Since it’s Christmas the first recipe I wanna show you is this typical Christmas dish called Purcedduzzi…I’ve thought about how to translate this name into English and after days I’ve reached the conclusion that there is no word that can convey the meaning and feeling carried by this Lecce dialect word. That’s why I’ve decided to leave the word as is and just explain what it means to you. Litterally Purcedduzzi means little pigs! Its name comes from the shape of this dish which actually resemble the face of little, cute, baby pigs. Purcedduzzi are small, funny, fried gnocchi with a sweet flavour and  an orange aroma, decorated with almonds (the almond tree is the most common in Puglia) and covered with honey.  According to local customs, the last Purcedduzzo should be eaten on January 17th in honor of St. Antony the Abbot, Saint and Protector  of all animals.

Ingredients (for 6 small plates):

Mix together flour, sugar, yeast, vanilla extract, oil, wine. Slowly pour in the orange jiuce.

Mix together till u get a smooth and elastic tough.

Kneat the dough into long fingers and cut them into small pieces (as big as your pinkie nail)

Fry them into hot and abundant oil till golden brown

In a pot pour honey and sugar (every 3 spoons of honey add 1 of sugar), heat it up till it melts then pour in the fried purcedduzzi and mix them up.

Place them into a plate. Decorate as you like.

I remember my grandma used to made kgs of Purcedduzzi and divide them into small  plates, then she wrapped the plates in cute Christmas paper and gave them as presents to her friends and relatives.

From a nutrional standpoint this dish is really not what you want if you are on a diet, but, since is Christmas I’m sure not a lot of you are keeping an eye on the scale, right?

A portion of Purceduzzi (about 1/4 of one of the small plates you have prepared) provides:

• Calories 250  (calories from fat 25)
• Total fat 3.5 g
• Total Carbohydrates 40 g
• Protein 2.5 g

So just eat it in moderation and enjoy:)