Hors d'oeuvres

Motsetta and lard d'Arnad with chestnuts and honey

Motsetta (traditional jerked meat) and lard d'Arnad with chestnuts and honey

Serves 4:

• 5.3 oz. (150 gr.) Motsetta from Villeneuve
• 7 oz. (200 gr.) Lard d'Arnad DOP
• 20 boiled chestnuts
• 2 Tsp. mountain honey
• 1/4 glass of local grappa

Preparation:

1. Lay down the thinly sliced motsetta in the form of a hand fan to cover two thirds of the serving plate and complete the remaining part with lard d'Arnad DOP sliced slightly thicker than the motsetta. This way, we get like a crown of petals to fill the plate.
2. Serve with the chestnuts, previously glazed with mountain honey and perfumed with the grappa.
3. Decorate with a stem of fresh, fragrant rosemary.

The wine:

• Blanc De Morgex et de La Salle

First Course

Seupa Valpellinentze Style
Typical Alpine recipe: hearty, hypercaloric, and strongly flavored. The following recipe is the one usually served in local restaurants.

Seupa Valpellinentze Style

Serves 4:

• 1 quart (1 liter) good cow stock
• 1 white Savoy cabbage
• Old whole wheat or rye bread
• 14 oz. (400 gr.) original Fontina Valdostana cheese (try to avoid imitations)
• Butter to taste

Preparation:

1. Boil the Savoy cabbage until completely cooked.
2. Grease a medium-sized shallow baking dish with butter, terra cotta or an enameled one if possible, however, a metal one is acceptable.
3. Lay down a layer of cabbage, than a layer of sliced bread and one of Fontina cheese cut into small cubes.
4. Complete with a layer of final Fontina cheese.
5. Moist all layers with the broth and put it into the pre-heated oven. Let it cook for 30 to 60 minutes, depending on the quality of the cabbage and personal taste. Some like it almost dry, while others like it more 'soupy'.
6. Finally, when the soup starts to form a thin, golden crust, take out of the oven and add abundant melted butter.
7. Serve steamy hot, in pre-heated plates.

The wines:

• Blanc De Morgex et de La Salle
• Petit Arvine
• Gamay

Second Course

Carbonade
The carbonade is a typical regional recipe as well.

Carbonade

Serves 4:

• 17.6 oz. (500 gr.) veal fllet
• 1 quart (1 liter) Donnas red wine
• 1 small onion
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 stalk celery
• 1 stem each rosemary and sage
• Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:

1. Cut the meat into small cubes and marinate for 24 hours with the wine, onion, garlic, carrot, celery, rosemary and sage.
2. When done, drain the meat and sauté the meat in a pan sprinkling it with lukewarm wine (this wine must not be the one used to marinate the meat).
3. Let evaporate until completely cooked.
4. Serve with polenta and boiled potatoes.

The wine:

• The same wine used for cooking, in our case is the Donnas, possibly the Superiore type

Dessert

Tegole di Aosta (Aosta Tiles)
Pieces of almond paste, sometime dipped in chocolate.

The wines:

• Chambave Muscat Fletri
• Nus Malvoisie Fletri

(Fletri = Passito)

Coffee

Coffee Valle d'Aosta Style - The Friendship Cup

The friendship cup is one of the most extraordinary habits of the Valley (Vallée, as the local would say). It is made to drink in group, at the end of a cold day, possibly spent out and about in a snowy landscape.

Take a mountain region with thousand-year-old traditions, a group of people on vacation, a happy evening at the end of a beautiful day and you get the essence of the Friendship Cup, the true symbol of the warmth felt by tourists visiting the Valle d'Aosta. As for other everyday tools from this region, the Coupe de l'Amitié come down to us in its original form and shape: low, wide and provided with the typical spouts from which one drinks "à la ronde", or "going around".

Passing from hand to hand, the Coupe let everybody sip his or her part of coffee Valdostana style and, after a first round there's still plenty for some more rounds. One hardly drinks from the same spout, thus there is that touch of promiscuity that generates togetherness and involvement. Precisely, the basic elements for friendship.

Ingredients:

• 4 cups steamy espresso coffee
• 2 cups grappa
• 1 cup Ginepy
• 4 spoons sugar
• 1 orange (or 1 lemon)

Preparation:

1. Heat all together the liquors, sugar, orange peels and some orange juice in a small pan until the sugar is disolved.
2. In the meanwhile, wet the main opening at the top of the cup with orange juice and dust it with sugar.
3. Pour the liquors and coffee into the cup and light it up (inside the cup).
4. After a minute cover the cup, thus extinguishing the flames and ... let the ritual begin!!!

Liquors

To complete the meal, a shot of Genepy, the typical Valle d’Aosta liquor, is mandatory.

Genepy

Genepy Blanc produced industrially

Ingredients:

• 20 plants Artemisia Glacialis (flower and stem)
• 1 quarter (1 liter) drinkable alcohol
• 1 quarter (1 liter) boiled water
• 14 oz. (400 gr.) sugar

Preparation:

1. Marinate 20 plants of Artemisia Glacialis in a quart of drinkable alcohol for 45 days.
2. Add a liter of boiled water sweetened by 14 ounces of sugar.
3. Let rest overnight, then filter.

Tip:

To get a better liquor, is advisable to let it rest at least a month before serving.