Giorgio Locatelli's Italian Christmas recipes

Traditional Italian fare from Giorgio Locatelli, chef patron of Locanda Locatelli, with baked pasta with aubergine, roast partridge with grapes and chestnuts, and some figgy Christmas cookies
Georgio Locatelli by Phil Fisk
Georgio Locatelli. Photograph: Phil Fisk


Many families will prepare this first thing on Christmas morning and then leave it to roast while they are at church. It's the perfect dish for sharing.

aubergines 3, preferably the round, pale violet ones
sea salt
unsalted butter for greasing 2 tbsp
breadcrumbs 5 tbsp
olive oil
onion 1 medium, thinly sliced
garlic clove 1, crushed
tin of chopped tomatoes 1 x 400g
rigatoni or penne rigate 400g
caciocavallo or pecorino cheese 60g, sliced

Cut the aubergines into thin slices, sprinkle with salt and leave to drain in a colander for at least 2 hours. Squeeze lightly to get rid of the excess liquid.

Preheat the oven to 180C/gas mark 4. Grease a round cake tin or tart tin, about 25cm diameter and 3-4cm deep, then put in 2 tbsp of breadcrumbs and shake and turn the tin so that the breadcrumbs cling to the butter and line the tin.

Heat about 6mm of olive oil in a deep frying pan and sauté the aubergine slices in batches until lightly coloured. Lift out, drain on kitchen paper, then, using about three-quarters of the aubergines, overlap the slices over the base and around the sides of the greased and breadcrumbed tin.

Italian Christmas Baked pasta with aubergine
Baked pasta with aubergine. Photograph: romas foord for the Observer

In a pan, heat a tablespoon of oil, put in the onion and garlic and cook until soft but not coloured. Add the tomatoes and season with salt; cover with a lid, and cook over a low heat for 10 minutes.

Bring a pan of water to the boil, add salt, then put in the pasta and cook for about 3 minutes less than the time given on the packet, so that it is al dente. Drain, reserving some of the cooking water.

Spoon a layer of pasta into the aubergine-lined tin, followed by some of the tomato sauce, a layer of the remaining aubergine and a layer of grated cheese. Repeat, finishing with a layer of aubergine, followed by the rest of the breadcrumbs. Bake in the preheated oven for about 25 minutes, until golden.

Leave to stand for 10 minutes to firm up, then put a plate over the top of the tin, and carefully turn out on to the plate. Cut in wedges.


Italian Christmas Roast partridge, swiss chard, grapes and chestnuts.
Roast partridge, swiss chard, grapes and chestnuts. Photograph: Romas Foord for the Observer

In Italy we have both the red-legged and grey-legged varieties of partridge. The red are the tastiest, so get them if you can.

red-legged partridges 4
garlic cloves 4
sprigs of rosemary 4
pancetta 4 slices
chestnuts 16
vegetable oil
swiss chard stalks, with leaves 2
chicken or partridge sauce (see below) 4 tbsp
grapes a handful, halved

For the chicken or partridge sauce:
sunflower or vegetable oil 2-3 tbsp
meat trimmings (chicken, partridge, veal, pork, lamb, beef, venison, duck, pigeon) 400g, cut into around 3cm dice, at room temperature
carrot 1, diced into roughly the same size as the meat (so they cook evenly)
cloves garlic 2
sprig rosemary 1
bay leaf 1
shallot 1, diced
butter 20-30g
flour 1 tsp
tomato paste 1 tbsp
good stock (chicken, beef, etc, depending on your meat) 1.5 litres

First make the sauce. This is a very simple, all-purpose sauce that you can freeze in ice-cube trays. Once the cubes are frozen, you can transfer them to labelled freezer bags, and you can heat them through without having to defrost them first. Using this basic method you can make a sauce to go with all kinds of meat – just vary the trimmings you use. If you want a red wine-based sauce, just add 400ml of chianti or other red wine, at the stage shown. When we make a partridge sauce, we add 250ml of white wine, for chicken sauce the wine is optional. For a duck sauce, leave out the vegetables, but add two or three extra cloves of garlic.

Heat a large pan to medium-hot, then put in the oil. Just before it starts to smoke, put the trimmings in a few at a time, making sure they all touch the bottom of the pan. Leave to roast without touching them for 2-3 minutes, until they start to become golden underneath. Turn them until they are caramelised on all sides – another 5-10 minutes.

Add the carrots, garlic and herbs and leave to roast for another 2-3 minutes, then add the shallots and roast for a couple of minutes. Turn down the heat, add the butter and let it foam without burning. (If adding wine, add it here and let it reduce until some of the alcohol has evaporated).

Add the flour and tomato paste, turn up the heat again, cook for a minute or so until the temperature of the pan comes up again. Add the stock, scraping the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon, bring to the boil, skim, turn down the heat and cook for about half an hour. Put through a fine sieve and reduce until you have a sauce consistency.

Now prepare the partridge dish. Place a garlic clove and a sprig of rosemary in the cavity of each partridge. Cover the body with pancetta and tie them with kitchen string – pass the string through the breast and the wings, along the side of the bird, pass the string under the legs and make a knot with both legs tied together.

Make an incision in each shell of the chestnuts. Lay them on a sheet of foil on a baking tray, pour over 3 tbsp of water, close up the foil to make a parcel and cook in an oven preheated to 220C/gas mark 7 for around half an hour, so that the chestnuts steam inside the parcel. Take them out, wrap in a clean cloth and leave for 5-10 minutes until they are cool enough to touch. Peel them. Heat a large sauté pan (that will transfer to the oven) and add some oil. Season the partridges and put them into the pan, first on one leg for 4 minutes, then on the other for another 4 minutes. Next, turn them on to their breast for 4 minutes, then prop them up against the edge of the pan for another minute. Finally, turn them on their backs, turn off the heat and leave to rest for 5 minutes.

At the same time, separate the chard stalks from the leaves. Cut the stalks across into batons about 5mm wide. Blanch these in boiling salted water for a couple of minutes, lift them out and keep them apart. Then blanch the leaves for a minute or so. Drain and squeeze the leaves.

Warm the chestnuts in a pan with a little butter and water.

Put the partridges into the oven for about 4 minutes. Put the sauce into a pan to warm through and add the grapes in halves.

Heat the swiss chard with olive oil and season. Arrange the chard in the centre of each plate with the chestnuts around. Remove the partridges from the oven, cut the string and lay them on top of the chard. Spoon over the sauce.


Almond and fig-filled Christmas cookies.
Almond and fig-filled Christmas cookies. Photograph: Romas Foord for the Observer

Our head chef Rino's mum makes these at Christmas in Sciacca. She uses strutto, which is pure pork fat, and gives a quite particular texture and flavour to baking, but you could substitute butter.

For the dough:
plain flour 500g, plus extra for rolling out
baking powder 1½ tsp
caster sugar 125g
lemon grated zest of 1
vanilla pod seeds from 1
strutto, lard or butter 125g
egg 1
milk 50ml

For the filling:
blanched almonds 250g
egg yolks 2, beaten
sultanas 50g
honey about 100g
ground cinnamon a pinch
dried figs 400g, finely chopped
cocoa powder 1-2 tbsp

Preheat oven to 180C/gas mark4.

To make the filling, lay the almonds in a single layer on a baking tray and put into the oven for about 8 minutes (if they're in a single layer you don't need to turn them). Make sure they don't burn, and when they are golden, take them out and chop them finely.

Put the almonds into a pan with the sultanas, honey, cinnamon and figs and mix well. Stir in the cocoa, then cook on a very low heat, stirring continuously, until the mixture forms a paste. Spoon into a bowl, cool, then put into the fridge for an hour to firm up.

To make the dough, in a bowl mix the flour, baking powder, sugar, lemon zest and vanilla seeds. Melt the fat and add it to the mix, then add the egg and the milk and mix to a soft, firm dough. Rest in the fridge for an hour.

Preheat the oven to 180C/gas mark 4 again and have ready a tray lined with baking parchment. Take the fig filling from the fridge, and roll into 2 long cylinders about 2cm in diameter.

Take the dough out of the fridge. Roll it out on a floured surface to 3mm thick, then cut it into 2 rectangular strips the same length as the cylinders of filling and about 8cm wide. Place the filling in the centre of each rectangle, roll up and press edges to seal. Cut each roll into 2cm pieces, and place on the lined tray, seam side downwards. Bake for 20 minutes, or until biscuits are golden brown. Serve hot or cold.