the Christmas season ends. Additional winter holidays include San Valentino or St. Valentine’s Day, and Carnevale (Mardi Gras) before Lent begins.
On the feast of Santa Lucia, various towns have their own sweet and savory baked goods that are enjoyed in addition to wintertime foods. Occhi di Santa Lucia/Santa Lucia’s Eyes Cookies are a traditional sweet enjoyed for breakfast or dessert, dunked in coffee or sweet wine for the occasion. On Epiphany, La Befana is celebrated. La Befana is a good witch who not only rewards children for good (and punishes them for bad) behavior on the Eve of Epiphany, but is also credited with sweeping away negative energy from previous years. Italian children hang stockings for her to fill on December 6. Cutout cookies in the shapes of stars and stockings, cakes, and stocking-shaped pizze and calzoni are made in her honor.
Much like in the United States, Valentine’s Day meals are all about the romance, and some cooks like to amp things up with aphrodisiac ingredients such as oysters, chili, spices, and chocolate. There are no set dishes for St. Valentine’s Day, but fine dining and elegance are synonymous with the holiday based upon St. Valentine secretly marrying young Roman couples against the will of the government in Terni, Italy.
Christmas meals usually consist of a cenone, or a large meal, on Christmas Eve. Because people couldn’t eat meat prior to midnight mass on Christmas Eve, the large meal typically consisted of seafood and is where the Italian-American tradition of the Feast of the Seven Fishes began. You can read more about this in Chapter 11, but keep in mind that you can have a lovely, authentic Italian Christmas Eve without seven different types of seafood; that’s not a common practice throughout Italy today. Pasta with seafood and fish or a seafood-based second course will still be delicious, nutritious, and authentic. See Table 4-9 for an example Christmas Eve menu.
A Christmas Day meal is like a greatly amplified Sunday winter meal. Many families eat Tortellini in brodo as a primo, followed by roasted meats. Others eat lasagne, baked pastas, or other family favorites. The meal usually takes place mid-afternoon and lasts for a long time. Table 4-10 features dishes that my family likes to serve, but you can feel free to change things up. Note that it is not typical to serve fish on Christmas Day since that is what the Christmas Eve cenone is based on.
Obviously, several cookies and desserts are traditional at Christmas, just as in other places. Even though people usually don’t eat all of them at one sitting, it is nice to have them on hand and to give as edible gifts. The Biscotti di regina/Calabrian Sesame Cookies are traditionally enjoyed at Christmas and Santo Stefano, which is the following day. On December 26, many Italian families take walks outside and go to visit extended family and friends that they couldn’t be with on Christmas itself. Whenever you go to visit someone else, it is nice to have these treats on hand to offer them.
Lent, Easter, and spring holiday menus
Meat was traditionally not eaten from Friday until Sunday mass in the Catholic church, but nowadays it is usually only abstained from on Fridays and during Holy Week during Lent. In the past, sugar and dairy were often refrained from, so there are some historical recipes that do not include those ingredients, made specifically for Lent. Today, typical late winter and spring fare is consumed with special attention to eating seafood on Friday. There are no set Lenten menus.
TABLE 4-9: Christmas Eve Menu
| Course | Recipe | Location |
|---|---|---|
| Antipasto | Giardiniera/Quick Italian Pickles Insalata di mare/Seafood Salad Gamberi al limone e rosmarino/Lemon and Rosemary Scented Shrimp | Chapter 6 |
| Primo | Pasta con tonno e finocchio/Bucatini with Fresh Tuna and Fennel | Chapter 8 |
| Secondo | Pesce in acqua pazza/Neapolitan-Style Fish in Crazy Water Involtini di tonno e melanzane/Fresh Tuna and Eggplant Roulades Cozze in brodo con pomodori e zafferano/Mussels in Tomato Saffron Broth Capesante con salsa di balsamico bianco/Scallops with White Balsamic Sauce | Chapter 11 |
| Contorno | Finocchio in padella con scalogni e castagne/Pan-fried Fennel, Shallots, and Chestnuts | Chapter 14 |
| Insalata | Insalata di riso/Sicilian Rice Salad | Chapter 15 |
| Frutta | Macedonia di frutta con noci/Fruit Salad with Walnuts | Chapter 17 |
| Dolce | Struffoli/Neapolitan Honey Drenched Fritters Cannoli Petrali Cucidati/Southern-Italian Fig Cookies Mostaccioli/Chocolate Holiday Cookies | Chapter 18 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 19 |
| Caffé | Caffé/Classic Espresso | Chapter 16 |
During Carnevale, there are several sweet treats such as Pignolata (which is similar to Struffoli), Chiacchiere (fried pastry fritters called “gossips”), and other sweet fried treats. Zeppole di San Giuseppe/St. Joseph’s Day Cream Puffs are made in honor of St. Joseph (the patron saint of pastry chefs), along with a large meal including fava beans in some areas. St. Joseph’s Day is also Father’s Day in Italy.
TABLE 4-10: Christmas Day Menu
| Course | Recipe | Location |
|---|---|---|
| Antipasto | Antipasti misti (salumi e formaggi)/Antipasto Platter Vrasciole/Calabrian Meatballs Suppli al telefono/Roman Risotto Croquettes |
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