before your meal.  Often it consists of Crostini with pate or Bruschetta (breads topped with diced tomatoes, garlic and herbs.  Tuscan favorites include fried Polenta as well as cured meats.  This is the pre-meal part. It is popular to serve this as a buffet and serve it with glasses of Prosecco (an Italian dry champagne). 

The Primo Piatto or first course if often the pasta portion of the meal but sometimes salads like Panzanella (tomato and bread salad) is served instead.  Pasta choices are almost unlimited but choosing a style that helps sauce cling to it keeps things neater.  You can choose a simple penne with bolognese sauce or some Ravioli con Burro e Salvia , a ravioli with sage and butter or Parpadelle sulla Lepre, ribbon pasta with hare. 

The Secondo Piatto is most often meat.  In Italy and many other countries in the Mediterranean you cannot have a celebration without including meat on the menu.  Tuscans love to serve meats and frequently grill it.  Popular choices are beef, veal, rabbit, hare, wild boar, and lamb.  Meat is served with side dishes made from seasonal vegetables.  Vegetables may be cooked in the oven, fried or grilled.  Eggplant or aubergines are popular as are different types of beans.

Italian weddings sometimes have a fresh fruit cake such as puff pastry that is covered with a layer of cream and fresh fruits.  Other options for Italian desserts are gelati (Italian ice-cream) or tiramisu. While a tiered wedding cake is often present at Italian weddings, in some areas of Italy, no cake is served. In place of cake, guests are given small boxes or tulle bundles of sugared almonds. 

Bread is served with the wedding meal and is typically an unsalted bread known as Pane Sciocco.

Wine is always part of an Italian wedding. A nice quality red or white table wine of your choice is perfect. A good Tuscan wine such Montalcino or Brunello is also an option.

So whether you are planning an authentic Italian feast for your wedding or just want to take your favorite pieces of the traditional, enjoy!










 

Candle Centerpiece with Bling

 Photo couresy of http://best-decor.com/

Having a wedding that needs some sparkle? Try this "refined wrought-iron candle stand" that boasts a glamorous dash of old-time European elegance! Slender ivory curlicues form an attractive support for a thick pillar candle. It is lavishly decorated with swags of glittering crystals that will turn the light into a dancing diamond display. So kick up the bling with this centerpiece. Under ten dollars for the stand, more for the candle. Scatter some loose crystals and petals around on the tabletop or place on top of a mirror.

Cookies, Weddings and Dancing

No Italian wedding is complete without some of those delicious cookies that the Italians are well known for.  Italian Wedding Cookies are light and fluffy round cookie balls coated in white and flavored with Anise. For any of you who are not familiar with this traditional Italian flavoring, Anise is like licorice. Or you may have had Anisette liquor as an after dinner aperitif. Italian Wedding Cookies are traditionally flavored with Anise which sets them apart from all other traditional wedding cookies.

But in addition to consuming those goodies there's also the tradition of the Wedding Cookie Dance.  The cookies are built up into a cake and set up in the middle of the dance floor. With the bride and groom leading the dance off, everyone dances around the cookie/cake table and takes a cookie. This traditional wedding cookie dance originated in Italy but has become increasingly popular at Italian Weddings in the United States. And the fun thing about the Italian Wedding Cookie dance is that even if you can’t dance, you can still bounce around the table and eat a cookie!

Italian Wedding Cookies are sold year round so you can buy prepackaged ones at almost any supermarket. It might take a bit of patience to build one into a cake, but if you can buy the cookies you can build the cake. At least you don’t have to spend hours in the kitchen baking the cookies!