Recipe: Italian Christmas Eve Menu and Recipes.

In Italy, like in Puerto Rico, Christmas Eve is as important a celebration as the real Christmas Day. Here is a wonderful suggested Menu for the Eve.

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MENU:
Crostini with Smoked Salmon and Capers
Eggplant and Roasted Garlic Spread
Philomena's Christmas Eve Pasta
Sole A L'italienne
Broccoli and Black Olive Salad
Siclian Roasted and Baked Red Peppers
Apple Pie with Cheddar Cheese Pie Crust
Glazed Cherries and Nuts

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CROSTINI WITH SMOKED SALMON AND CAPERS
(CROSTINI CON SALMONE AFFUMAT is the proper Italian name for this spread.)

6 slices smoked salmon
1/4 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (plus extra for drizzling)
2 teaspoons capers in vinegar
1/2 teaspoon black pepper, freshly milled
1 teaspoon lemon or lime juice
4 slices Italian bread
1 medium tomato, thinly sliced (optional)

Put salmon in mini-blender or food processor. Add mayonnaise, olive oil, capers and black pepper. Blend on high until all ingredients are well mixed and chopped very fine. Add lemon or lime juice and blend again for 10 seconds.

Remove from machine and place, covered, in the refrigerator. Chill for twenty minutes.

Preheat oven to 475 degrees F.

Toast bread on both sides in 475 degree F oven, or under broiler. Brush olive oil into toast. Heap salmon mixture on toast and serve.

When fresh tomatoes are available, top salmon mixture with thin tomato slices, and cook under broiler for 2-4 minutes. Top with a thin drizzle of olive oil, and serve.

Servings: 4
Adapted from source: theartisan.net/Contributor: Jerry De Angelis

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EGGPLANT AND ROASTED GARLIC SPREAD

We are calling this a spread, but if you put it on toasted slices of a good Italian bread, you may call it bruschetta.

1 large eggplant (about 1 1/2 pounds)
2 tablespoons chopped pignolia nuts
1 to 2 tablespoons minced basil (to taste)
1 teaspoon olive oil
4 teaspoons roasted garlic, mashed
1 teaspoon salt
Freshly milled pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Wash eggplant, and make one inch slits with a knife in several places around eggplant. This will prevent it from exploding.

Bake in lightly oiled ovenproof dish in preheated 425 degrees F oven 40 minutes, or until eggplant is soft. Remove eggplant. Let cool slightly, about 15 minutes.

Pulsate pignolia nuts in a food processor until evenly chopped. Do not chop too fine. They add texture to the spread.

Remove skin and some of the seeds from eggplant, and mash with a pastry cutter. Stir in pignolia, basil, oil, garlic, salt and freshly milled pepper to taste.

Yield: About 1 1/2 cups, enough for 6 - 8 slices toasted Italian bread (baguette).
Adapted from a recipe by: Al Viola

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PHILOMENA'S CHRISTMAS EVE PASTA

This is a classic Italian Christmas Eve Pasta, but Rosemarie tells us "Some who have eaten this pasta (recipe below) call it 'soul food.' I serve this pasta dish now on any occasion, year-round. Like my grandmother says, 'Eat! No matter what happens, eat and enjoy'."

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 can anchovies click for note
2 large cloves garlic, chopped
2 1 pound cans Italian tomatoes in puree
1/2 cup pine nuts, roasted until light brown in a small skillet
1 cup raisins
1 can medium pitted olives, sliced
1 pound cappelini pasta (angel hair)

Heat olive oil in a large skillet or pot. Add oil from can of anchovies. Chop anchovies into small, 1/4-inch slices. Add slices to pot and turn heat on medium. Cook about 5 minutes. Anchovies should start to melt. Add chopped garlic. Cook three minutes longer.

Prepare tomatoes by pouring cans of tomatoes into a bowl and squishing them with your hands, breaking up the clumps of tomato into small pieces. Add this sauce to the pot. Cook for ten minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add the roasted pine nuts and raisins. You can add pepper here for taste, if you wish. Cook 20 minutes longer.

Add sliced olives. Cook sauce for 5 minutes longer. (Do not overcook sauce with olives added, as they will discolor the sauce.)

Cook pasta in 4 quarts of salted boiling water. Cook following the pasta box directions - usually 7 minutes or until al dente). Drain pasta.

Place 1/3 of sauce into a large, wide pasta serving dish (or you can use individual serving plates). Add pasta and slowly turn the pasta with a pasta server fork to integrate sauce into pasta. Keep adding sauce and turning until all pasta is covered with sauce. Cappellini absorbs sauce, so it may take a few minutes to mix sauce and pasta together.

Servings: 4-6
Adapted from a recipe by: Rosemarie Perla

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SOLE A L'ITALIENNE

Worth the work. If you are using very thin sole filets, fold them in half before poaching.

FOR THE DRESSING:
1 pound fresh plum tomatoes
2 small cloves garlic
Juice 1/2 lemon
zest 1 small lemon
1/2 teaspoon salt
Freshly milled pepper
1/3 cup finely chopped scallions, green part only.
1/4 cup minced parsley
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
FOR THE FISH:
1 pound flounder or sole fillets
3 large sea scallops
2 slices lemon
2 scallions
3 large tomatoes
2 to 3 tablespoons olive oil
12 anchovies
3 black olives

DRESSING:
Peel and skin tomatoes. Put in saucepan with garlic, lemon and lemon zest. Season with salt and a few gratings of black pepper. Cook for 10 minutes, covered, over medium-high heat. Remove cover and mash tomatoes with potato masher to break up. Turn heat to medium low. Cook partially covered for 10 minutes. Remove cover and cook another 15 minutes or until sauce has thickened slightly.

Remove from heat and let cool. Discard garlic cloves. When cool stir in scallions, parsley, oil and vinegar. Set aside.

FISH:
Cut flounder in 6 equal pieces. The pieces should be equivalent to the size of the tomatoes. Arrange in large skillet with scallops. Put in lemon slices. Sliver scallion and toss over fish. Pour in cold water to cover fish. Over medium heat, bring water ALMOST to the simmer. Continue cooking, just at the simmering point, for 8 - 9 minutes, watching carefully that liquid does not get too hot. Remove from heat and let cool in the liquid.

Meanwhile, scald skin and seed the tomatoes. Cut a slice off each end so they sit flat. Cut in half.

Heat oil in frying pan large enough to hold all tomato slices. Cook for 30 seconds each side. Drain on paper towels. Arrange on serving platter.

Remove fish from liquid. Drain and pat dry. Put one slice of fish on top of each tomato half. Spoon dressing over fish. Lay two anchovies over each piece in a crisscross pattern.

Cut each scallop in half and put in the center of each fish slice.

Pit olives and cut in half. Place one half olive on top of scallop. Garnish with parsley.

Servings: 4-6
Adapted from a recipe by: Diana Farrell Serbe

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BROCCOLI AND BLACK OLIVE SALAD

Broccoli does not hold its color well. Be sure to add dressing at the last minute.The black olives are the treat.

1 bunch broccoli
5 Kalamata olives
Grated rind of 1/2 lemon
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Juice of 1 lemon
1 tablespoon sesame seeds
Salt to taste

Clean broccoli as noted below, and cut into bite-size pieces. Steam until it loses hardness, but not crispness or bright green color. This should take about seven minutes, depending on the freshness of the broccoli.

While broccoli is steaming, pit the olives. When pitted, cut the olives into slivers.

Remove broccoli from steamer and put into serving bowl. Mix in the grated lemon and the olives. Sprinkle on the sesame seeds, the oil, and lemon juice. Season with salt to taste. Toss well.

Servings: 4-6
Adapted from a recipe by: Helen Viola

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SICLIAN ROASTED AND BAKED RED PEPPERS

This Sicilian recipe for baked red peppers calls for day-old bread crumbs. We like doing it ourselves since we get a texture that's not too fine or too chunky.

6 red bell peppers, roasted
1/2 cup day-old bread crumbs
2 tablespoons chopped pignolia nuts
8 anchovies, rolled around capers
3 tablespoons finely minced parsley
3 tablespoons olive oil

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Arrange red bell pepper slices close together in oiled, 8x11 inch baking pan. The peppers will be snug and can even overlap.

Mix together bread crumbs, pignolia nuts, anchovies, capers, and parsley. Add 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil. Mix well. The mixture will be slightly dry.

Spread mixture on top of the peppers. Drizzle the remaining oil over the top.

Bake for about 15 minutes in preheated 350 F oven.

Can be served hot or cold.

Servings: 4-6 as side dish.
Adapted from a recipe by: Antoinette DeRobertis

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APPLE PIE WITH CHEDDAR CHEESE PIE CRUST
(diabetic recipe)

The cheddar cheese in the pie crust of this apple pie is a stroke of genius. It is not sweetened with sugar which makes it a good diabetic recipe. The Source uses a firm, sweet apple, never a soft one.

CRUST FOR 2 CRUST PIE:
2 cups sifted flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt (scant)
1/2 cup cold shortening
1/2 cup cold margarine
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
6 to 8 Tablespoons cold water
FOR THE FILLING:
6 cups Rome apples
1 tablespoon flour
2 tablespoons cold butter, cut in pea sized pieces
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg

Sift flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Cut in shortening with a pastry blender, or blend with fingertips until mixture resembles coarse oatmeal. Cut in margarine until mixture is a little finer. Stir in grated cheese.

Sprinkle water onto the dough, one tablespoon at a time. Mix well with a fork after each sprinkling. If dough can be formed into a ball, you do not need the extra tablespoon of water. If it does not form a dough, add more water one TEASPOON at a time.

Divide dough in two equal pieces. Wrap in waxed paper and let rest in refrigerator for fifteen minutes. Do not let dough get hard.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.

While dough is resting, mix together cinnamon and nutmeg. Set aside. Core, peel and slice apples. Sprinkle on flour, cinnamon and nutmeg and toss lightly.

Remove dough from refrigerator. On a floured surface with a lightly floured rolling pin, roll first ball of dough until it is 1 inch larger than upside down pie plate. Loosen dough from surface with a spatula. Put rolling pin in the middle of dough. Fold half the dough over the rolling pin, and lift to place evenly over pie plate. Push dough gently to fit snugly in the plate.

Dot apple mixture with butter pieces, and toss to combine. Pour into pie shell.

Roll second half of dough the same way as the first, and cover pie. Pinch edges together in a fluted pattern and trim excess dough from edges. Make four 1 inch slits around the top center of the crust or pierce at one inch intervals with a fork.

Bake for 40 minutes lightly covered with foil in preheated 450 degrees F oven. Remove foil and bake for 10 to 20 minutes more or until crust is brown. Cool on a wire rack.

Servings: 6-8
Adapted from a recipe by: Patty Butler

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GLAZED CHERRIES AND NUTS

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup light corn syrup
1/3 cup water
1 (12 ounce) jar salted mixed nuts
1 container candied cherries
2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a 17x14 inch cookie sheet.

Arrange nuts and cherries in a 9-inch square baking pan. Heat in the oven for 10 minutes. Keep warm.

Dissolve sugar, corn syrup and water over medium heat. Cook, without stirring, to 300 degrees F. Remove from heat. Quickly add warm nuts, cherries, butter and vanilla extract. Stir rapidly until butter melts. Pour onto cookie sheet and spread to edge with the back of a wooden spoon.

Cool on wire rack for 1 1/2 hours. Loosen and break into pieces.

Store in an airtight container on layers of wax paper.

Adapted from a recipe by: Junior Trimmer