OT - What are your family traditions on Christmas?

[Admin IT]

Our traditions are the dinner celebrations on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

My mother was Northern Italian from Pordenone, my father was from Messina Sicily. My father was not Italian, He was Sicilian. That combination is like fire and water. We celebrated the feast of the 7 fishes with both Sicilian (Basso Italiano) and Northern (Alto Italiano) recipes. My family has carried on these traditional holiday meals from when my parents were married in 1926 as did their families before them. The fish dishes changes annually, but our family holds these meals as our celebration of Christmas - Our Family Holiday. We always celebrate the feast of the 7 fishes with friends and family. We are expecting 30 at 2:00 for Christmas eve dinner this year.

Starters......
Various wine cheese, olives, prosciutto essiccatosuti (dried Italian ham);
Floured and fried smelts with lemon;
Blanched calamari with lemon and oil;
Breaded and fried calamari with lemon;
Skewered swordfish skewered and baked with lemon;
Octopus marinated in lemon and black pepper (marinating now).

Dinner........
Octopus Salad with poached Octopus, mixed salad greens, olives, pickled onion and ceci ceci (garbanzo) beans;
Bacala (salted cod) salad with gently poached cod, lemons, olive oil, parsley - this fish is soaked in water for 3 days to remove the salt;
Whiting salad more delicate fish for those that do not like the hard taste or texture of the cod;
Lobster Mac and Cheese for the children;
Calamari marinara sauce served over angel hair.


After Dinner........
Homemade Italian cookies and nut rolls (too many to mention by name);
Tiramisu Homemade
Cannoli
Coffee

This feast will take 4-5 hours and we will have plenty of time talking and sharing with our family and friends. later in the evening, we are helping to make Sicilian Strada for Christmas Day brunch. Christmas day dinner will be gnocchi with red marinara sauce for a starter, then a standing rib roast. There are more vegetables and treats both days. Just too many to mention.

After this feast, most will go to Midnight Mass.

Bona Natali & Happy Holidays to you and your families.

Chuck

[Fygmalion]

My family celebrates much in the same manner as yours with Feast of 7 fishes on Christmas Eve and another dinner on Christmas Day... My wife is half Italian and half French with her late father having been an Executive French Chef in a number of notable places in NYC over the years. The man could cook! I am full blooded Croatian but from close to the Italian coastal border around Trieste so many of my dishes are Italian... gnocchi for example... although I always serve my homemade gnocchi with homemade goulash. Anyway, we do a number of different fish courses on the Eve. I am very jealous of your Octopus dishes as I simply adore Octopus but can never get it to come out the way my mother can.... Celebrations are all about family and food and drink and spending time together; we usually get together with a small crew on the Eve and an extended family celebration on the Day where course are varied and reflect all family cultural influences and tastes. As is usually the case, this whole week has been about preparation and making cookies.... Its really a challenge not to put on 10-15 lbs during the end of year celebrations; weight that then refuses to come off until summer time. We used to do Midnight mass every year when we lived down closer to NYC and getting to church was a mere short walk away but now up here in the boonies where you drive 20 minutes to town, Mass on Christmas day just works out better for us.

Merry Christmas, Sretan Božić i sretna nova 2017 godina & Happy Holidays to everyone and your families!

[Tonycm]

My father's side is from northern Italy from the city of Ivrea. My mother's family is part French, Calabrese and Sicilian. We don't have as big of a menu as Chuck does, (sounds like a good meal). We alternate between ravioli, gnocchi, bacala and always some goodies like biscotti, cannoli, candied orange rinds and pizzelles.

[Fygmalion]

Nice, Tony! Enjoy! I'm beginning to sense a common thread here.... :-)

[Admin IT]

Tony, would like to have your recipe for candied orange rinds!

[Tonycm]

They're simple to make, just a bit sticky.

Candied Orange slices

Any orange will do but we try to find oranges with the thickest rinds.
Slice the peel into about 1/4 inch wide strips.
When removing the peel from the orange try to keep as much of the pith attached to the peel as possible. The pith is the white part between the peel and the orange.
Put the sliced peels in a pan and cover with water.
Bring to a boil for 1 to 2 minutes.
Drain the water and repeat the process.
Add "Cold" water and bring to a boil for 1 to 2 minutes again.
You could repeat the boiling process a third time if you like a milder flavor but we like them with a bit more flavor so two times is enough.

You'll need to boil them one last time but with sugar water.
The way we do it is to put the peels into the pan. Add water measuring as you go.
Then you'll need to either scoop out the orange slices or pour the water into another pan. Now you should know the amount of water to use.
If you need 2 1/2 cups of water then you'll need 2 1/2 cups of sugar. A 1 to 1 ratio.
Heat the sugar water until all the sugar is dissolved then add the orange slices back into the pan and bring to a simmer for about an hour or until the slices look translucent. ""Don't stir while its simmering or the sugar will crystallize.""
Scoop out the slices and put them in a colander to let them drain as much as you can.
Roll them in granulated sugar or powdered sugar.
Lay the slices on a wire rack and let them dry overnight. If you use a cookie sheet you'll need to turn them every couple of hours to help them dry.
If you like you can dip them in chocolate too.
Once dry, put in a container dividing layers with wax paper.

[lilfiggy]

Ahh wonderful feasts. Southern girl has ham, squash caserole (for my daughter), yeast rolls, fresh green beans, fresh corn, something sparkly to drink, and a black cherry jello mold with whipped cream and cream cheese and pecan topping. Simple and loved by our very small family. I know I know Clark and the jello mold with cat food. Husband, me, daughter, her husband and grandson. Sigh that is all the family we have. This dinner takes place the weekend before Christmas. When one grandchild, you share time. Christmas day for daughter is at her house. Mike is in law enforcement and usually must work to protect. Those Italian dishes sound incredible. We have split pea soup and corn muffins and chocolate cake for supper when they are here. Our friends are far flung and after Christmas neighbors share their desserts and we have coffee.

[Fygmalion]

Sounds great! Family time is happy time....

[lilfiggy]

Merry Christmas to all of my friends here. May you be blessed with happiness and health, love and joy this special time.

[lilfiggy]

Tony, I want your goulash recipe.

[Fygmalion]

I guess that I would have to write it down first.... For the first time in a long time really I made a SMALL batch last week using only a small 4 lb bottom round roast for the meat. Usually my standard operating procedure is to make 24 quarts at a time because my kids are all crazy for goulash with pasta and goulash with freshly made gnocchi is over the top for them. For 24 quarts I start with 15-20 lb of bottom round roast and 10lb of any onion other than Red (too gassy) but preferably vidalia. The rest of the ingredients include good crushed or stewed whole tomatoes (San Marzano preferred but...) which would then be crushed before adding and the rest of the spice ingredients list such as Hungarian Paprika, etc... I usually add species as I cook and taste. I will try and write it out....

[Admin IT]

Tony, put me in line for that recipe too! I can just imagine it being awesome served over HM Gnocchi.

Other than red sauce over Gnocchi, the only other that I have had was once my daughter made lamb with root vegetables and that made a fantastic gravy; the meat and sauce served over (ricotta not potato) Gnocchi was fantastic and very different than our customary gnocchi with red sauce.

Looking forward to your recipe. C

[Admin IT]

can never get it to come out the way my mother can....

Tony, My mother always said, "Peasants eat plainly, but they always eat well."

Nothing is ever as good as our Mom's made it! My mother was a chef cooking a huge variety of Northern Italian foods from scratch. My sisters and I had to learn to cook, many times we acted as her sous-chef and now my daughter and sons are picking up the traditions. Pressure on my children tomorrow. My cousin from Italy is coming for dinner. He is a graduate of the Culinary Institute of North America. He is an awesome chef, has been cooking for 50+ years. He is 86 YO and has more getup an go than I do.

Ciao

[Fygmalion]

Very nice tradition.... I am sure your cousin is going to be impressed... I have a friend named Michael Rizzo who also graduated at CIA and I find him to be remarkably tuned into kids and teaching them so I am sure your cousin is of same mindset and will be very positive in his comments and suggestions.... Amazing how at end of the day, food and drink are great equalizers and help to bring people together....

[Admin IT]

Yes, that is soo true about food and drink. John is of that ilk also. Over the years he has taught me many tricks - my mother was his God-mother and his mother was French. Funny the family would never except my father since he was Sicilian. I'll ask him how to measure the doneness of the Octopus: I just test and take out when it is just right.....Hoping never to overcook! I dont think there is a fast rule since the size and texture of the animals are always so different!

[chuckell]

Our traditions are the dinner celebrations on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

My mother was Northern Italian from Pordenone, my father was from Messina Sicily. My father was not Italian, He was Sicilian. That combination is like fire and water. We celebrated the feast of the 7 fishes with both Sicilian (Basso Italiano) and Northern (Alto Italiano) recipes. My family has carried on these traditional holiday meals from when my parents were married in 1926 as did their families before them. The fish dishes changes annually, but our family holds these meals as our celebration of Christmas - Our Family Holiday. We always celebrate the feast of the 7 fishes with friends and family. We are expecting 30 at 2:00 for Christmas eve dinner this year.

Starters......
Various wine cheese, olives, prosciutto essiccatosuti (dried Italian ham);
Floured and fried smelts with lemon;
Blanched calamari with lemon and oil;
Breaded and fried calamari with lemon;
Skewered swordfish skewered and baked with lemon;
Octopus marinated in lemon and black pepper (marinating now).

Dinner........
Octopus Salad with poached Octopus, mixed salad greens, olives, pickled onion and ceci ceci (garbanzo) beans;
Bacala (salted cod) salad with gently poached cod, lemons, olive oil, parsley - this fish is soaked in water for 3 days to remove the salt;
Whiting salad more delicate fish for those that do not like the hard taste or texture of the cod;
Lobster Mac and Cheese for the children;
Calamari marinara sauce served over angel hair.


After Dinner........
Homemade Italian cookies and nut rolls (too many to mention by name);
Tiramisu Homemade
Cannoli
Coffee

This feast will take 4-5 hours and we will have plenty of time talking and sharing with our family and friends. later in the evening, we are helping to make Sicilian Strada for Christmas Day brunch. Christmas day dinner will be gnocchi with red marinara sauce for a starter, then a standing rib roast. There are more vegetables and treats both days. Just too many to mention.

After this feast, most will go to Midnight Mass.

Bona Natali & Happy Holidays to you and your families.

Chuck

~christmas eve,worship candle light service to celebrate the birth of the king Jesus,@ 7 pm,then to my side of family niece's house.there are many goodies , cookies,diff types of dips ,salads,bean casoroles,and most important my mothers recipe for cabbage rolls delish~! ,(pigs in the ole blanket as we call them ),then the exchanging of gifts to each other. christmas day whoever wants to come to dinner. welcome both sides of family and friends ,we usually have people in and out from noon till ??,wife will be cooking a fresh butcher shop hickory smoked ham with very low to no salt added,and real smoke used in preparation.there will be numerous side dishes,the ham is about 25 lbs.there will be numerous deserts ,and more exchanging of gifts,we do this every year it's our tradition,so merry christmas to all,and chuck i would love to be family cause i love fish that sounds great.

[Admin IT]

Love "Them Pigs" or "Polish hand~grenades" your holiday fare sounds delish. Would enjoy left-overs, Please!!

Blessings to all of OurFig families - C

[Fygmalion]

Most excellent traditions, Chuck! Enjoy and Merry Christmas, Happy New Year 2017 to you and yours!

[Zuny]

I am hispanic and for us Christmas Eve is usually the big party day. Everyone gets together for dinner and waits till midnight then we exchange presents. So on Christmas Eve we always spend it at my parents house. On Christmas day my kids wakeup to finding the presents Santa left them and around 4 we go to my in-laws house and we have a big dinner and later exchange gifts. In between everything I make sure to tell my kids the real reason we celebrate Christmas. It's 2 days of spending time with family and having fun.

Merry Christmas everyone stay safe and remember the true meaning of Christmas.

[Fygmalion]

Super, Zuny It is a wonderful time of the year for family, friends, good foods and drinks and renewing traditions and remembering our roots! Merry Christmas, Happy New Year 2017 to you and yours!

[Admin IT]

Zuny, a great tradition. For many years we made sure our children were sleeping before we decorated the Christmas tree. Then we surrounded the decorated tree with their presents. It was wonderful seeing their little eyes wide open amazed at the beautiful decorations, gifts and especially the 14' tree. This was difficult for wife and I after Christmas eve dinner. Normally we finished decorating and arranging the presents under the tree @ 5-5:30 Am. Then to be awakened at 6-6:30 to "Santa Has Been Here !!!! ". Was a wonderful time for us all, but seemingly too much work now-a-days. I can readily understand with both parenets working it must be very difficult. Blessings and a Happy New Year. C

[Dave]

My mother and father were both from Calabria I have 4 brothers and 1 sister 15 grandchildren & friends so it was quite a get together when my parents were with us and we still try and keep that tradition going

So on to the menu

Appetizers

Antipasto, Scungilli salad, Dried meats, cheeses, Nuts and plenty of homemade bread

Main Course

Calamari over Spaghetti, Baccala, Eel Sautéed in Olive oil and Oregano , Fried Shrimp, Fried Cod, Smelts, & Scallops,

Desserts

Every Italian cookie and pastry you could think of Rum Babas are my Favorite

The Calamari was always my favorite Can't get enough of it

[Dave]

Tony if you are a Rum baba fan and ever down in Stamford check out Sal's Pastry I guarantee you will never have a better one and believe me I've had them all over the world LOL Thanks Zuny it is good

[Admin IT]

Davio,

What a feast. I can imagine everything on your menu. Just fantastic selections and combinations in your celebration of the Feast of our Italian heritage. One I can easily enjoy simply by reading your post.

Note: l have made several notes for our celebration next year - have not had eel for 20 or more years since my mother passed, never see it fresh. Then just forgot about it. Will make extra effort early next year.

Thank You.

[Fygmalion]

Dave i will certainly try and hit SAL's next time in stamford

[jolly john]

My wife`s family is from Delianuova ( near Reggio, Calabria ) my family is from Crone, on lake i`dro ( north of Brescia, i think in Premonte) my adult children do Christmas Eve & Christmas Day. Each one tries to out do the other. It does not get any better than this. I hope my fig family enjoys the tradition as much as I.

[Fygmalion]

Sounds like a real family good time... congratulations and Merry Christmas!

[Admin IT]

John,

Believe it ... They are having a great time, especially with you and your wife enjoying it too. My 3 certainly enjoy these "Throw Back" celebrations. Maybe more than I do.

[Rafaelissimmo]

Chuck I admire your family's long adherence to tradition, your menu is to die for. My father is a Sicilian from Argentina, but our people were from deep in the mountains. And we lived far from the sea in Argentina...somehow the feast of the fishes went by the wayside. I prefer a suckling pig or roast pork shoulder for christmas eve, as is common in Argentina...but I would love to revive the feast of the seven fishes! As a good New Yorker I like to follow it all w some good Sicilian Cannoli from Catania Bakery and some sinful Puerto Rican coquito!

[Admin IT]

Raphael, my son gave me a book of drinks (health and other) for Christmas. Tells how to make your own fresh Coconut water, rice water, almond water and many others and then how to use them in 150 pages of drink recipes - might find Coquito there. Will let you know. I make and use Kefir daily - homemade waters are unbelievable. I'll let you know what I find out from my friend. Best C

[Dave]

Rafael would you consider that the best bakery in your area? Next time I'm down that way i will like to check it out

[Rafaelissimmo]

Hi Dave the Cannolis at Catania Bakery on Fresh pond Road in Ridgewood are very unique, they are made with ricotta imported from Sicily, which is quite an unusual product, and authentic. Also, if you can get to Court Street in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn, the Court Pastry Shop makes very traditional Brooklyn Cannoli! Hope that helps.

[Fygmalion]

Excellent Rafael.... The food is of lesser consequence than spending time with the ones you love.... Fresh Roast Port Shoulder is wonderful... I usually spike the shoulder with lots of fresh garlic and make a deep, rich sauce from the drippings using a robust red wine and mushrooms! Served with roasted baby potatoes or quartered sweet potatoes and your choice of other vegetables and it makes for a memorable meal to share with family. The desserts are the cherry on the meal and finished with a good port is the way I end many a family dinner. Merry Christmas and a super 2017 New Year to you and your family!

[Hershell]

I sure like that idea. It would be worth a long drive to get to meet some of the fine folks from this forum and to get to even hear about those fine foods would be well worth a trip.

[Rafaelissimmo]

Thank you Tony Merry christmas, it sounds like we have a lot in common LOL

[Admin IT]

Hershell, That would be one fantastic gathering.....Not to mention all of the good food we could serve. Good Idea!

[chuckell]

My mother and father were both from Calabria I have 4 brothers and 1 sister 15 grandchildren & friends so it was quite a get together when my parents were with us and we still try and keep that tradition going

So on to the menu

Appetizers

Antipasto, Scungilli salad, Dried meats, cheeses, Nuts and plenty of homemade bread

Main Course

Calamari over Spaghetti, Baccala, Eel Sautéed in Olive oil and Oregano , Fried Shrimp, Fried Cod, Smelts, & Scallops,

Desserts

Every Italian cookie and pastry you could think of Rum Babas are my Favorite

The Calamari was always my favorite Can't get enough of it

looks delicious

[Dave]

I find that hard to believe Hershell I don't think there is anything you can't do

[Hershell]

Well' I say I can't and Marie fells sorry for me and does it.

[Admin IT]

Dave, that is my favorite also. Your photo is so good, my mouth is watering! Going to have some LO tomorrow with some extra bacula......Yummy!

[Dave]

Everybody here has amazing Holiday meals but I don't think I saw one fig dish on anyones menu LOL

[chuckell]

Everybody here has amazing Holiday meals but I don't think I saw one fig dish on anyones menu LOL

~just dried store bought yukkkkk ~

[Admin IT]

Chuck did you try frozen or dried?? Were they from Trader Joe? I'm heading there tomorrow to get some to try.

[eboone]

My family culinary Christmas traditions are sort of traditional 'American', as my varied ancestors from England, Germany, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Prussia did not retain much of their traditions from their homelands. Or they did not have rich traditions when they came.

My family would always go to the Christmas Candlelight service at church, but have the Christmas gift exchange on Christmas morn after Santa had delivered presents overnight.

Food wise, I grew up with 3 traditions - we always has a ham on Christmas day and there were tons of homemade Christmas cookies to enjoy including soft molasses cookies, Russian tea cakes, Hello Dollies, gingerbread, snickerdoodles, sugar cookies in Christmas shapes decorated with red or green sprinkles, and others. The Christmas cookies were my favorite tradition of the season. The third tradition I did not appreciate - my grandmother always made a fancy molded jello with various fruits and vegetables in it, usually green or red jello or layered with both colors and cream cheese - this as a child I thought was revolting This tradition has not been carried forward for some reason.

In my own family we started a Christmas brunch tradition - right after the presents were opened we would have a huge spread with a breakfast casserole, bacon, sausage, buckwheat pancakes followed by all of the Christmas goodies people had given us that year. It was always a compromise between the adults who were hungry and wanted to eat sooner and the kids who wanted to keep playing around the tree. Kids are grown now and living far off, and no grandchildren yet, so this tradition has been put on hold until grandchildren arrive.

The last Christmas tradition came from my Slovenian father - in - law, and it is behind my presence in this forum. In his family they gave out rings of dried Greek figs (usually strung together in a package) as a Christmas treat in the stockings. My interest in making home dried fruit led me to research growing figs and I ended up here.

I hope all of you had a blessed Christmas!

[Fygmalion]

Thanks for sharing your holiday traditions. Great genesis story on how your interest in fig growing became 'rooted'.... It was a meery xmas for my extended household and I hope that continues through NYE and the upcoming 2017.... Hope everyone here and in the world has a safe and enjoyable New Years celebration....

[Admin IT]

ED, Great story and wonderful tradition and Yes the grandbabies really put the "Icing On The Cake". We have one 4 YO and one 1 1/2 YO. The little one ate octopus, shrimp, calamari, calamari pasta. She loved them all and especially like the pasta - I guess she is Italian leaning. You have a lot to look forward to with your growing family. Thanks for taking the time to share your traditions and fig story. Best C

[chuckell]

Chuck did you try frozen or dried?? Were they from Trader Joe? I'm heading there tomorrow to get some to try.

dave they were dried figs from the grocery store. i usually get them a couple times a year expensive though.7.00 for 7 oz. that's 16.00 a pound.i tried sprouting seeds a while back from them, they germinated good,then i found out that's no good to do ,i soaked them in water for 2 days and planted them they will germ good