An Italian Christmas Eve

When my children were little we always went to my parents house for Christmas Eve to help decorate the Christmas tree. The first thing that always went on the tree was their dreidels. As the years past, the Christmas Eve dinner became something that my family looked forward to although it is a little difficult to observe Jewish dietary laws in an Italian household on Christmas Eve, and I think my husband was grateful that he didn't keep Kosher.

A typical Italian Christmas Eve consists of the seven fish (or in some households eleven) fish dishes. When my father was still alive, we did it all, the octopus salad, the baccala (dried cod), fried flounder, lobster fra diovalo, and on and on. SInce my parents are gone, we've cut down a little, since they don't like all of the fish dishes. This year, Marc had to work, David and Lauren couldn't make it home so it was just the four of us and enough food to feed an army. We started with shrimp cocktail, fried calamari, mussels marinara with spaghetti, and lobster tails. The odor of garlic, mingling with the tomatoes and white wine simmering on the stove made the kitchen smelled divine. My father would have said, he could smell the love simmering.

I'm sure that you would like to be able to replicate the aroma in your kitchen so I am posting the recipes for the Mussels Marinara with Spaghetti, Fried Calamari, and Baked Lobster tails.

Fried Calamari

Let's start with the Fried Calamari. It's a very easy appetizer to make. This recipe was given to me by Tom DeSimone who ran a wonderful catering house in our town called Alfredos. I changed it slightly over the years, but the basic recipe is his.

FRIED CALAMARI

1 large bag of frozen calamari rings, thawed and drained
Flour (I use Wondra)
Panko Crumbs (this is my addition)
Salt and Pepper
Symeon's spices or Seasoned salt
Garlic salt
Parmesan cheese
Parsley


Season the flour (and panko crumbs if you decide to add them) with salt and pepper, and the Symeons spices to taste. Place the drained, thawed, calamari rings in the flour mixture. Place in a strainer to shake off excess flour. Deep fry but don't over fry or they will be tough. Season with parmesan cheese, garlic salt and parsley when done. Do not overcook the rings. Serve with cocktail sauce or a little marinara sauce. For a different twist, mix equal amounts of flour and graham cracker or panko crumbs.

Ingredients and equipment (deep Fryer) for the Fried Calamari:



Defrost the frozen calamari rings and place them into a strainer to drain off any excess liquid





Take the flour, again, ( I prefer Wondra so that you don't have a very thick mixture on the calamari) and place it into a bowl. The amount of flour will depend on how much calamari you make. I made one bag and used about 1 cup of flour.




Then add the panko crumbs (or graham cracker crumbs) if you are using them to the flour (again about 3/4 to 1 cup)



Add the pepper and salt to the flour/crumb mix





Blend the flour mix well. You can add the Symeons spices (this is a mix from a local Greek restaurant, that is a fabulous addition to any food and makes a great salad dressing as well) or Seasoned Salt now, but I like to wait until I add the calamari to the flour to make sure it really adheres.

Toss the calamari rings gently in the flour mixture






I like to add my Symeon's Spices at this point and toss again



Wash out your strainer and dry it well, and then add the breaded rings to the strainer and shake to remove all the excess breading



Place some vegetable oil into a Fry Daddy, deep fryer, frying pan, whatever you want to us is fine, and let the oil heat up. In the meantime, place a sheet of paper toweling on a dish to absorb the grease when you remove the calamari from the fryer.



Test the oil to make sure it is hot enough by dropping a little of the flour mix into it. If it starts to bubble immediatley, it is read to begin frying the calamari




Fry the calamari, stirring frequently with a slotted spoon or whatever you prefer. Do not over cook the calamari or they will be rubbery. While the calamari is frying, have your garlic salt, dried parsley, and grating cheese ready to sprinkle when they come out of the fryer so you don't waste time. The will adhere to the calamari if you sprinkle them as soon as you remove them from the oil.



They are done when they reach a beautiful golden brown




Immediately sprinkle with garlic salt




Dried Parsley



Grated cheese (Parmesan, pecorino-romano, whatever you like it fine)




Place on a platter and serve with either cocktail sauce or marinara sauce. Enjoy!