An Italian American Christmas Eve:
Being of Italian American descent food plays a major part in all holiday celebrations; let’s face it, food plays a major part in my day-to-day life! Christmas Eve in my family meant a fish and seafood feast. The traditional, typical meal includes at least seven fish dishes. The celebration is meant to commemorate the wait for the birth of Jesus (Vigilla di Natale) at midnight. Christmas Eve was considered a fasting day which means that no meat can be eaten. Leave it to Italians to turn a day of fasting into an evening of feasting.
Many families serve seven or 13 different fish dishes. Why? Seven to symbolize the number of days that God took to create the Universe and is used in the Bible to mean perfection. …show more content…
Add the garlic and continue to cook until they are soft but not browned. 5. Pour in the sauce and stir in the crushed red pepper. Go easy on that as you can always add more if you want a bit more bite. 6. Simmer the mixture over very low heat, stirring often while the pasta cooks. 7. When the pasta is done and drained stir in the sauce and adjust the seasonings to taste. Add some pasta cooking water if the mixture seems to dry or “tight”. 8. Sprinkle with the fried bread crumbs, optional Parmesan, and then serve immediately.
Hopefully this has inspired you to create a seafood feast for your family. For more information and recipes look through Italian cookbooks ,search the internet, and talk to Italian American Grandmothers, myself included. Please feel free to contact me at Alexandrialeto@Hotmail.com or 585-534-5696.
My favorite cookbooks for all things Italian are "Essentials of Italian Cooking" and "The Classic Italian Cookbook" both by Marcella Hazen; "The Best Italian Classics" by America's Test Kitchen.
Websites to check out include: www.foodnetwork.com, www.cookingwithnonna.com, and www.ciaoitala.com. Ciao Italia is a very informative and interesting PBS show starring Mary Ann Esposito. It airs locally on WXXI on Saturday
Being of Italian American descent food plays a major part in all holiday celebrations; let’s face it, food plays a major part in my day-to-day life! Christmas Eve in my family meant a fish and seafood feast. The traditional, typical meal includes at least seven fish dishes. The celebration is meant to commemorate the wait for the birth of Jesus (Vigilla di Natale) at midnight. Christmas Eve was considered a fasting day which means that no meat can be eaten. Leave it to Italians to turn a day of fasting into an evening of feasting.
Many families serve seven or 13 different fish dishes. Why? Seven to symbolize the number of days that God took to create the Universe and is used in the Bible to mean perfection. …show more content…
Add the garlic and continue to cook until they are soft but not browned. 5. Pour in the sauce and stir in the crushed red pepper. Go easy on that as you can always add more if you want a bit more bite. 6. Simmer the mixture over very low heat, stirring often while the pasta cooks. 7. When the pasta is done and drained stir in the sauce and adjust the seasonings to taste. Add some pasta cooking water if the mixture seems to dry or “tight”. 8. Sprinkle with the fried bread crumbs, optional Parmesan, and then serve immediately.
Hopefully this has inspired you to create a seafood feast for your family. For more information and recipes look through Italian cookbooks ,search the internet, and talk to Italian American Grandmothers, myself included. Please feel free to contact me at Alexandrialeto@Hotmail.com or 585-534-5696.
My favorite cookbooks for all things Italian are "Essentials of Italian Cooking" and "The Classic Italian Cookbook" both by Marcella Hazen; "The Best Italian Classics" by America's Test Kitchen.
Websites to check out include: www.foodnetwork.com, www.cookingwithnonna.com, and www.ciaoitala.com. Ciao Italia is a very informative and interesting PBS show starring Mary Ann Esposito. It airs locally on WXXI on Saturday