Smorgasbord Blog Magazine – #Italian Cookery with Silvia Todesco – SPRITZ: the most popular Italian cocktail

It has been a wonderful year of Italian cookery from Silvia Todesco with recipes for starters, main meals and desserts… to end the year, a little something to get you into the festive spirit.

SPRITZ: the most popular Italian Cocktail

I am very surprised I haven’t shared we you yet the recipe of this absolutely terribly popular Italian cocktail that Italians enjoy not only during the weekends but very likely often during the week after work, as “appetizer” before dinner.

Spritz is a cocktail that found its origin between the end of 1700 and the beginning of 1800 when Austrian soldier (that dominated part of the northern east Italy in those years) diluted Italian wine (to them too strong) with sparkly water. As a matter of fact, the name “spritz” comes from “spritzen” that in German means “sprinkle”. With the passing of the years, the sparkly water have been substitute with “seltzer” and at the beginning of 1900 (precisely around the ’20) they have started to add a bit of “bitter” to the cocktail (given from other booze like Aperol and Campari) and so has born the actual “SPRITZ”.

If you’ll ever visit Italy (especially in the Northern part), you have to experience a Spritz at some random bar. They are usually served combined with various food appetizer and very pleasant to enjoy in a beautiful historical Italian piazza (square).

About the taste, this cocktail tastes very light, not too bitter, very delicate on the palate if as the “bitter” part you pick the “Aperol”. If instead you prefer a more tasty and sharp flavor, you should opt for a “spritz Campari” which, indeed, would make it taste a bit more strong.

I thought – since Spritz is very ORANGE – that this cocktail could sound very appropriate for a Fall Sunday Brunch, and why not, a perfect original, fascinating and delicious Thanksgiving  or Christmas pre-meal cocktail.

One last info, as it often happens, there are different ways to prepare this cocktail. The Venetian recipe suggests to use 1/3 sparkly water (or seltzer), 1/3 sparkly white wine, 1/3 Bitter. The International Bartender Associations instead, suggests to use 6 cl. Prosecco wine, 4 cl. Aperol and a sprinkle of seltzer.

The following is my own recipe. I admit, most of the time I eyeball the ingredients, but I’ve tried to measure them for you, and I came up with my own recipe, that tastes delicious! Aperol liqueur is quite a popular kind of booze and can be easily be found in the most common groceries store. I really hope you will give this a try!

2 Servings Ingredients.

• 2 oz. Aperol
• 3 oz. Prosecco wine
• 4 oz. Sparkly water
• ice cubes
• 2 slices of oranges to decorate

Directions

Fill two nice white wine glasses with 1 oz. Aperol, 1.5 oz. Prosecco and 2 oz. sparkly water each.

Add a couple of ice cubes to each one and a thin slice of orange. DONE.

Enjoy right away to not miss the bubbling effect, and with some appetizers as green olives, potatoes chips or any salty crackers and charcuterie.

LEARNT IT, MADE IT, LOVED IT!

TIPS: – for the cocktail to be delicious, all the three liquids must be ice cold.

– If you are planning to prepare this cocktail for more than two people, just use a pitcher and fill it up with proportional quantities of Aperol, wine and sparkly water. Ice the cocktail only at the last minute, you don’t want it to be too light or too diluted.

– I am not earning a penny by recommending you to by Aperol, even though I am very prod to say this delicious orange booze is Italian “native” since 1919.

My thanks to Silvia for this delicious cocktail recipe, and it would be great if you would share your feedback and the post for others to enjoy and subscribe to Italian Goodness if you would like to receive a new recipe each week for free.

About Silvia Todesco

I’m Silvia, I come from Veneto Region (from Bassano del Grappa precisely, one hour by car far from Venice), and I moved to Iowa in 2011, because of my husband’s job necessities.

I’ve grown up watching my great-grandmother, my grandmother, and my mother cooking for my family every day, searching carefully for ingredients and preparing fresh food. That was their way to show us how much they cared (and care) about us, and to carry on a tradition. I cannot recall a festivity without relatives everywhere and tons of delicious food to eat!

But my way was different I graduated with honors at the University of Law of Padua, and (obviously) I became a lawyer. As a professional, I used to work 14 hours a day, and, of course, the time I could dedicate to my family (and cooking) was almost none.

Then fate brought us here, and finally I’ve found myself. All my background came up, and I realized that taking care of my family is the most satisfying job I could do, especially because it entails cooking healthy and good food!

So I started to practice what I learned when I was young, and surprised myself in making all those meals that characterized my youth.

Integration in a new society is not easy, but it was nice for us to discover how much Italians are loved abroad! And since every new person we have met asked me if I was a good cook, and told me that they love Italian food, well, I decided to share my Italian cooking culture and recipes with you!

Of course, you won’t need to be an expert to follow my recipes! What I’m writing about is our daily menus- recipes made with simple and few ingredients, most of the time cheap and healthy (because the food is not processed).

Plus, considering my passion for cooking, I will also share with you new recipe I discovered in magazines, websites, or shared by friends, and in this case I will always describe you the origin of my posts objects.

In addition, I promise not only to write about Italian food, but especially to give suggestions related to where and how to find the right ingredients and tools you will need. I really hope that you will enjoy my tips!

Connect to Silvia: Website: Italian Goodness –  Facebook: Italian Goodness Facebook – Instagram: Beauty and Four Kids – Twitter: @silviatodesco81
Pinterest: Silvia Todesco

You can find all the recipes for a four course Italian meal in this file and also Silvia’s monthly posts. Italian Cookery with Silvia Todesco

Thanks for dropping in and I hope you will enjoy making this wonderful and authentic recipe.