New Year's Eve in Italy / La Festa di San Silvestro

La Festa di San Silvestro is December 31, and celebrated on New Years Eve.  As with many and most Italian celebrations food  and family are at the center of this celebration.  Friends and family get together to enjoy each other, and the foods that they have prepared for this celebration.

The main food served during this celebration is lentils, which symbolizes money and good fortune for the coming year.  The dinner in many Italian families  includes pork as well, which is a symbol of richness of life for the coming New Year.  Fireworks displays help celebrate the being of a this New Year, and many towns have displays in a central square, and private parties include sparklers.  Naples Italy is named for having one of the biggest New Years displays, along with Rome, Bologna, Milan, Palermo which also have huge popular outdoor shows with pop and rock bands,  while some towns build bonfires in the central square, and people from the town meet to view them until the early hours of the morning.  Many towns have public dancing and music, before the fireworks.  If you live near the coast, lake or river you will hear boats and ships blowing their horns.  Whatever you live, and whatever your tradition, I am sure we all want the same thing.  We want our families around us and their love, good health and wonderful friends and peace throughout the world.


My wish for you and your families in the coming year is a loving Family  health, Peace, happiness and love.  God Bless you all!

                                                             

Raspberry Bars

Crumb Mixture

2 1/4 cups flour

1 cup of sugar

1 cup of chopped pecans

1 cup of unsalted butter (softened)

1 egg

3/4 raspberry preserves

Heat the oven to 350, 

Line a 8 or 9 inch square baking pan with aluminum foil, and let it run over edges of the pan, grease the foil and set to one side. 

Mix all the crumb mixture together in a large bowl and beat at low speed.  Scraping the sides of the bowl often to make sure it is mixing together well.  Note the mixture will look like coarse crumbs.  Save 2 cups of crumb mixture and set aside.

Press the remaining crumb mixture on bottom of prepared baking pan.  Spread the raspberry preserves within 1/2 of edge.  Crumble rest of crumb mixture over preserves.

Bakes 40-45 minutes or until lightly browned.  Cool completely and cut into bars.

Italian Macaroon Cookies

4 eggs
1 1/2 cups of granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
1/8 teaspoon of salt
1 tablespoons of salted butter melted and cooled
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
5 cups coconut flakes
1 10 ounce of maraschino cherries drained and halved

In a medium size mixing bowl, beat eggs until foamy.  Slowly add sugar, and continue beating until thick and a pale yellow.  Stir together all the dry ingredients, fold dry ingredients into the eggs mixture.  Stir in butter, vanilla and coconut.

Drop the mixture by teaspoonful onto greased and floured baking sheets.  Top with cherries and bake at 325 minutes for 10-12 minutes until slightly golden not browned.  Remove to wire rack until cool, this mixture makes about 6 dozen cookies.

Snowballs Surprise

3/4 cups butter soften
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 cup chopped nuts
1 cup chocolate chips (6 Ounces)

Confectioners sugar


In  large mixing bowel, cream butter, and sugar, add the egg and vanilla, mix well.

Mix flour and salt together in a bowl, them add to creamed mixture, fold in your nuts and chocolate chips
Roll cookie mixture into 1 inch balls, and place on on ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes.  Roll in confectioners sugar. Makes about 6 dozen.

Wine Biscuits

4 cups of Flour

1 cup of sugar

1 cup of red table wine

4 teaspoons of baking powder 

3/4 cup of vegetable oil (Please do not use olive oil)

Preheat oven to 375

Mix wine and oil together medium bowl, then mix flour, sugar baking powder in a larger bowl together,  pour wine and oil mixture into flour mixture. 

Knead together until smooth texture.   

Break a piece of  dough and roll into a pencil size and roll between palms.  You can knot the dough like a pretzel or half a pencil size, brush top of biscuits with milk or egg.

 

Bake for about 10-12 minutes 

Special note you can add 2 teaspoons of pepper to add a kick to these cookies 

The Vigilia de Natale (The Feast of the Fishes)

The Feast of the Seven Fishes is one of many beloved and celebrated family traditions. In my family it was no different. The Vigilia di Natale (Vigil of the Nativity) commemorates the birth of the Baby Jesus, which is the reason for this beautiful and blessed celebration of Christmas.  It must be also noted that the feast of the fishes is not always seven, which represents the seven sacrament of the Catholic Church.   Some families prepare and served ten which represented the Stations of the Cross, or thirteen dishes on the night of the Vigilia di Natale which represents the Twelve apostles plus Jesus. The feast goes by a few different names, one of which is Festa dei Sette Pesci, ( the festivial of the Seven Fish), Cerone, (great supper) and Cena della Vigilia di Natale (the supper of the Vigial of the Nativity

The tradition of the fishes dates back to the Roman Catholic tradition of abstinence of eating meat or having milk products on important holy days, so the meal of choice was usually fish.  The meal menu for the feast consists of seafood and pasta.  The tradition of the fishes has been handed down in families from generation to generation, centuries old and will continue to do so, because even today families continue to value these beautiful traditions. There is no set menu for the feast, so the seafood prepared by families is usually a combination of dried salted cod, sardines, calamari, smelts, squad, eels, mussels, shrimp, oysters, clams, and scallops and many other types of fish. 

Traditions and beliefs, bind families and define them, its embedded in their DNA. Whatever beliefs and traditions families hold dear, one thing transcends all.  Which is the importance of gathering together and coming home from near and far to join  family and friends, and enjoying the beautiful season of Christmas.

The importance of these traditions was no different for my family, these were traditions that have defined my childhood.  I was lucky enough to grow up in a home in which my Mom and Nonni were both great cooks, and  as a child  I watched them with great wonder, never really understanding the knowledge given to me until I became older.  Not only was I being taught our families traditions, but I was also being given a recipe book of our families most loved and appreciated foods.  I never remember measuring cups or spoons, these foods were prepared with a pinch of this and a sprinkle of that, and yet they always tasted perfect, mouth watering and soul touching. 

The day before Christmas Eve was very important, my parents would go to the Hill (Federal Hill) and purchase fresh fish for the feast.  They would clean the Shrimp, as well as get the eels and other fish ready for this marathon cooking event.   The Cod would have been purchased and soaked for a few days before it  would be ready to cook that night. My Mother and grandmother would also make a  Linguine in red sauce, antipasto and pizza as well as many other side dishes.  Dinner lasted for many hours, and then ended with great desserts, Homemade Italian cookies, pizzelle's, panetone, and roasted chestnuts.

The aroma a the different fishes cooking as well as the red sauce filled the stairwells of our home, and its path would even be sensed in the outside area.  The excitement of Christmas as a child meant many things to me, lots of different fish dishes cooking, and a house full of family, it also meant a night of anticipation as well, because of  the arrival of Santa Claus.  Years have pasted since my childhood days, and most family members have pasted on, but memories and traditions have carried on in my heart and home, and today  I continue to preserved and carry on these traditions to my own family, in hopes that they will pass them on to theirs.

The Vigilia di Natale Feast of the Fishes

The Feast of the Seven Fishes is one of many beloved and celebrated family traditions. In my family it was no different. The Vigilia di Natale (Vigil of the Nativity) commemorates the birth of the Baby Jesus, which is the reason for this beautiful and blessed celebration of Christmas.  It must be also noted that the feast of the fishes is not always seven, which represents the seven sacrament of the Catholic Church.   Some families prepare and served ten which represented the Stations of the Cross, or thirteen dishes on the night of the Vigilia di Natale which represents the Twelve apostles plus Jesus. The feast goes by a few different names, one of which is Festa dei Sette Pesci, ( the festivial of the Seven Fish), Cerone, (great supper) and Cena della Vigilia di Natale (the supper of the Vigial of the Nativity,

The traditions of the fishes dates back to the Roman Catholic tradition of abstinence of eating meat or having milk products on important holy days, so the meal of choice was usually fish.  The meal menu for the feast consists of seafood and pasta.  The tradition of the fishes has been handed down in families from generation to generation, centuries old and will continue to do so, because even today families continue to value these beautiful traditions. There is no set menu for the feast, so the seafood prepared by families is usually a combination of dried salted cod, sardines, calamari, smelts, squad, eels, mussels, shrimp, oysters, clams, and scallops and many other types of fish. 

Traditions and beliefs, bind families and define them, its embedded in their DNA. Whatever beliefs and traditions families hold dear, one thing transcends all.  Which is the importance of gathering together and coming home from near and far to join  family and friends, and enjoying the beautiful season of Christmas.

The importance of these traditions was no different for my family, these were traditions that have defined my childhood.  I was lucky enough to grow up in a home in which my Mom and Nonni were both great cooks, and  as a child  I watched them with great wonder, never really understanding the knowledge given to me until I became older.  Not only was I being taught our families traditions, but I was also being given a recipe book of our families most loved and appreciated foods.  I never remember measuring cups or spoons, these foods were prepared with a pinch of this and a sprinkle of that, and yet they always tasted perfect, mouth watering and soul touching. 

The day before Christmas Eve was very important, my parents would go to the Hill (Federal Hill) and purchase fresh fish for the feast.  They would clean the Shrimp, as well as get the eels and other fish ready for this marathon cooking event.   The Cod would have been purchased and soaked for a few days before it  would be ready to cook that night. My Mother and grandmother would also make a  Linguine in red sauce, antipasto and pizza as well as many other side dishes.  Dinner lasted for many hours, and then ended with great desserts, Homemade Italian cookies, pizzelle's, panetone, and roasted chestnuts.


The aroma a the different fishes cooking as well as the red sauce filled the stairwells of our home, and its path would even be sensed in the outside area.  The excitement of Christmas as a child meant many things to me, lots of different fish dishes cooking, and a house full of family, it also meant a night of anticipation as well, because of  the arrival of Santa Claus.  Years have pasted since my childhood days, and most family members have pasted on, but memories and traditions have carried on in my heart and home, and today  I continue to preserved and carry on these traditions to my own family, in hopes that they will pass them on to theirs.