Are you looking for the perfect gift for a friend or loved one? Or even looking for corporate gifts for clients or your employees?
A lot of gifting ideas today are overdone or aren't as special as we’d hoped for. But Italian food gifts are special and will definitely impress this holiday season!
It’s time to put down the gift card and pick up a real gift.
Read further in this gift guide for great Italian gift ideas.
Wine
Wine is a great gift for friends and family, especially if you plan to share a bottle or two over a large feast for the holidays. If wine seems like a good gift option for you, it helps to know what kind of wine you should buy. Wine has the ability to really elevate the flavors and experience of a meal, so it’s worth researching if you really want to impress your friends and family.
Red wines are sometimes considered more festive and elegant, but white wines also pair nicely with heavy and rich flavored meals.
If wine sounds like a good gift option for you this holiday season, check out our blog Pasta and Wine: Perfect Pairings to learn more about which wine is perfect for your meal!
Cheese and Meats
Speciality cheeses and meats will make a great gift for the person in your life who loves charcuterie boards. In fact, even a personalized charcuterie board would make a great and thoughtful gift for a loved one.
Some specialty cheeses that would make great gifts are Brie, Gouda, Havarti, Goat Cheese, Blue Cheese, Gruyere, Parmesan and Mozzarella. You can find these types of cheese infused with herbs, spices and fruit at your local specialty grocery store.
Meats that make great additions to charcuterie boards are Pepperoni, Prosciutto, and Pancetta. Again, you can find festive versions of these cured meats that include unique spices or casings at your local speciality grocery store.
Cooking Classes
A great gift for the foodie in your life is a cooking class! Cooking classes are a great way to enjoy a gift together and provide a great opportunity to make memories that last a lifetime.
You can find cooking classes near your local area and join a group experience, or another option is to hire a private chef to teach you how to make your favorite dishes in the comfort of your own home. The costs of cooking classes range greatly, so just investigate the best option for you!
Gourmet Gifts
High Quality Pasta Sauce
Tomato sauce is a great addition to any thoughtful gift. Especially when paired with other elements to create a delicious meal.
The Dagostino tomato sauce recipe is simple, yet authentic.
When we start, we first heat some olive oil in our large pot and add chopped onions. Then we cook the onions down until they’re translucent or even browned. Browned or “caramelized” onions means the heat is releasing all of the natural sugars found in onions.
Next we add our garlic. We let the onion and garlic saute for a minute or two on medium heat, then we add the seasonings.
One of the most important seasonings we add is red pepper flakes. As the dried red pepper simmers, their oils are released. These oils coat the other ingredients which brings a nice heat to the sauce.
Our Sauce comes in three varieties, Classic, Spicy and Chunky. Each one of these sauces brings a unique profile to any authentic Italian dish, which makes them great for gifts.
Handmade Gourmet Pasta
Handmade Gourmet pasta makes such a great impression when given as a gift. Handmade pasta is always of such better quality that you can actually taste the difference. Handmade pasta is made with top-quality semolina wheat and should be air dried. By hand-making pasta in this way, the pasta’s texture is more tender and it takes less time for the pasta to reach al dente when boiling.
The most important element of Dagostino's handmade gourmet pasta is our Semolina wheat. Semolina flour is used all around the world but is most popular in Italy and Italian cuisine. Semolina is high in gluten, which helps pasta keep its shape while cooking.
High Quality Italian Gifts
High Quality Italian gifts that pair with your pasta and pasta sauce is a great way to bundle together several items into one cohesive gift. Speciality items and Italian imports is a great way to turn a simple gift into an entire authentic meal. Some high quality Italian gifts that we recommend are extra virgin olive oil and aged balsamic vinegar. Not only can you use these two premium ingredients in salads as dressing, but you can also pair the two together and add some seasoning for an authentic Italian bread dip appetizer.
Lucky for you, Dagostino’s offers the Oil and Vinegar set. Offered in two different sizes, this bundle includes our silky in-house extra virgin olive oil and our 12 year aged balsamic vinegar.
Corporate Gifts
Business gifting can be kind of tricky. Lots of employees are now working from their home office and clients are harder to reach. And let’s be honest, employees and clients are tired of getting logoed water bottles and power banks. A unique corporate gift that definitely stands out are Italian gift baskets.
Italian gift boxes usually include all the ingredients to make an Italian meal. Italian imported goods, pastas, sauces, garlic, salad toppings, appetizers, and something sweet for dessert are all perfect Italian gift ideas. Italian gift sets such as our Creole Italian Feast Gift box makes a great client gift, giving them a blend of traditional italian with spicy creole flare.
We now offer bulk ordering for Employee and Client gifts!
You can’t go wrong with Italian gifts this holiday season, and Dagostino’s has made it easier than ever!