Christmas is the festival in which traditions are rediscovered and relived. Customs of distant times, handed down from generation to generation, is jealously guarded as if they were precious jewels. Thanks to some holidays, such as Christmas, Easter, and Carnival, the customs remain vivid. Cooking is undoubtedly an excellent way to preserve traditions, as gastronomy plays a fundamental role in Italian culture. To realize this, think of the typical dishes that are the symbol of certain holidays.
The country’s cooking peculiarity also lies in the fact that in Italy, the dishes and traditions vary significantly from region to region, but also from family to family. For example, in the South, the Christmas Eve dinner based on fish is very common, while in the North, the focus is mainly on lunch on December 25th.
In the regions of Southern Italy, the Christmas Eve dinner is very common on the evening of December 24th. The dishes prepared are mainly based on fish and shellfish, such as spaghetti with clams. On Christmas Eve in Campania, the table finds capitone (the eel’s female species) Rinforzo or reinforced salad enriched (with olives, capers, cauliflower, peppers, cucumbers), and fried cod fritters.
The dinner on the 25th includes baked pasta (such as lasagna, cannelloni) or ravioli filled with ricotta. You can’t miss the broccoli among the side dishes, and always during the Christmas holidays, the Campani prepare pork bits and vegetables cooked in a broth, called appropriately married. We find struffoli, balls of sweet dough fried among the desserts, coated with pure honey, and decorated with candied fruit.
(Image) Baked Cannelloni via Great Italian Chefs
In Puglia, we find fried panzerotti, stewed cod, and cod tiella, a recipe that requires the fish baked in the oven with potatoes, cherry tomatoes, and spices. Rice, potatoes, and mussels are a typical dish of this region very often prepared for the Christmas Day lunch. Puglia offers many selections among the sweets, including the locally made torrone (nougat) and traditional cartellate.
Calabria’s tables are filled with as many typical dishes, starting with the appetizer with “cod salad with cancariddi cruschi” or crunchy peppers. Among the first, we find the “scillatelle con ragù,” a type of homemade pasta, worked with an iron suitable to give their classic shape. During the Christmas Eve dinner, one of the most prepared dishes is spaghetti with anchovies and breadcrumbs. Among the main courses, we find cooked stockfish with potatoes for the evening of the 24th, and roast kid, for lunch on the 25th. The “Nacatole” is the classic biscuits of this period, flavored with anise and famous in the Province of Reggio Calabria. The Nacatole has a unique story connected to the philosophical belief of the value of life’s simplicity versus capitalism’s illusions.
(Image) Nacatole from Calabria via Sergio Straface
In Basilicata, they eat escarole and cabbage soup, cooked in a meat broth and enriched with Pecorino cheese. The homemade pasta, prepared in this region for Christmas dinner, is the “strascinati,” which take their name from how they are “dragged” on the pasta board surface with your fingers. Among the various desserts, I suggest calzoncelli, fried “panzerotti” stuffed with rich chestnut cream.
(Image) Buccellato via Siciliani Creativi in Cucina Foto by Ada Parisi
Sicilian cuisine is very varied. Each province has its characteristics, also marked by the peoples who lived in those lands in the past. In Palermo, the “sfincione” tall focaccia topped with tomato, onions, anchovies, oregano, and caciocavallo. You can choose between pasta with sardines and terrine of pasta rings with hard-boiled eggs, fried eggplant, peas, and cheeses among the first courses.
The “sarde e beccafico” is a typical second course of this region, with a very particular flavor, a mixture of breadcrumbs, raisins, anchovies, parsley, and sugar garlic, pine nuts, and salt. We can undoubtedly mention the typical Sicilian Christmas sweets, the perennial cannolo, the sfinci with ricotta, and the omnipresent Buccellato.
