My Big Fat Italian Christmas Dinner

That’s how I jokingly referred to our Christmas dinner last night. We had Rosaria’s immediate family plus a couple of good friends at our 2009 Christmas Dinner table. We were a group of thirteen in all. So what did we have? Oh, but first, a quick sidebar. The blizzard last weekend impacted our Christmas dinner menu. Initially we were going to have some different menu items, specifically stuffed seppia, and maybe an eel terrine. Both of us love going to Arthur Avenue in the Bronx, especially for fish. But it is an hour and a half ride one way. What with all the snow still on the ground and the potential parking nightmare in the city, we decided to purvey locally which worked out just fine. Besides, there was a threat of yet another winter storm for Christmas day which precipitated having dinner earlier than planned. Anyway, onto the menu, which was an entirely fish/seafood event.

For hors d’œuvres at the island in our kitchen we had chopped smoked salmon & sesame seaweed on rice crackers, which Rosaria happily made. Robert soy-cured two pounds of salmon, cut it into (almost) bite-size pieces and served it with a crème fraîche/chopped scallion/cilantro dipping sauce – a sure winner and always a favorite. As you can see from the pictures, there were a forest of wine glasses and flutes. Being an Italian Christmas dinner, we started with Prosecco and had it with the hors d’œuvres. Just as we were well into the “island food” our dear friends Edie and Lewis arrived with their new, adorable pooch, Astro. Having Lewis at our table is always interesting as he doesn’t eat any dairy products. It kind of keeps us light and honest, especially in the sauce department.

Initially everyone gathered around the fireplace, drinking Prosecco, followed by salmon delectables in the kitchen. Earlier in the day Rosaria made Cioppino, an Italian bouillabaisse-like seafood broth containing all kinds of different fish and shellfish (see recipe below). She used 1:1 proportions of lobster stock to fish stock with some fennel and tomato paste, simmered it for a couple of hours with aromatics and then right before serving it, she put in small clams, mussels, shrimp, calamari, and a local fish called ling, similar to cod, but to our palate it seems a little sweeter. She served it by ladling spoonfuls of Cioppino out of a large white tureen into our “good china” bowls. Robert had baked a couple of loaves of ciabatta earlier, and everyone got a slice or two for dunking into the soup.

Next came a Caesar salad. We usually serve some sort of salad after the first course. It’s a great palate cleanser and obviously, it’s good for you. Robert’s been making Caesar salads long before they became the ubiquitous item that you find everywhere. His is something that needs to be dealt with in a separate post. Suffice it to say, that it sets a bench mark for Caesar salads. Another reason Robert serves a salad at this point in the dinner is that it gives him a chance to finish and assemble the entrée. In this case, yep, here they come again, his famous cod cakes over braised endive and risotto. We have served a lot of cod cakes in the past two weeks. One thing that we often do at 2gourmaniacs is make the same thing over and over in quick succession, tweaking it until we feel it’s just right. That seems to have been everyone’s impression last night. At one point, Rosaria’s sister Francesca leaned over and told Robert that she thought the endives were just amazing. We were happy with last night’s results so we can move on, being satisfied at having perfected our cod cakes dish.

In Robert’s opinion, all this appetizer, salad and entrée is just an excuse to postpone the real deal of a meal. Dessert. Here’s what he made and served for Christmas dessert. The day before Christmas, Robert made a pound or so of fresh puffed pastry dough. For some reason he loves to make it: he says it is very fulfilling and satisfying to roll out the dough, “making turns” and ultimately using it for some incredible culinary cause. in this case it was a Pithivier. For those not familiar with Pithivier, it’s a classic French almond crème tart made with puff pastry. It comes from a small French town between Paris and Bourge named, by some strange coincidence, Pithiviers. For some, to have a piece of still warm Pithivier is the next best thing to a seven course tasting menu in heaven. Robert served slices of his Pithivier with a scoop of fresh made coconut sorbet laced with a healthy dose of dark Jamaican rum. Francesca, no slouch in the kitchen herself, gave us a boxful of her own heavenly homemade biscotti which we served with the Pithivier and garnished it with a couple of blackberries.

Everyone quickly finished their portions except Lewis (of course, the kids were looking around for more). The puff pastry has about a pound of butter in it; something that is on Lewis’ “no-no list”. And the coconut sorbet had both heavy cream and whole milk in it. Fortunately for Lewis, Robert had some of his home made prickly pear sorbet stashed in the freezer. The Sicilian crowd at the table loves prickly pears. And upon seeing a prickly pear sorbet come out for Lewis they all started clambering about eating prickly pears in Sicily, picking prickly pears in Sicily, the right type cactus to look for when picking prickly pear in Sicily, and on and on. Robert just doesn’t like the texture when eating prickly pears, but he sure likes the taste and color of them (most are rich jewel tone red which looks wonderful on a white plate.) Consequently, he discovered making prickly pear sorbet about five years ago and whenever he finds them in season, he uses them to make a large batch of sorbet. Upon tasting Lewis’ sorbet, Edie commented that “the prickly pear sorbet was just outrageously fantastic!!!”

With dessert, Rosaria opened a couple of bottles of Moscato, a sweet Italian dessert wine made from muscat grapes. It was just the thing to have at the end of a great meal. The Moscato finish lingers in a magical way with the rum in the coconut sorbet. And the best news as everyone headed for the door to go home was that the storm hadn’t descended upon us yet.

Just a quick note about large dinner parties: the mountain of dishes and the cleanup after all the laughter has ended and all the great food has been consumed. Last night? Do the math: 13×5 plates, 13×3 wine/champagne/water glasses, 13×4 pieces of flatware, various serving plates and tools, not to mention endless pots and pans. We have dishpan hands today. Actually, at this point, we’ve washed so many dishes, pots and pans at 2gourmaniacs, that a couple hundred more yesterday was nothing. But in the end, and without a doubt, it’s all worth it!

Rosaria’s Cioppino Recipe (for 12-15 people, with plenty of leftover)
Ingredients:
¼ cup olive oil
2 fennel bulbs, thinly sliced
1 large onion, thinly sliced
4-5 shallots, finely chopped
6-8 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 t. red pepper flakes
2 T. salt
½ cup tomato paste
32 oz chopped diced tomatoes in their juice (fresh or canned)
3 cups white wine
¼ cup Marsala
2 gallons fish stock (I used 1 G fish and 1 G lobster stocks)
3 bay leaves
2 lbs mussels, scrubbed and cleaned
2 lbs small clams, scrubbed and cleaned
1 ½ lb fresh calamari tubes, cut into rings
1 ½ lb fresh jumbo shrimp, shelled and cleaned
2 lb assorted firm flesh fish (like halibut, ling, sea bass, cod, salmon, etc)
2 T. chopped chives
2 T. chopped fennel fronds
2 T. chopped tarragon

In a large pot heat the olive oil and add the fennel, onion and shallots and sauté on medium-low heat until translucent, about 15 minutes.  Add the salt, garlic and red pepper flakes and sauté another 5 minutes, constantly mixing well.  Add the diced tomatoes and tomato paste, fish and/or lobster stock, wine, marsala and bay leaves.  Mix together and cover, letting it simmer over low heat for about an hour.  At this point the heat can be turned off until 15-20 minutes prior to being ready to serve, or keep it going over a simmer burner.  When almost ready, make sure the liquid is hot and add the clams and mussels until they begin to open.  Then add the calamari, shrimp and fish and continue to cook for another 5 minutes.  Add the chopped chives, fennel fronds and tarragon. Taste for salt and spice level, and adjust accordingly.  It’s easier to serve the Cioppino at the table so I carefully pour it into a large tureen serving bowl, cover it, and ladle it at the table into bowls that have been warmed in an oven or microwave.  Guaranteed to warm your heart just like the friends and family around you …

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