Christmas Eve Calamari
and other fishy dishes I'll be serving for the holiday; plus new cooking classes!
I often get asked this time of year whether I’ll be making the Feast of the Seven Fishes on Christmas Eve.
The short answer is: No. And yes.
My mother always prepared a seafood feast when I was growing up that included—but was not limited to—pasta with tuna-tomato sauce, eel (both fried and roasted), stewed calamari, which my sister and I called “creepy crawlers” for the tentacles, and skate (both fried and sautéed). But she didn’t call it the Feast of the Seven Fishes. In fact, we had never heard the term. I was well into adulthood when the concept of seven fishes crossed my radar, first through my brother-in-law, whose family did count their fish, and the as more restaurants began to feature it as a way to reel in (sorry!) customers during the holidays.
As far as I can tell, the practice of counting your fish dishes is not so much Italian as Italian-American. Years ago I wrote a piece about this; you can read it here, on a long-defunct (but beloved) website that I used to be a part of about a decade ago. The comments are no longer visible but there were some who agreed with me and others who insisted I was wrong and that their relatives in Italy did indeed count the number of fish served on Christmas Eve. For some it was seven; for others nine, or 13, etc., the number always carrying the weight of religious significance.
I don’t doubt them—after all, Italians do tend to attach meaning to numbers when it comes to celebratory meals. But I still maintain that the seven fishes ritual is not as prevalent among most Italian families in Italy. More likely, the tradition originated in a couple of small pockets in southern Italy and made its way to the U.S. where it flourished in communities of Italian immigrants. Nancy Harmon Jenkins wrote a good post recently suggesting that the Feast may have roots in Bari, whose identity and economy have long been tied to the fishing industry. The tradition traveled with Baresi immigrants to the U.S., she posits, eventually morphing into the extravaganza it is today. As good an explanation as I’ve seen.
Whatever the true story, the majority of Italians do eat seafood on Christmas Eve—we are talking about a country mostly surrounded by water, after all. Funnily enough, the one year my family and I spent Christmas in Italy, 2018, we were in Aosta, and there wasn’t a squid tentacle in sight—but there was plenty of polenta and melty cheese and sausages and beef stew.
What are your thoughts? Seven fishes? No fishes? What are you making for the holidays?
Here’s my planned menu, a much pared down version of my mom’s. I’m also sharing my menu for Christmas Day, which will be fish-free.
Christmas Eve Menu
Antipasto
Smoked oysters, clams & mussels on crackers: This is something my parents started doing many years ago, so I have always loved the flavor of smoked fish and shellfish. A must have for Christmas Eve.
Primo
Tonnarelli with Tuna Tomato Sauce (recipe below and in The Glorious Pasta of Italy): I say ‘tonnarelli’ assuming I’ll have time to make a batch of homemade pasta (tonnarelli are like fat chitarra noodles). If not, I’ve got packages of fedelini at the ready. Fedelini is what my mom used; they are nearly as thin as capellini, but not quite. The sauce is a rich and piquant ragù of tomatoes, tuna in olive oil, anchovies, capers, and garlic.
Secondo
Christmas Eve Calamari (recipe below and in The Glorious Soups and Stews of Italy): Squid braised with tomatoes and onions. The “creepy crawlers” are always, always on the menu.
Scampi in Padella: a.k.a. shrimp scampi (recipe here).
Contorni
Cime di Rapa in Padella: sautéed rapini with garlic and hot pepper (recipe in The Glorious Vegetables of Italy).
Cauliflower with Anchovies and Oil-Cured Olives: a Thanksgiving reprise (recipe here).
Dolce
ALL the cookies cookies cookies cookies cookies.
Christmas Day Menu
Antipasto
Cheese Platter: detailed here.
Primo
Cappelletti in Brodo: My mom made this first course of tiny meat-filled pasta bonnets simmered in homemade broth for many years. I don’t always have time to crank out a batch, but I’m doing it this year. That’s right; you heard me. (Recipe in The Glorious Soups and Stews of Italy.)
Porchetta: My dad always made a beautifully rare, beef tenderloin roast, but since we didn’t make porchetta this year for Thanksgiving, I promised my kids I would make it for Christmas. However, I am going to make the tenderloin for New Year’s Day, as a tribute to my dad, who died in August. Porchetta recipe here; tenderloin recipe in Big Night In.
Contorni
Winter Endive and Orange Salad: (recipe here); or the Orange Salad with Radicchio, Red Onion, and Taggiasca Olives from my new coobook, Williams-Sonoma Everyday Italian.
Peperoni Sott’Olio: It always pays to have jar of these in the fridge.
Cime di Rapa (take 2): I always make enough for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.
Dolci
Coffee Crème Caramel, from Williams-Sonoma Everyday Italian. On Tuesday I’ll be sharing the recipe for this luscious espresso-spiked custard bathed in caramel with my premium subscribers. (You’re still in time to take advantage of the holiday discount!)
NEW COOKING CLASSES
In addition to the Agnolotti del Plin class on January 14 (which is sold out), I’ve just posted a handful of new classes:
All-Purpose Egg Pasta and Shapes, Saturday, Feb. 11: This is a good class to take if you are new to making pasta at home, or if you just want a refresher. We’ll mix the dough by hand, then use a pasta machine to roll it out into strips. I’ll show you how to cut the pasta into a variety of shapes. And we’ll make sauce to go with our freshly cut noodles.
Homemade Turle, Ligurian Potato Ravioli, Saturday, Feb. 25: Turle are delicate yet hearty half-moon ravioli filled with mashed potatoes and toma cheese and dressed with melted butter and freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano. They are a specialty of Ligurian “cucina bianca,” the “white” cuisine characteristic of the villages clustered in the foothills of the Maritime Alps. In this class, we’ll make the dough and filling, and we’ll roll, cut and shape the ravioli.
Everyday Italian Menu, Saturday, March 11: Everyday cooking doesn’t have to be boring! We will be making a dinner menu out of my new book: Orange Salad with Radicchio, Red Onion and Taggiasca Olives, Chicken-Ricotta Meatballs in Tomato Sauce, and Lemon-Rosemary Cornmeal Cake with Lemon Syrup. And we’ll toast with a special cocktail.
More classes are on the way. Premium subscribers are entitled to a 30% discount on any of the classes listed here. (I’ll send out a discount code separately.)
And to my FOUNDING SUBSCRIBERS, I’ll be sending out details shortly about our ONLINE PASTA PARTY, which will take place on January 28!
On to the recipes…
RECIPE: Pasta with Tuna-Tomato Sauce
These days, this sauce goes by the fancier name of “tuna ragù” but it was always tuna-tomato sauce in our house. It is one of the easiest sauces to make; no need to brown or sauté anything first; all the ingredients go right into the pot. In spite of its simplicity, it is truly special.
As for the pasta, if you’ve got time, a batch of fresh spaghetti alla chitarra or tonnarelli (a fatter version of chitarra) goes beautifully with this sauce. Otherwise, my mom always cooked fedelini, thin noodles that lie somewhere between spaghettini and capellini.
Makes 4 to 6 servings
INGREDIENTS
1 (24-ounce/680 g) bottle tomato passata; or 1 (28-ounce/790 g) can whole tomatoes, passed through a food mill
1 (14-ounce/400 g) can finely chopped tomatoes (you can mill them for a smoother sauce)
2 large cloves garlic, lightly crushed
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
4 tablespoons (60 ml) extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
Generous pinch red pepper flakes
2 to 3 (5-ounce/142 g) cans best quality tuna in olive oil, depending on how much you like
1 tin best quality oil-packed anchovy fillets, coarsely mashed with a fork (I like these)
1 tablespoon capers, coaresly chopped
1 pound pasta, either homemade or packaged spaghetti alla chitarra, fedelini, or spaghetti
INSTRUCTIONS
1. Put the tomatoes in a heavy-bottomed saucepan. Add the garlic, 1 tablespoon of parsley, the olive oil, salt, and red pepper flakes. Turn the heat on to medium-high and cook, stirring occasionally, for 20 to 30 minutes, or until the sauce has thickened and oil pools at the surface. Add the tuna, anchovies, capers, and the remaining tablespoon of parsley. Cook the sauce for another 10 minutes, or until heated through and the flavors have come together.
2. While the sauce is cooking, bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil and salt generously. Add the pasta and stir to separate the noodles. Cook until al dente. Drain the pasta in a colander set in the sink, reserving about 1 cup of the cooking water.
3. Return the pasta to the pot and spoon some of the sauce over it. Gently toss to combine. Add a splash or two of the reserved cooking water if necessary to loosen the sauce. Transfer to individual bowls and spoon more sauce over each serving.
RECIPE: Christmas Eve Calamari
(aka Creepy Crawlers)
This dish of slowly stewed calamari has always been the star attraction on our Christmas Eve table. Back in the 1970s, before squid was popular in the U.S., my mother would order it ahead of time from the fish market in Princeton, N.J., near where we lived. It was sold whole and not cleaned, so she would set about this messy and time-consuming task early on Christmas Eve morning, separating the tentacles from the bodies, removing the thin cartilage, and peeling off the gray outer skin. Thankfully, calamari are pretty easy to find now, already cleaned and ready to cook.
Makes 4 to 6 servings
INGREDIENTS
2 pounds (1 kg) cleaned calamari, both sacs and tentacles, rinsed
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 large yellow onion, halved and thinly sliced
2 large cloves garlic, passed through a garlic press or mashed in a mortar
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
Generous pinch of red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh oregano
1/4 cup (60 ml) dry white wine
1 (14-ounce/400 g) can stewed tomatoes
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
INSTRUCTIONS
1. With kitchen scissors, cut the calamari sacs into 1/2-inch- (1-cm-) wide rings. Cut each crown of tentacles in half lengthwise to yield bite-sized pieces.
2. In a large sauté pan with a lid, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring from time to time, for 7 to 8 minutes, ,or until softened and translucent. In a small bowl, mix together the garlic and salt to form a paste and add it to the onion. Add the red pepper flakes and oregano and stir to mix everything together. Stir in the calamari and cook for a minute or two, just until they start to turn opaque. Raise the heat to medium-high and pour in the wine. Let the mixture bubble for a minute or two, then pour in the tomatoes. Lower the heat to medium-low, cover partially, and cook for 30 to 40 minutes, until the calamari are tender.
3. Uncover and cook for another 15 minutes or so, until the sauce has thickened. Stir in the vinegar, raise the heat to high, and cook for about 2 minutes more. Taste and adjust the seasoning with salt if needed. Remove from the heat and stir in the parsley. Transfer to a warmed serving bowl or deep plate and serve.
PICTURE ITALY: Aosta, December 2018
With both Christmas and New Years falling on a Sunday, this is my last official newsletter for 2022, though I reserve the right to pop in unannounced with a special end-of-year surprise.
Thank you for reading and for your support over the last year (Buona Domenica turns ONE in February!).
Buon Natale e Buon Anno a tutti,
Domenica
This calamari was an insanely huge hit with my family, even with those who don’t really like calamari. It got so tender and was just absolutely delish. I made it for the holiday but it will be on repeat year round! Happy new year!
We never counted fishes. We just ate fish. My parents are straight from Italy too. My family in Italy doesn't count either. I will make a variety of fish for Christmas Eve and that's all. Christmas Day will be lasagna New Year's Eve is now Chinese food with the kids, and porchetta on new years day. Buon Natale e buon anno Domenica.