[1] Nonna Menna’s buttered bread with anchovies (photo courtesy Giulia Scarpaleggia). [2] We substitute pimiento for the capers (photo courtesy La Tienda). [3] You can use anchovy filets in olive oil or boquerones, marinated filets turned white by the vinegar (photo courtesy La Tienda). [4] Stirato is the closed Italian bread to the French baguette (photo courtesy Them Apples).

We do it every year as a co-op event: Seven of us prepare the seven fish/seafood dishes, and the eighth makes dessert. (Note: With seven courses, the portions are smaller.)

If you’re having a “regular” Christmas Eve party, set out the Feast Of The Seven Fishes as a buffet.

We live near a good Italian bakery and can pick up stirato, the Italian bread closest to a baguette; but you can bake it yourself.

Or buy baguettes!

It’s a splendid feast, with opera playing in the background (or Christmas carols or Il Volo, if you prefer).

For menu suggestions and a backgrounder on the holiday, check out our:

 
RECIPE #1: OUR 2016 APPETIZER

As we sit around the sofa with bottles of wine, warming up for the main meal, we’re having a bread and butter with anchovies, inspired by the Tuscan grandmother of food writer Giulia Scarpaleggia. Nonna Menna added capers as well.

“Just use quality ingredients,” says Giulia, “because there are no tricks nor deceits!” You can even…
 
HAVE A TASTING, COMPARING THE DIFFERENT BRANDS

Butter. Our go-to butters are from Cabot’s and Vermont Creamery, but we’ll add Kerrygold, Organic Valley and Plugrá. If we had more capacity, we’d test Breakstone and Land o’ Lakes as well.

Anchovies. We are happy with Cento, an inexpensive brand available at supermarkets, Trader Joe’s and elsewhere. We can also find Ortiz and Roland in our neighborhood, and are ordering some fancy brands online. (There are no fresh anchovies in our markets now.)

Capers. Instead of Nonna’s capers, we’re using pimiento, a wonderful pairing with anchovies, with a garnish of chopped parsley. If we have time, we’ll add some lemon zest and garlic, or gremolata.
 
PUTTING IT TOGETHER

The recipe is a no-brainer, but here’s how we’re serving it:

Place all the ingredients on the table and let people butter and top their own.
 
Ingredients & Preparation

 
Variations

RECIPE #2: FRUTTI DI MARE FIRST COURSE
 
Frutti di mare, “fruits of the sea” in Italian, is the name of a dish made of different seafood on the coasts of Italy.

Frutti di mare literally means “fruits of the sea” and can include all types of seafood, including mussels, clams, prawns and other shellfish.

It can be served in different ways: crudo (raw), fried and sautéed, for example.

Sautéed, it is often used to top bucatini, linguine or spaghetti.

For a first course, gather your favorite seafood and:

Frutti di mare, mixed seafood, can be served in many ways. [1] Marinated, at All’ Onda | NYC). [2] With pasta; here’s the recipe from InPerugia.com.

[1] Gingerbread cookies with two hits of chocolate: cocoa powder and chocolate chips. [2] Swedish pearl sugar, not to be confused with Belgian pearl sugar, which is much larger. [3] Don’t forget the mini chips! (Photos courtesy King Arthur Flour.)

[2] Melting Snowman cookie. Here’s the recipe (photo © Pillsbury).

Make one with a nonsectarian snowman or snowflake motif. These work for New Year’s Eve, too (perhaps with a sparkler or two).

Snowmen are easier; snowflakes require some serious piping chops.

This photo is actually a stacked cookie from Lila Loa. We love the idea.

Just make three different sizes of gingersnaps or other flat cookie; ice them with royal icing, stack them and decorate them.

But we needed a cake. So we baked and stacked three graduated cake layers.

We made lemon pound cake* layers with coconut frosting (vanilla frosting topped with coconut).

Of course, carrot cake, chocolate cake, red velvet or any flavor you prefer would be just as nice.
 
 
MORE TASTY SNOWMEN

 
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*We wanted a dense, easy-to-cut cake rather than an airy one with a delicate crumb.

Along with tidings of comfort and joy, give real comfort and joy with a GelPro Mat.

It’s a super-cushy and comfortable floor mat, so amazing that we not only have one front of our kitchen sink and stove; we also have one in the bathroom. We don’t know how we’d live without it.

We almost always have aching legs, knees, feet and/or back and find that GelPro is the most cushy and comfortable mat we can stand on.

A panacea for the aches, it’s shock-absorbing, non-skid and easy to clean. Almost everyone who has passed through THE NIBBLE kitchen has purchased one. Once you stand on one, you have to have one. At least one!

Even people with no aches and pains get a lift from standing on them. It’s the difference between standing on hard flooring and standing on pillows. You just don’t get tired standing on these mats.

The mats are available in a variety of sizes (from 20″ x 36″ to 9’ long!), colors and and designs, plain to fancy. They start at $99.95, depending on size and design.

Whatever the price, trust us: We’d pay anything for the comfort our GelPro mats provide.

They also make life more comfortable in the fitness room, garage, grill area, laundry room and workbench.

Whomever you give one to will be thanking you for a long time.
 
EXTRA SPECIAL COMFORT AND JOY FOR THE HOLIDAYS:
20% OFF & FREE SHIPPING

Head to GelPro.com.

No matter how long you’ve been standing, a GelPro mat turns the floor into the cushiest pillow. Several sizes and numerous colors and designs are available (photos courtesy GelPro).

[1] A mound of struffoli, the traditional shape, from Linda’s Italian Table. It can be cut into slices, or for a party, put on the buffet so everyone can pick off what they like. [2] A loose wreath style from Il Cuori In Pentola. [3] A cornucopia shape, called Cornucopia di Sfoglia in Italian. It’s decorated with chocolate foil coins, by Oggi Cucino Cosi. [4] Frying the dough at My Spice Sage. If you can fry, you can make struffoli. [5] Croque em bouche, a special occasion treat in France, is often served instead of wedding cake. These smaller versions are decorated for the holidays by François Payard Bakery in New York City. [6] The recipes in this book include one for struffoli, reprinted below. You can see the recipes for any of these photos by clicking their links.

If you don’t have your own holiday baking tradition like Christmas cookies, gingerbread people or spritz cookies, how about struffoli?

Struffoli (STROO-fo-lee) are puffy balls of eggy fried dough coated in honey. They are a traditional Christmas sweet in Naples and other parts of central and southern Italy.

The fried dough is stacked into a cone-shape centerpiece or assembled into a wreath design. More ambitious cooks have the puffs spilling out a pastry horn of plenty. We like to present it with after-dinner coffee.

It’s actually quite easy: If you can fry, you can make struffoli.

Struffoli look like a smaller, flat croquembouche. Both have a crunchy outside and soft inside.

 
DECORATING THE STRUFFOLI

While struffoli can be served plain, you can express your creativity with decorations.

 
RECIPE: STRUFFOLI (NEAPOLITAN HONEY BALLS)

This recipe, from 1,000 Italian Recipes by Michele Scicolone, can easily be doubled. It is © copyright Michele Scicolone.

If you like the idea but not the labor, call the nearest Italian bakery and order one.

Ingredients For 8 Servings

 
TIP: Use quality honey instead of the generic supermarket variety for a more elegant flavor.
 
Preparation

1. COMBINE the cup of flour and the salt in a large bowl. Add the eggs and lemon zest and stir until well blended.

2. TURN OUT the dough out onto a lightly floured board and knead until smooth (about 5 minutes). Add a bit more flour if the dough seems sticky. Shape the dough into a ball and cover with an overturned bowl. Let the dough rest 30 minutes.

3. CUT the dough into 1/2-inch-thick slices. Roll one slice between your palms into a 1/2-inch-thick rope. Cut the rope into 1/2-inch nuggets. If the dough feels sticky, use a teeny bit of flour to dust the board or your hands. (Excess flour will cause the oil to foam up when you fry the struffoli.)

4. LINE a tray with paper towels. Pour about 2 inches of oil into a wide heavy saucepan and heat to 370°F, or until a small bit of the dough dropped into the oil sizzles and turns brown in 1 minute.

5. PLACE just enough struffoli in the pan to fit without crowding, taking care not to splash the hot oil. Cook, stirring once or twice with a slotted spoon, until the struffoli are crisp and evenly golden brown (1 to 2 minutes). Remove with a slotted spoon or skimmer and drain on paper towels. Repeat with the remaining dough. When all of the struffoli are fried…

6. GENTLY HEAT the honey to just a simmer in a large, shallow saucepan. Remove from the heat, add the drained struffoli and toss well. Transfer the struffoli to a serving plate and shape into a mound or wreath. Decorate as desired.

7. TO SERVE: For each person, break off a portion of the struffoli with two large spoons or a salad server. Or, pass the plate so people can take what they like.

You can store struffoli at room temperature, covered with an overturned bowl, for up to 3 days.

STRUFFOLI HISTORY

The ancestor of struffoli dates back to ancient Greece. A similar dish is described by Archestratus, a Greek poet from Sicily.

Called enkris, the dough balls were fried in olive oil (source).

The name derives from the Greek word strongoulos, meaning “rounded in shape.”

Fast forward to the early 17th century. The nuns of Naples were famous for their sweets, which they sold to the public. Each convent had a specialty. According to tradition, struffoli are considered good luck because the balls are a symbol of abundance.

At Christmas, the nuns made struffoli as gifts for their aristocratic patrons, to thank them for their charity throughout the year. The tradition was copied by home cooks and became a Christmas tradition (source).