NEW YEAR'S DAY FEAST AT GINA'S

There was feasting yet again at Gina's today and this is what over twenty lucky people ate:

After an antipasto of aubergine salad there were home-made cannelloni of spinach and ricotta and of meat:

Then there was polpettone , one of Gina's specialities:



There were also spiedini



accompanied by chips as only Gina can make them, cooked in her wood-burning oven in olive oil and with rosemary



and mushrooms



and dressed peppers



plus peas and green salad.

Afterwards there was fruit followed by dishes of pastries




and I took along what I imaginatively call my "chocolate thingies" which I have now perfected:



Recipe for Welshcakes Limoncello's Chocolate Thingies:
To make 25-30 of these, you will need about 250 gr of the best, pure white chocolate and 250 gr pure dark chocolate or vanilla-flavoured chocolate. Have some small paper cases ready on a heat-proof plate. Into these sprinkle some chopped, toasted almonds [no need to toast them if you have fresh Sicilian ones] and a cherry from a drained jar of Amarena Fabbri cherries. Melt the chocolate one bar at a time in a microwave or a double boiler, watching it carefully as it catches in an instant. [If you use a microwave I suggest you heat it on medium for 30 seconds at a time until it is ready.] Use a small teaspoon to fill the cases with chocolate. Decorate with chocolate vermicelli, more chopped almonds, edible silver balls, etc. Leave them in the fridge for at least a couple of hours and until ready to serve. Everybody likes these!