I have a friend who is one of those practical, say-what-you-really-think kinda gals. She once told me, “I don’t like it when people bring flowers to a dinner at my house. I mean, bring me something that helps, not just something else for me to deal with while I’m preparing a meal.” She has a point. So for those occasions— and I hope you have many of them this season— I’d say, bring a Panettone.
It’s my go-to, or bring-to, during the holidays. How can you go wrong with a soft, spongy, traditional Italian sweet bread that tastes like an explosion of Christmas in your mouth. Too much? I don’t think so. Have you had a Panettone? In Italy, this bread is made, eaten, and sold all through the holidays. Its colorful history dates back to the 1400’s or the 1700’s, depending on which village you want to believe. Isn’t that already so Italian?
In one story, the dessert for a royal family was burned and a bread baker named Toni saved the day (maybe you can already see where this is going). Toni added colorful dried fruit and sweetness to his yeast-risen bread before serving it to the royal daughter of the Duke of Milan. So it became known as Pane (bread in Italian) di Toni (from Toni). Panettone. It makes me smile just to tell it.
One of the other origin stories is about a rich nobleman from Milan who fell in love with the poor baker’s daughter. He disguised himself as a baker to work in her father’s shop. While there, he created this rich, fluffy fruit-bejeweled bread that sold all over the country and made her father’s shop a tremendous success, impressing her and winning her hand. Is it by coincidence that his name was Ughetto degli Atellani? Ughetto is Milanese dialect for Uvetta, which is Italian for raisin. Whether you are well-bred or ill-bred (sorry, not sorry) you can bring bread to your next gathering. It’s a gift, it’s chic, it’s homey and it’s food. I mean, you’re not going to do better than that. Oh, and it’s helpful to your host/hostess. There are so many Eataly’s everywhere now, and they’ll have the truly authentic Panettone (from Milan, of course). The one I got is Amarano – Italian for Black Cherry. Come on. This is a one-for-them, one-for-me kind of gift.