Veneto Gift Basket

Veneto

Our Regional-Inspired Gift Baskets Include ALL of the Following:

- QTY 2 One (1) LB Bags of All Natural Pasta

- QTY 2 Gourmet Seasoning and/or Spice Mix

- QTY 2 Regional Candy or Sweet

- QTY 2 Candles or Regional Ornaments

- QTY 1 Glass Bottle of High Quality Olive Oil

- QTY 1 Balsamic Vinegar

Venice and many surrounding parts of Veneto are known for risotto, a dish whose ingredients can highly vary upon different areas, as fish and seafood being added closer to the coast and pumpkin, asparagus, radicchio and frogs' legs appearing further away from the Adriatic. Made from finely ground maize meal, polenta is a traditional, rural food typical of Veneto and most of Northern Italy. It may find its way into stirred dishes and baked dishes and can be served with various cheese, stockfish or meat dishes.

Some polenta dishes includes porcini, rapini, or other vegetables or meats, such as small song-birds in the case of the Venetian and Lombard dish polenta e osei, or sausages. In some areas of Veneto it can be also made of a particular variety of cornmeal, named biancoperla, so that the colour of polenta is white and not yellow (the so-called polenta bianca).

Beans, peas and other legumes are seen in these areas with pasta e fagioli (beans and pasta) and risi e bisi (rice and peas). Veneto features heavy dishes using exotic spices and sauces. Ingredients such as stockfish or simple marinated anchovies are found here as well.

Less fish and more meat is eaten away from the coast. Other typical products are sausages such as Soppressa Vicentina, garlic salami, Piave cheese and Asiago cheese. High quality vegetables are prized, such as red radicchio from Treviso and white asparagus from Bassano del Grappa. Perhaps the most popular dish of Venice is fegato alla veneziana, thinly-sliced veal liver sauteed with onions.

Squid and cuttlefish are common ingredients, as is squid ink, called nero di seppia.

Regional desserts include tiramisu (made of biscuits dipped in coffee, layered with a whipped mixture of egg yolks and mascarpone, and flavored with liquor and cocoa^[35]), baicoli (biscuits made with butter and vanilla) and nougat.