I overheard a conversation between two women about their Xmas dinners. One lady said she was of Italian roots, and their Xmas dinner is NOT the traditional ham, turkey, or perhaps duck or goose dinner. It was more of a variety of Italian-style dishes starting with Wedding Soup, for one.
Of course, this is not earth-shaking news. But, I thought other SDopers of Italian decent can expound upon this. Of what does the traditional Italian Xmas dinner consist? Wish I were a fly on the wall! Sounds yummy! - Jinx
I don’t know if it is an Italian tradition or not, but my mom’s family would always have a 7 fish dinner on Christmas Eve. Pasta with tuna sauce, calamari sauce, smelts, etc…
One year, my grandmother went to the supermarket to get the calamari for her sauce, and asked the clerk “Does this package have the testicles?” The look on the guys face was priceless, but he maintained the composure to say, “Yes, ma’am, there are tentacles in the package”.
When my grandmother was in charge of Christmas dinner, we had both ravioli, a turkey or chicken, and nine million side dishes. In recent years at my aunt’s house, there was ham, wedding soup, and a pasta dish. Oh, and nine million side dishes Yum.
My husband’s grandmother has poultry or ham, plus nine million side dishes. The “Italian” touches are the wine and the cookies. Yum.
My grandmother never has the seven seafood dishes on Christmas Eve- I think that has something to do with the fact that her family was from the mountains, not the coast. The only seafood my grandmother has ever made comes frozen from a box. When I was growing up, though, my mother would have shrimp on Christmas Eve. My husband remembers eating smelts.
I think an Italian-American Christmas dinner varies widely depending on where in Italy the family originates, where in America they settled, and of course, the family itself.
Course #1: Wedding soup (spinach and teeny meatballs in chicken broth) or antipasto (nice coldcuts with usually still warm bread)
Course #2: Pasta, generally with tomato sauce. If my mother or aunt really wanted to go all out, the sauce would be made from braciole (which is another recipe by itself). The pasta could be lasagna, manicotti, or fettuccini. In my family a lot of pasta would be needed.
Course #3: Meat course with salad and veggies. Meat could be turkey or ham (or both depending on how many people) or for a real traditionalist, cotolette (also another recipe). Another alternative is for the real seafood addict is lobster. Veggies would be stuff like steamed artichokes (very addictive), giardiniera (pickled peppers, cauliflowers, etc), escarole.
Course # 4: Dessert: If there’s room, pastries and espresso.
