Crown of pork, pork shoulder, stuffed pork chops…you name it, roast pork has its own succulent, mouth-watering aroma. I can conjure up that scent in my mind’s nose, even though I am writing this with nary a pork roast in the oven.
As far back as I can remember, roast pork of some kind was the center of our New Years Day dinner. I will also always remember ‘why’ that held true (besides the fact that it was so luscious). We were always told that we should not eat anything like chicken or turkey or any fowl with feet that “scratched back” for the New Year; rather we would have pork with feet that “rooted forward”, thereby insuring our prosperity for the coming year. I don’t know where that saying started, but I remember my grandmother saying it, half a century and more ago. Now, everybody from our family who grew up in that time would not dare to challenge the veracity of the warning, and I have passed it on to my children and theirs.
I don’t really have memories of anything ‘special’ happening on New Years Day when I was quite young. When there was football, Dad listened to it on the radio, and later watched it on TV. Sometimes a couple of families would get together and cook and share the fatted pig, and that was fun for the kids and company for the adults.
Most of New Years Day memories for me, though, are around Rich and my family; or when we prepared pork roast dinners for our customers at our restaurant. We also seemed to always have his family and mine over for dinner on special holidays, and I remember the two of us cooking for the crew. We added our special rolled cabbages to the menu and usually did stuffed pork chops rather than pork roast, which worked well with his mother being Polish and his dad sort of a European mongrel mix. New Years seemed to be one day when my folks could do without pasta and sauce, and I hope everyone enjoyed our innovations through the years.
There was one special New Years that I will always remember, though. We were living in Las Vegas, and we kept saying that after all the years of watching the Rose Bowl Parade on TV, it would be a shame to never see it in real time, since we lived quite near, as the car goes. So, one year we decided to just do it and we headed out for California on the afternoon of New Years Eve, taking our granddaughter, who was about eight at the time, with us.
We loaded up with blankets and warm clothes, a couple of patio lounge chairs and a cooler of goodies, for of course, we were going to spend the night along the parade route in Pasadena to assure us a ‘good spot’ in the early morning of New Years Day.
Memories are made of this ~~~ the hot dogs and grilled onions steaming away fragrance from the venders’ area that was set up across the street. Cotton candy and popping corn sending out salty and sweet calls to “come buy me”. The smell of brewing coffee and hot chocolate beckoned as the night grew chill, and down the block a pizza parlor was dragging in a crowd as the scent of baking pizzas and calzones was pumped outside to eager noses. I don’t remember ever seeing anything quite like that group of people; eating, talking, walking, having fun and praying that it wouldn’t rain on their parade! It was quite an adventure. We never went back to do it with our grandson, though; just too much chill for the old bones, but I always wish I could.
It will soon be New Years Day again, and it is time to make up the menu and the ‘list’. Lori laughs every time I bring up the list. She asks why I just don’t keep it on my computer, because it seldom changes, year after year. Too soon she will be older - enough to understand that getting together to make the ‘list’, just like the aromas, is part of the memories of New Years Day past, cherished and never to be forgotten.
(See New Years Day Menu & Recipes)
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NEW YEARS DAY
MENU
STUFFED CELERY ~~ ASSORTED OLIVES
TOSSED SALAD
SPICY SWEET APPLE SAUCE
JELLIED CRANBERRY SAUCE
TINY ROLLED CABBAGES IN SOUR CREAM
SPARERIBS IN SAUERKRAUT
STUFFED DOUBLE PORK CHOPS
ROASTED BABY CARROTS
WHIPPED POTATOES
SAVORY PORK GRAVY
CRESCENT ROLLS
PECAN PIE ~~ HOT APPLE PIE
WHIPPED CREAM ~~ VANILLA ICE CREAM
WINE ~~ CIDER ~~ SOFT DRINKS ~~ COFFEE
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NEW YEARS DAY
RECIPES
Tiny Rolled Cabbages in Sour Cream
5 Qt Pot 13 x 9 Glass Baking Dish
4 Qt Water 1 Large Loose-Leaf Head of Cabbage
Simmer Cabbage in Water in Pot 20 minutes or until leaves can be separated, but not mushy. Cool so cabbage can be handled. Separate and cut Leaves in half lengthwise to make small rolls, about 3” long. Place 1 C of Cooking Water into Baking Dish.
Filling
1 C Cooked Rice ½ lb Ground Beef ½ lb Ground Pork
4 T Onion Flakes 1 T Garlic 1 T Paprika 1 T Beef Base
1 T Parsley 2 T Dill Pickle Juice 1 Egg
Mix all of above together well. Place 1 T of filling on each piece of Cabbage, roll and tuck in ends. Place in Baking Dish, Cover. Bake at 350 for 1 Hour.
Sauce
1 Large Onion and 1 Bell Pepper both sliced thinly
2 T Butter 1 T Garlic 1 tsp Salt 1 tsp Pepper
1 T Paprika 1 Pint Sour Cream
Saute’ Onion and Pepper in Butter until tender, sprinkling with Salt, Pepper and Garlic. Cool Slightly. Stir in the Sour Cream, add the Paprika and stir again.
Remove the Cabbage Rolls from the oven. Pour the Sauce over the rolls, moving them so that they are covered in sauce on bottom and the top. Cover and bake for 20 minutes more at 325.
Spareribs and Sauerkraut
Small Roaster or 13 x 9 Baking Pan
3 lbs of Pork Ribs, Cut into Individual Ribs
1 T Granulated Garlic 1 T Salt 1 T Pepper ½ C Water
Place Water and Ribs into baking pan or roaster, sprinkle with seasonings, Cover.
Bake 15 Minutes in 375 Oven. Remove from Oven. Remove Ribs from Pan.
Using the Sauerkraut Sublime Recipe from New Years Eve put a layer of the kraut into the baking pan, add a layer of Ribs, next a layer of the Pepper/Onion mix, sprinkle with Caraway Seeds. Repeat layers as needed.
Cover and bake in 350 oven for 15 minutes. Lower heat to 325, bake about 40 minutes or until ribs are tender.
Stuffed Double Pork Chops
Preheat Oven to 350
Large Shallow Baking Pan
8 Double Pork Chops with Stuffing Pocket
Bang of Baby Carrots, steamed for 5 minutes
Stuffing
1 Envelope Mrs. Culbertson’s Stuffing Mix
1 Small Apple, Peeled and Diced
2 Stalks Celery, Chopped fine ½ tsp Sage
1 tsp Granulated Garlic 1 Egg
2 T Parsley 2 T Raisins Orange Juice to moisten
Combine all stuffing ingredients in a bowl, mix well and adjust liquid for moisture.
Fill Pocket of each Double Chop with Stuffing. Reserve remaining Stuffing to bake separately.
Season Chops on both sides with Salt Pepper and Garlic. Place in Baking Pan. Bake 20 Minutes.
Remove ½ C juices from the Baking Pan for Savory Gravy. Turn Chops; arrange Carrots around Chops in Pan. Divide rest of Stuffing placing on top of each Chop. Cover and bake another hour at 325, turning carrots once in juices. Remove cover, bake 10 minutes or until Stuffing on Chops is brown and slightly crusty.
Savory Pork Gravy
Large Skillet
Gravy Boat
¾ C all Purpose Flour ¼ C Pork Chop Juices Pinch of Sage 1 T Salt ½ tsp Black Pepper 1 tsp Granulate Garlic
26 oz. Can of Broth (chicken or vegetable)
Place juices in skillet over medium heat and lightly sprinkle all the flour over the surface, scraping and stirring with a spatula to lightly brown the flour, cooking it so the gravy will not lump, but do not scorch the flour.
After a few minutes of Stirring/Scraping, begin to deglaze the pan by slowly adding HOT broth, stirring and scraping vigorously all the while. If there does not seem to be enough liquid, add a bit more a little at a time until the mix is just UNDER the thickness you want.
Add all the seasonings, reduce heat to low and continue to cook about 10 more minutes, until gravy is rich and smooth. Pour gravy into top of double boiler and keep hot over hot water, so it will not scorch or cook away. Fill gravy boat with boiling water to preheat it before serving gravy, so gravy will stay hot.
(In a pinch, use packaged or canned gravy mix.)
ENJOY the first cooking of the New Year--all year long!
SHOULD OLD AROMAS BE FORGOT
New Years Eve Memories
Until I was about ten years old, I never stayed awake long enough to greet the New Year. In fact, ours was a quiet life in a small town. I doubt that very many people stayed up beyond ten o’clock or so, even on that big night, except of course, those who were given to indulge in the local bars or in their homes. You always knew which ones they were, because the sounds of shot guns going off in the middle of the night was not the beginning of a civil unrest, but rather celebration of the new arrival.
Even the big party held at the local Italian Home for members was usually over by one a.m. There was always a polka band playing upstairs in the dance hall and for a nominal fee, members and families could partake of the music, noisemakers, hat, and of course, the traditional New Years Eve dinner, which was served downstairs in the club. The ladies’ auxiliary prepared and served a delicious meal of tossed salad, Italian sausages, kielbasa, sauerkraut, roasted potatoes, apple sauce and of course, those crunchy dinner rolls. Our family attended a couple of those and I have fond memories of the aromas emanating from loaded platters of goodies. I can still see those frigid glass bottles of Orange Crush being pulled out of a bed of ice, all glistening and frosty! We usually left about ten p.m., when I was younger, but I remember the last one I attended was when I was 14. We stayed clear until closing and I was in heaven, dancing to one number after another, all dressed up in my black taffeta dress and black mini heels. I even met my first real ‘boyfriend’ at that dance. A night to welcome a true new year of memories for me!
Most years, our large family would get together at one or the other relative’s homes, and often the home of my maternal grandparents. Naturally, it was a big evening of aromas and flavors, using lots of homemade sausage, store-bought kielbasa, sauerkraut and invariably, some type of pasta dish. We even indulged in fresh potato salad and applesauce canned the previous fall. There were always plenty of cookies left from Christmas, and Mom usually baked a huge apple-nut cake, which was her specialty. Ohhh, the cinnamon and spice that wafted from that goody! Sadly, that recipe somehow escaped being added to my cache of Mom’s goodies. I’ve never even seen a duplicate recipe elsewhere that I thought would taste like I remember - the nuts and pieces of apple that crunch in my memory.
My married years always brought a variety of New Years Eve celebrations. Sometimes Rich and I would go out, but most often we had a big party at our home. Lots of munchies, along with the usual Eve’s fare, a well-stocked bar and room for dancing or playing cards or games, gave family and friends who attended assurance of an Eve that extended well into early morning. Tired feet were only too happy to drag us to bed about three a.m., to dream of what would be ahead in the New Year we had just celebrated.
Moving on to the more modern celebrations, activities and menus change with the mood, it seems. Sometimes we do the old-time house party; other times we have a Chinese dinner selection, getting together with just a few of the family. Once in a while, the young folks go out and play in the New Years fun of Las Vegas, while Rich and I watch the fireworks on TV and have some fancy treats while we share a perfectly chilled bottle of Asti Spumante. So far, we still make it to midnight, though it seems that we are slipping back to the sleepy-bye time of our childhood, as the years go fleetingly past. However that may be, we feel assured that each New Year will make it here just fine, if only in our dreams.
Mom and her famous buns on New Years Eve, 1957
(See New Years Eve Menu & Recipes)
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NEW YEARS EVE MENU
Assorted Munchies
Tossed Salad ~~ Potato Salad
Italian Sausage ~~ Kielbasa
Fried Hot Peppers ~~ Sauerkraut Sublime
Spicy Sweet Apple Sauce
Fresh Hot Buns
Cookies & Cakes
Beverages D’Jour
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NEW YEARS EVE RECIPES
Spicy sweet Apple Sauce
Heavy Sauce Pan
10 Juicy Apples of your choice ¼ C Lemon Juice ½ C Sugar ½ C Brown Sugar 1 T Cinnamon Pinch of Salt ¼ tsp Nutmeg ½ tsp Vanilla ¼ C Orange Juice
Mix everything but apples in the saucepan, stirring well.
Peel and core apples. Dice and add to sauce pan.
Cook over medium heat until soft enough to be whipped by a fork. Whip slightly and cool. Serve Warm or Cold.
Sauerkraut Sublime
Skillet
13x9 Pyrex Baking Dish, Buttered
32 oz. Bulk Sauerkraut, drained (reserve liquid)
1 Large Onion Thinly Sliced 3 T Corn Oil
1 Bell Pepper + 2 Chili or other HOT Peppers, Thinly Sliced
1 T Flour 2 T Caraway Seeds 1 tsp Sugar 1 tsp Salt
1 T Granulated Garlic
Heat Oil in Skillet. Add sliced peppers and onions and sauté until limp. Add flour, stirring well about 1 Minute. Pour in reserved Sauerkraut Juice; stir until slightly thickened.
Put a layer of Kraut into the Buttered Baking Dish. Add a Layer of Peppers and Onions. Sprinkle with Caraway Seeds. Repeat Layers until all is used.
Cover and Bake in 350 Oven for 15 Minutes. Lower heat to 325, bake about 15 minutes more, until heated through and slightly browned.
My memories of Christmas long ago are those of a feast of aromas. Always, there was the crisp cold blast of fresh air when I left the warmth of our house to go visit Grandma across the street. It wasn’t exactly going to Alaska, but Mom made sure I was bundled up like a little Eskimo, which made it a bit shaky waddling through the snow piled up at the curbs when you crossed the streets, but I could still breathe the intoxicating air deep into my lungs. It never seemed quite so clean and fresh as it did right after the first snowfall.
Christmas also meant the scent of evergreen in the house. There were no ‘forever’ Christmas trees in those days, just the fragrant, fresh cut tree (we always got a short needle, easier to trim) that stood in our front window. We did use electric lights, though...I’m not quite old enough to remember candlelit trees...I think. It does get a bit harder to remember each year.
Naturally, as soon as we were up, doing the gift scramble on Christmas morning, we’d be smelling peppermint candy sticks that had found their way between the packages. Mom always said that Santa’s Elves had left them, just because we’d been extra good that year. If you were sitting on the floor, fairly close to the coffee table, you would also get a good whiff of the fudge that sat on a tiered tray there. Homemade, too!
Not too long after we were involved in giftdom, Mom would escape out into the kitchen and the Maxwell House Coffee song would come bubbling in on a beckoning tune of fragrance. Soon it was followed by the aroma of toast and, all our gifts opened, we’d trot out to the kitchen to breakfast on fresh sliced ham, Dad’s Italian sausage, Mom’s bread toasted, with a jar of her orange marmalade to go with, and cheeses and olive salad left from the Christmas Eve extravaganza. You could bet that in just a few moments, the door would open and Uncle Al from across the street would be bouncing in to have some breakfast and a Café Sport with Dad. Uncle Al always smoked a pipe, and at Christmas time you could count on him trying out some new exotic blend he’d received. I never was much for the scent of any tobaccos, but that pipe is still one of my memories of the Scents of Christmas, like it or not.
As soon as breakfast was over, Mom got another big turkey ready and popped it into the oven. Thanksgiving and Christmas, our big turkey days, meant a house full of the scents of spices and mince, fruit pies and quince and of course the promise of the roasted bird to come!
Once all the preparations for dinner were done, I’d usually get dressed up in my new outfit - there was always something taffeta that rustled, a frilly slip, and new Mary Jane shoes to wear for the holidays, along with my usual stash of skirts, blouses and sweaters to wear until spring. All dressed up, my dad would take me over to visit Grandpa Tony, Aunts Lucy and Angeline and Uncles John and Rocky, my dad’s family who lived next door to us. (Didn’t have to bundle up so much, this time, because Dad carried me through the yard and over the snow!)
They would have a great tree in their living room, also. Aunt Lucy was a whiz with angel hair. The blue lights peeping out from behind the veil of white fluff, placed expertly all over the tree, looked etherally beautiful. Dad’s family was much more simplified in their Christmas celebrations. Grandma died before I was born, and most of the fixing and doing was in the hands of the kids, so it was simple. Not that they weren’t great cooks, though! Aunt Lucy made cavatelli to die for, and Grandpa had a greens and beans minestrone that made your mouth water just to smell it; not to mention his goat cheese, made from the milk of his own goats.
So, the scents from their Christmas house in my memory are the sharp smell of cheese curing in cheese cloth hung from a rack in the kitchen, coffee simmering forever in a big steel pot on the back of their stove, sauce bubbling away to cover their cavatelli dinner, fresh rolls baking in the oven and the piney, fragrance of a Christmas tree, weaving its way into the kitchen from the parlor.
The Four Tree Christmas
Christmas 1980 was probably our last 'real tree' year. We ended up with 3 big trees and a small live table tree you can see right behind the "Frosty" Cake.
Things are just a bit different on Christmas Days in the later 1990's for my family. For years we did the big turkey dinner, after the Christmas Eve feast, but several years ago we thought we’d try something different.
We’ve been spending Christmas Day at daughter Lori’s ever since the grandchildren got big enough to open presents. It’s great fun taking all our exchanges to the one house and watching each other open gifts ‘one by one’. The kids take turns being “Santa” and selecting a gift from under the tree for everybody in turn, and we all ‘watch’ as the gift is opened before someone else’s gift is selected. That usually lasts from around 9 a.m. till noon -- what can I say, we are all so good, Santa is extra generous with us! Lori always has a buffet breakfast for us to nibble at, as we see fit during the gift opening. Plenty of Eve leftovers, just as in the olden days, find their way up to the house and serve as lunch. Again, catch as catch can.
What’s really new, though, is that early in the a.m. I set enough dough to raise to make about six pizzas for our Christmas Day Supper. Lori gets a big pot of chicken soup started, so that we can put together a great wedding soup and of course, a monster salad is mandatory. There’s always plenty of cookies, nut roll and pies for dessert, and we may even have some punch left from the night before. A bit of wine or beer, some hot coffee or cold soda and ahhhhhhh.
This much simpler supper instead of a huge Christmas dinner, is easier on the cooks, better for the diners and leaves a lot of time to play cards or games, or just nap a bit after lunch. Of course, it suffices to say that these goodies lend a whole new adventure to our Scents of Christmas Day memories. That’s the best part!
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CHRISTMAS DAY SUPPER MENU
ITALIAN WEDDING SOUP
TOSSED SALAD
ITALIAN DRESSING
PIZZA PLATTERS
NUT ROLL -- COOKIES -- FRUIT CAKE
ASSORTED BEVERAGES AND WINE
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CHRISTMAS DAY SUPPER
RECIPES
Wedding Soup
Large 6-Qt Soup Pot
2 lb+/- Chicken--4 Qt Water--3T Chicken Base--1 Medium UN-peeled Onion
3 Eggs--2 Carrots--1/4C Chopped Parsley--2 Stalks Celery with Leaves
¼ C Romano Cheese--¼ tsp Black Pepper--1 Head Escarole, Wash, Chop
½ lb Fine Pastini, Cooked According to Recipe on Box
Bring Chicken, Water, Base, Celery, Whole Onion and Carrots just to a boil in pot. Lower heat immediately and simmer slowly 2 hours. Do not boil. Skim as needed.
Remove the Chicken to cool so that it can be handled. When cool, remove the skin and bones and chop Chicken bite size. Return to pot.
Add the Chopped Escarole and continue cooking very low until ready to serve.
When ready to serve, stir in the cooked Pastini, mixing well.
Whisk together well the Eggs, Romano Cheese, Black Pepper and Chopped Parsley.
Bring Soup to the simmer and stir Beaten Eggs into soup in a steady thin stream.
Cook about five minutes more, or until egg sets up.
Serve with extra Romano and Pepper to taste.
Tossed Salad
Your preference of lettuce and greens, vegetables or a variety of each. Anything goes with this Italian Dressing.
Italian Dressing
Blender or Large Bowl and Mixer
2 C Red Wine Vinegar -- ½ C Cold Water -- 2 T Balsamic Vinegar
¼ C Corn Oil -- ½ C Olive Oil -- 3 T Sugar -- 1 T Garlic Granules
3 T Onion Flakes -- 1 T Parsley Flakes -- 1 T Oregano -- 1 T Basil
3 T Salt -- 2 T Brown Mustard -- 1 T Black Pepper
Blend well in blender or mixer. Makes about 1 Quart. May be stored in refrigerator.
Serve at ROOM TEMPERATURE, Shaking well before serving and using a
salad ladle.
Pizza Platter Recipes
Pizza Dough
Large Bowl for Mixing and Raising
6 Large Cookie Sheets or Large Round Pizza Pans
Corn Oil for coating pans
2 Packs Instant Fast-Rising Yeast -- ½ C Very Warm Water -- 1 T Sugar
Dissolve Yeast in Water. Add Sugar; stir until dissolved. Set aside.
4 C Hot Water--1 C Milk Warmed--2 T Corn Oil--1 T Sugar--1 T Salt
About 5 lb. All Purpose Flour
Dissolve Sugar in Warm Milk. When Yeast mixture bubbles, add to Milk.
Add the oil to Hot Water in a large bowl. Pour in Milk/Yeast mixture.
Whisk in Flour, 2 C at a time. Add Salt with the first addition.
Whisk well after each addition.
When you can no longer use the whisk, switch to a heavy wooden spoon.
Continue adding flour and mixing until a stiff dough forms.
Flour work counter/board very well and turn out dough onto board. Continue folding over and working in flour until it starts to spring back.
Add a bit more flour to the board and knead for about 5 minutes, until dough is very springy and does not stick to board.
Oil a large bowl that will allow the dough to raise double. Form a big ball with the dough and put it into oiled bowl. Punch down a bit and flip over, oiled side up. Cover with clean towel, set in a warm place and let raise until double.
Punch down, turn over and let raise until double again.
Dough is now ready to make pizzas, rolls or bread.
Pizzas
(Use about 450-475 degree oven to bake pizzas to insure crispness. Slip off pan last few minutes to further brown the bottom.)
Cut six balls of dough, big enough to spread to about ¼ inch thickness on an oiled pizza pan or cookie sheet. Place each ball onto a tray and proceed to spread dough, letting it rest a few minutes every so often, until all sheets are covered.
Left over tomato sauce for Pasta makes a great pizza sauce. Just add more oregano to your taste. Spread over pizza shell; add toppings of your choice.
(Always pre-cook loose sausage or ground beef before using in a pizza. Pepperoni should be placed beneath the cheese so that it doesn’t burn in the baking.)
A “White” Pizza can be made by beating eggs together with Romano Cheese, parsley, garlic salt, and pepper, then spreading it over the pizza dough. Add slices of provolone or grated mozzarella before baking.
A “Greens” Pizza can be made by frying spinach or escarole greens (that have been boiled or thawed and squeezed of all water) in olive oil, minced garlic, crushed red peppers and salt.
Spread over pizza shell. Sprinkle with Parmesan Cheese. Roll up like a Jelly Roll.
Let raise until double.
Brush with oil, sprinkle with Coarse Salt. Bake at 350 until golden brown.
(Update 2006) Our 'list' for Christmas Eve and Day selections is up. And there are again some changes made. 8-) We are cutting out some of the not so popular Eve dishes and replacing them with the pizzas that used to be Christmas Day Supper. We plan on having a light chicken soup and Eve leftovers for Christmas lunch. My son-in-law has decided that one of his gifts to 'the family' is going to be PRIME RIB. We'll have that with baked potatoes & fixings and sauted green beans and salad for Christmas Day Dinner.
Isn't that just like a big family? Going off and making NEW TRADITIONS? You've got to love it!
It's the early morning hours of Christmas Eve 2002 and I'm busy preparing the food for tonight's celebration. Suddenly, as the first whiffs of fragrant calamari sauce reach my senses, I am transported from my lonely kitchen back, back, to a Christmas Eve remembered, in 1940~~~
Everything really begins a week before the big night. Grandpa Falvo’s order of live snails arrived today. My cousin and I watch them crawl all over each other in their big keg, trying to reach the wine-soaked breadcrumbs that we feed them. Grandpa says it will fatten them up and clean their systems, until it is time for them to be slow-simmered in a thick sauce, made from the strained tomatoes that were canned in the fall.
Grandma Falvo, my mother and aunts are going to the Italian specialty store to pick up more provisions to be used in the preparations for the big event. As usual, I'm included in the group. I always try to wheedle my way into these excursions, especially when they go to Ambriola’s. Am-bree-o-la: the name, itself, drips of Italian delicacies and aromas to my young mind.
Once there, we buy large green, colossal black, and little, dried, Italian olives for the olive salad. Mr. Ambriola scoops them from big barrels that stand at attention in front of his counter---naturally we all get free samples. Then we taste our way through three or four choices of provolone cheese, from the very mild to the acrid-sharp wheel, which oozes droplets of oil testifying to its richness. His good-hearted craftiness pays off; we take some of each.
Of course, several dried baccala (cod) go on the counter to be added to our purchases. They perfume the whole place, delightfully blending in with the salami, pepperoni and cheeses, as though they were never intended for anything else than to hang from the ceiling rack in Mr. Ambriola's market.
Aunt Josephine doesn't forget to pick up several pounds of lupini beans. She needs plenty of time to process them into the salty, crunchy morsels we love. She does them the best! They seem to shoot farther when we kids take aim and pop them out of the skins at each other, in our annual lupini war.
After adding many tins of anchovies and bottles of anise, mint, and rosolio flavorings to the already loaded sacks, we're off. (Munching the tiny bag of confetti candy from my new, good-friend, Mr. Ambriola, I secretly hope that we've forgotten something, so that we can come again!)
Poor Grandma has diabetes and tires easily, so on the way home my mother and aunts divided up most of the pre-Eve preparations among themselves. Aunt Nora and my mother will make the pasta--very fine, hand-cut noodles for the squid sauce. They are much better than the commercial cappelini or spaghettini many people use, which grows sticky very quickly. The noodles stand tall and fine through the last forkful, even for leftovers several days after Christmas.
Aunt Liz will be in charge of the olive and other salads, in addition to helping Aunt Lee and Mom bake the cookies. My mother said that on the day before Christmas Eve, she would bake a huge batch of bread-- WOW! I can see the thick, crusty slices now; the only thing to go with that cheese and those olives!
Because Aunt Helen lives in with Grandma, she gets the (honor?) of sorting out the finished goodies as they arrive, setting a work schedule for the 'big day' and arranging seating for us all. If everyone comes (and why wouldn't they?), we will be 17 adults and 14 children, give or take a few neighbors who will drop in and out all through the evening.
Soon after we get home from the store, Grandpa and my dad disappear into the cellar. You can already smell the wine that they made early in the fall, as soon as you get to the top of the stairs; but now a sweet essence of anise, mint and other fragrant oils, begins floating up the hot air registers and through the open cellar door, until it envelops the whole house. It can only be the anisette, crème de menthe and rosolio that will stand in shining cut-glass containers, on the Christmas sideboard. Celebrating the season with their clear white, bright green and ruby red colors, they will burn hot and sweet to the tongue when we are given a taste. I can never make up my mind which one I like best, although the red of the rosolio always catches my eye.
It's great, living across the street from my grandmother's house; I get in on all the smells, samples and plain old fun of the preparation time. Today, I'm taking my crayons over there to decorate the place cards with Christmas trees. After Aunt Helen prints "Merry Christmas" and "Buona Natale" on them, she'll put them away with the other things she'll be using for the dinner table at the party.
How exciting it's getting! When I get to Grandma's, there are loads of large dress boxes that hold the fresh-baked cookies and nut rolls, lying between layers of waxed paper. A bushel of pizzelle, in vanilla, anise and orange flavors sits close by. A spicy, sweet aroma emanates from the huge tin holding the traditional fruitcake. I go down to the cellar with Aunt Josephine to watch her change the water in the big crock of lupini beans, one more time. They are triple in size now, threatening to burst their skins with the tender inner meat. (We won't tell anyone that we 'tested' them.)
It's the day before Christmas Eve. As soon as Mom has the large, white enamel washtub filled with bread dough and set to raise, the horn on Uncle Jim's car toots outside. We grab boots and coats and tramp out through the snow to join the 'fishing' expedition. Uncle Jim has the biggest car, so he's elected to take all the ladies (and me) to BUY THE FISH ~ a momentous occasion to say the least. Everything we eat on this Christmas Eve will be meatless, because it's a time of abstinence. That means fish and more fish. While we drive to the fish market, I can hear them talking about the Napolitano, the Romano, Calabrese; and "don't forget the Barese and the Basilicato". Whew! I can hardly pronounce them, let alone spell them. Anyway, it means that we have to buy fish to please every sector of Italy represented in our big family.
Am I glad that's over! We come home in a car laden with squid, octopus, eel, smelts, whiting--I gave up watching about then. Everyone takes home their share of fish to clean and we're all supposed to meet at Grandma's at six o'clock in the morning.
My mother is mixing another big batch of dough, to rise slowly through the night. She says she puts more sugar in this mixture than the regular bread dough, and that tomorrow it will be fried into everybody's favorite, crispel! After she takes the huge loaves of bread out of the oven and we've had our homemade pizza supper, it's time for bed and she is setting her alarm clock for 2:00 a.m. Mom has to get up two times during the night to 'punch' the dough down. By morning it will be airy and light and all ready to fry.
We never exchange gifts at the party; there's too many of us. Still, I'm more excited getting ready for it and all the fun of everyone being together, than looking forward to opening my presents at home on Christmas morning. I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep..a...winnnnn.. ...zzzzz
Christmas Eve morning, 6:00 a.m. sharp! Everyone is present and accounted for and ready for duty. Aunt Helen has it set up like an army command:
*Breading and frying of fish and crispel--down to the cellar kitchen.
*Snail and squid sauces--upstairs kitchen.
*Salads and tray assembling--sitting room worktable.
*Table setting--dining room.
Everybody--go to work!!
At noon the sauces are simmering, the frying is done, trays are made up and the tables are set. Am I tired! I must have run up and down the cellar steps a hundred times. I couldn't make up my mind where the most fun and action were. Songs and chatter were echoing through the rooms and up and down the stairs all morning. All the cooks are going home now, to rest and dress for dinner.
Christmas Tree 1972
Christmas Eve In PA
What a SIGHT! What AROMAS greet you at six o'clock dinner on Christmas Eve at Grandma's house!
On the dining room table are olive, tossed escarole, chilled broccoli, baccala and Italian potato salads; huge bowls of the tiny snails in thick tomato sauce (one taste is worth the effort of laboriously working them out of the shells with a little pick); squid sauce to be served over the fluffy egg noodles--with plenty of horns of the 'devil fish' to scare the kids (not ME); baccala stew; fried and baked fish, breaded or unbreaded, spicy or mild--great platters there for your choice.
Trays of cheese, roasted peppers, home-canned-fire-hot-pickled peppers, crisp vegetables to be dipped in tazza 'n berra, all surrounding the bowls of golden lupini, offer relief from the heavier food. Carafes of home-vintnerd wine march proudly down center-table, with baskets of crunchy fresh bread as color guard.
A wicker clothesbasket, lined with a snowy cloth and piled high with sugared crispel, holds a place of honor on a small table of its own. Standing in a corner is a washtub filled with cracked ice and bottles of soda pop and beer, contributed by Uncle Jim, the 'beer man'. A tremendous jug of Grandpa's wine nestles in the middle of the ice, keeping cool until it is needed to refill the carafes on the table. Even we kids get little sips of the beer and wine. In our family it is not considered a vice, but a compliment to the good food and used only in moderation.
In the living room, a long table is set up with platters of biscotti, frosted anisetties, guando-dusted with powdered sugar, snowball and thumb print cookies; slices of tender nut roll and fragrant fruit cake, bowls of confetti candy, fruits and nuts of all descriptions. Salvers of each flavor of pizzelle vie for attention among all the rest. A sideboard displays sweet, homemade dessert wine and the Christmassy colors of rosolio, anisette and crème de menthe, plus the only commercial liquor ever brought into the house by Grandpa, Seagram's 7.
When we all finally find our name cards, Grandma lights the candles and Grandpa makes a toast, "to many more feasts like tonight's". Now we are free to eat at the table or to roam among the rooms, plate in hand, picking and choosing from the magnificent array. Jokes and stories are flying hot and heavy and I am joining in every song that explodes spontaneously into life. Friends, making their rounds of the neighborhood, bring cold air through the door with them to cool my flushed cheeks. They have a glass of wine and partake heartily of all the goodies.
Just when I think everyone will burst if they eat another bite, the ladies start to clear the table and apportion leftovers out to the families. Now I'm sitting on my dad's lap, here on the floor, the rest of the family all around us, crowding close to Grandpa in his rocker. In the glow of candlelight and Christmas tree lights, I can see each rapt face as we listen to his tales of Christmas Eves past. Too soon, it's time to go home and sleep, so "Santa Claus can visit".
As my mother helps me set out crispel and a small glass of rosolio for Santa, I think, "This was the best Christmas Eve--ever!"
Stirring from my memories of long ago, I realize that it is now again Christmas Eve at Grandma's house; only this time I'm the Grandma. Although I am busily preparing many of the favorites of long ago, it is usually just my immediate family here for dinner, though none have ever been so dear to me ~ husband, Rich; daughter, Lori; sons, Rick and Philip; granddaughter, Lissa; grandson, Michael; and son-in-law, Mike. We manage to put a good dent into Christmas Eve dinner, but there are still a lot of leftovers to apportion and send with them.
Most of the uncles and aunts have gone on to the big Christmas Eve dinner in the sky, along with my parents. We still have Uncle Mike and Aunt Lee and Cousin Michael sharing the evening with us. Aunt Liz and the rest of the cousins all have their own families and live in different states, while Aunt Helen is in a nursing home. The labor is less intensive, but the memories of the love that went into the preparations for that special Christmas Eve linger on.
When I light the candles for my family this Christmas Eve, and look into their rapt faces as I tell stories of Christmas Eves past, I will remember how blessed I really am.
(UPDATE 2006) In the past two years we have lost my brother, Aunt Helen and Uncle Mike. Aunt Lee is in assisted living. We hope she will be well enough to come to this Christmas Eve. Aunt Liz is 95 and will not be able to come from CA. Time takes us all eventually, but nothing can kill the memories within the heart.)
Large Clear Punch Cup For Serving
½ C Olive Oil (extra virgin is best)
2 T Salt - 1 T Black Pepper - 1 tsp Oregano - ½ tsp Garlic Juice
Mix everything together well. Do NOT refrigerate. Serve with crisp, raw, vegetables.
Olive Salad
(Keeps well covered in refrigerator)
Large Plastic Container with Lid
¼ Lb Dried Italian Olives (calamatas)
¼ Lb Large, Pitted Green Olives
¼ Lb Greek Olives
Medium Jar Hungarian Pepper Rings -- 1 Tin Anchovies with Capers
1 Small Sweet Onion, halved and sliced thinly
¼ C Corn Oil
1 tsp Oregano Flakes, Crushed -- 1 T Crushed Hot Pepper Flakes
1 T Garlic Granules -- 1 T Salt
Place everything in the container, cover with lid and shake gently to mix. Store in refrigerator.
To serve, remove from refrigerator several hours before use, make sure everything is mixed well, place salad in glass bowl. Best when made several days in advance.
Italian Potato Salad
(Make day before using)
Large Plastic Container with Lid
5 Medium Potatoes, Peeled, Cubed and boiled until just tender. Drain & cool under water quickly.
2 Stalks Celery, Large Dice -- 1 Medium Onion, Large Dice
½ Bell Pepper, Large Dice -- ¼ C Black Olives, Sliced
¼ C Spanish Olives, Sliced --
1 Can Yellow/Green Beans (or either one), Drained DRESSING
¼ C Corn Oil - ½ C Cider Vinegar - 1 T Oregano - 1 T Salt ¼ tsp Paprika - 1 T Garlic Granules
Place all vegetables into plastic container & pour dressing over. Mix Very well by reversing covered container back and forth gently, adjusting vinegar as needed. Cover and Chill.
Just before serving, toss salad again, then cube One Large Ripe Tomato, and fold into salad. Serve in pretty glass bowl, Garnish with parsley and whole Spanish Olive.
Broccoli Salad
(Best made 24 hours before serving)
Qt Size Microwave Bowl -- Large Bowl of Ice Water
Mixing bowl with Lid
½ Lb Fresh Broccoli Flowerets, rinsed well - ¼ C Water - ½ T Salt
Toss above three ingredients together in Microwave Bowl, Cover and Micro for 6 minutes on High, or until just tender.
Drain and immediately plunge into ICE WATER to stop cooking.
Drain again very well, working carefully to keep flowerets intact.
Place Broccoli into container with lid.
DRESSING:
2 Cloves Garlic finely minced - 3 T Oil - ¼ C Lemon Juice
1 tsp Salt - ½ tsp Pepper
Pour over broccoli in container. Toss gently to mix well. Cover & refrigerate at least 3 hours. Serve in your favorite bowl with Lemon Slice garnish.
Carolyn’s Christmas Jello Mold
(Male the day before, frost day of serving)
Large Bowl for Mixing
1 #2 Can of Crushed Pineapple, drained very well, reserve juice
1 Family Size Lime Jello Stir and Dissolve completely in
2 C Boiling Water
Stir in 2 C COLD Ginger Ale
Add: 3 Large Bananas, Sliced -- Large Pack Mini Marshmallows
Pour into Teflon Bundt Mold or Pyrex 9 x 13 Cake Dish
Cover with Saran and refrigerate over night.
FROSTING
(Make pudding day before using)
PUDDING:
Beat 1 Egg in Top of a Double Boiler (or use a small saucepan to fit over hot water pan)
Blend in ¼ C Sugar - 3 T Flour - 1 C Reserved Pineapple Juice
(Add water to juice if necessary to make a full cup)
Cook over boiling water, either in double boiler or another saucepan.
Stir constantly, scraping bottom and sides often, until thickened to pudding. Cool 10 minutes.
Cut up a 6-0z pack of Cream Cheese into small pieces and add to pudding, beat well until dissolved. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
Serving Day
Prepare 1 Packet of DREAM WHIP according to package instructions, beating until quite stiff.
Whip Pudding/Cream Cheese mixture into DREAM WHIP until well absorbed. Frosting should be thick, creamy and airy. Refrigerate until needed.
Remove jello from Bundt mold by loosening the edges with a thin knife, then dipping the mold to just below rim, into hot water for about 15 seconds. Place damp serving platter over top of mold and invert. If jell-o does not come loose in about 10 seconds, place a hot towel over the mold and rap gently on the sides and top of mold.
You can also serve from the container, if you use the Pyrex cake dish, or it, too, can be removed from the dish onto a fancy serving platter. Refrigerate a while to bring back to full gel.
Frost molded salad generously on all sides and top, swirling into peaks; or heap the frosting on salad in Pyrex baking dish. Keep chilled until serving, but do not cover.
Decorate with maraschino cherries and pieces of mint leaves to make Xmas "berries".
Homemade Noodles
(Serves 8 as a full dinner)
TWO DOZEN EGGS OF NOODLES DRYING FOR THE HOLIDAY
Large Bowl for Mixing
Towel or Tablecloth and Flat Surface for holding dough strips
Noodle Machine For Rolling and Cutting or - Rolling Pin and a Very Sharp Knife -
Large Paper Bags for Holding Cut Noodles
8 Eggs -or- an 8-Egg container of Egg Beaters -or- Half of Each
2 T Corn Oil - 1 tsp Salt - 4+ C All Purpose Flour
Mix Eggs, Oil and Salt in Blender until thick and frothy, about 5 minutes.
Place 4 C Flour in a large bowl, reserving rest to be used if needed. Make a ‘well’ in center of flour.
Pour Egg Mixture slowly into the flour 'well', stirring and mixing until a stiff dough begins to form. Use more flour as needed to make sure the dough is very stiff.
Turn Dough out onto floured board and KNEAD about 5 minutes, until well mixed and elastic.
Place Dough in floured bowl and cover with clean napkin or towel. Let stand about one hour, then knead again. Make noodles by hand or machine as follows.
MACHINE METHOD
Divide dough into four pieces & knead flat.
Divide each piece into four pieces again (16 pieces) knead flat.
Set up Noodle Machine and place roller dial into the widest slot.
Place the large clean towel over the work surface to hold strips.
Begin rolling dough, processing only 4 pieces at a time.
Rotate among the four pieces, rolling on each slot and placing dough on towel after each roll.
(For extra fine noodles, slip slot above the last spot and roll on tightest pressure)
Cut Strips to approximately 6 to 10 inches in length.
After the final roll, run noodles through finest cutter, catching them and spreading them loosely on bag.
Make sure you cut just before the edges of strips start to dry, but not when dough is sticky.
Repeat the process for all 16 strips.
(For thicker noodles, do not roll so many times, cut on wider cutters. Remember noodles rise when cooked.)
HAND CUT METHOD
Divide dough into 4 pieces. Knead each piece into a flat, round shape.
Roll one piece at a time with rolling pin, to desired thickness... paper thin for very fine noodles.
Sprinkle the sheet of dough lightly with flour & roll up jellyroll fashion. The more turns to the dough, the longer the noodle.
Cut in thin slices, very fine, with an extremely sharp, long bladed knife. Toss Cut Noodles onto bags loosely.
(This method takes some skill. You might try doing just two eggs of noodles a couple of times first.)
Squid Sauce
Large Sauce Pan
¼ C Olive Oil - 3 T Minced Garlic - 3 Large Onions, diced
30 Oz water - 60 oz Tomato Sauce - 1 T Garlic Granules - 1 T Sugar 2 T Salt - 1 tsp Pepper - 1 tsp Basil
2 T Parsley Flakes - 1 Bay Leaf
5 Lb of Cleaned Squid
Sauté Onion and Garlic in Olive Oil slowly in pot, stirring frequently until onions are cooked down by half, golden and sweet. (This takes about a half hour--must be done slowly so as not to scorch the onions.)
When onions are golden, Add everything else BUT the Squid and simmer slowly for several hours +/-, stirring often, until very thick. (This can be done several days before needed; cover and store in the refrigerator.
Two Hours Before Serving
Defrost Cleaned Squid in cold water. Go through squid again to make sure all cellophane spine is removed and it is all very clean. Rinse and Drain VERY well. If heads and bodies are not separated, do so at this time.
Pat the squid dry on paper towels.
Add Heads and Bodies of Squid to the SLOWLY simmering sauce.
Stir well and cook one more hour, uncovered, so that sauce will thicken. (Squid lets out water as it cooks)
DO NOT BOIL or squid will toughen.
Serve on the side with the Fine Home Made Noodles.
Mother/Daughter Fruit Cake
3 Boxes Flavored Dessert Bread Mixes (suggestions: Nut, Date, Cranberry-Orange, Apricot; mix/match)
3 Eggs beaten well - ¾ C Oil - 1½ C Orange Juice - 1½ C Apricot Brandy (or other fruit flavor liqueur)
16 Oz Mixed Candied Fruit + 4 Oz Halved Red/Green Candied Cherries + 2T Candied Lemon/Orange peels - 6-8 Oz broken pecans
WHOLE PECANS
Mix all BUT WHOLE PECANS thoroughly, divide into 2 oiled bundt pans. Bang pans on counter to spread evenly and remove trapped air.
Lightly press Unbroken Pecan Halves into the mix all around the circle of the pan, about 20 halves per cake.
Bake in pre-heated 350° oven for 45-55 min. Cool completely on rack. Remove from pans when slightly cooled.
While cooling, prepare glaze of ½ C Orange Juice Concentrate (no water added), ½ C Apricot Brandy and a splash of Light Corn Syrup.
When cakes are cooled, cut Cheesecloth pieces large enough to cover a cake, rinse cheesecloth under cold water and squeeze dry. Then soak the Cheesecloth in the glaze mixture
Cover the cakes with the cloths and wrap cakes tightly in foil, then plastic bag or place in airtight tin. Keep them covered and occasionally re-wet the cheesecloth with the glaze mixture. Store in refrigerator to keep from molding. For best flavor, make several weeks before serving.
To dress up cake before serving, unwrap and brush with mixture of light corn syrup, OJ concentrate and Brandy to make it shine. Tuck holly into the center opening and serve on a tiered cake dish. It's not your everyday old fruitcake, after all!
Bunny Scenarie’s
Two-Hour Nut Roll
(Kolachi)
FILLING (Prepare First)
Grind 1 Lb Walnuts very fine in grinder or blender
Add: 2 C Sugar - ½ C Brown Sugar - Small can of Condensed Milk 2 T Vanilla to the ground nuts in a large bowl.
You should have a thick nut paste that can be easily spread. Add milk carefully if it gets too thick as it sits.
DOUGH (This does not need to rise before making rolls)
2 Packs Quick Rise Yeast - ½ C Very Warm Milk - ½ Lb Butter
13-Oz Can Evaporated Milk - 3 Large Eggs - ½ C Sugar - 1 tsp Salt
1 T Vanilla - 6+ C Flour
Dissolve 2 Packs Quick Rise Yeast in ½ C very warm milk & set aside
Heat Can of Evaporated Milk, to steaming.
Dissolve one pound butter in hot milk.
Let cool to very warm
Stir the yeast mixture into the butter and milk.
Beat 3 Large Eggs very well in large bowl with mixer.
Slowly add ½ C Sugar beating constantly.
Add 1 T Vanilla & mix again.
Meanwhile measure out about 6 C sifted flour.
Begin combining the flour a cup at a time, alternately with the milk/yeast mixture, to the beaten eggs. In first cup add 1 tsp salt. Start with flour and end with flour.
You can use the mixer until it is too stiff to work, then switch to wooden spoon. Use more or less flour, as needed to make a dough that will ball up and be workable without being sticky. (Amount of flour will depend on size of eggs, etc.)
Turn dough out on lightly floured board. Knead gently until it forms up and can be shaped into a ball. Flatten ball slightly and cut in 8 equal pieces. Shape pieces into round balls...let sit under a bowl.
Immediately begin to form nut rolls. (I recommend rolling them out on a sheet of waxed paper or better still, parchment paper. You can easily flip the paper over to make the dough roll over into a jelly roll shape and it prevents tearing of roll.)
Roll each piece of dough out on the lightly floured paper until it is about 1/8" thick. I shape mine in rectangles, because it is easier to seal the ends.
Brush the dough with melted butter. Spread thinly right to the edge with nut mixture. (Mixture rises a bit in cooking so too much bursts the dough.)
Roll up jelly roll style, but more tightly. Seal the ends by pressing dough together and tucking the closed end under the top fold of the roll.
Place the rolls on a foil covered cookie sheet (this makes it easier to remove to cool), 2 to a tray. Cover and let rise in a warm spot until double in size, about 20 min.
Brush tops with melted butter, sprinkle lightly with sugar & bake in preheated 350° oven until golden brown.... (About 20 minutes.)
Remove from oven; lift foil and all onto a cooling towel or cloth. After a few moments of cooling, roll the Kolachi off the foil to finish cooling. After thoroughly cooled, store snugly wrapped in foil, then plastic bag. Keeps very well a week in refrigerator, 6 months or more in freezer.
Crispel
(Sugared Fried Dough)
Best When Made on Day To Be Served; does not keep well.
1 Pack Dry Yeast(fast rising is best)
¼ C Very Warm Water + 1T Sugar - 1 C Scalded Milk
½ C warm tap water - ½ C Sugar - 1 tsp Salt - 2T Corn Oil
2½ C Flour +/-
Dissolve yeast in ¼ C very warm water and 1T Sugar, set aside.
Scald the milk and add the ½ C warm tap water to it in a large bowl.
Add the ½ C Sugar, Salt, & Corn Oil to the Milk Mixture. Stir Well.
Add the Yeast Mixture, stir.
Beat in 1½ C Flour with wooden spoon very well. Cover and let sit for 20 Minutes.
Add enough Flour to make a Stiff Dough (about 1 C). Mix well.
Turn out on floured board and knead until elastic and smooth.
Place dough in greased bowl, turning to oil on all sides, cover and let rise until doubled.
Punch down & let rise to double again.
Heat about 2 inches of peanut oil to 375 in a large skillet, or deep fryer.
Cut dough into 3 inch pieces; stretch and poke hole in center to make donut shape.
Fry in oil, several at a time, turning, until raised and light brown.
Drain well on paper towels. Immediately shake in paper bag with granulated sugar. Place on large tray and let cool.
Shake in sugar bag again after all are fried and sugared the first time.
(This goes easier as a 2-person operation... one to fry, the other to sugar.)
Mound in lined basket or bowl, cover with plastic bag until serving time.
This recipe will serve 8 easily, but it is very popular. Recipe can be doubled, tripled.
Fried Whiting
(Filets or Bone In)
Large Skillet or Deep Fryer -- Large Cookie Sheet
Large Paper Bag - Paper Towels - Waxed Paper
Peanut Oil (best) or Shortening
5 Lb Whiting Fish, cleaned (Whole or Filets (usually found frozen) Thaw and Cut into 3-Inch Pieces
2 C Flour - 1 C Plain Bread Crumbs - 1 T Garlic Granules - 1 T Salt
1 T Pepper - 1 T Parsley - 1 T Dried Basil, crushed - ½ C Corn Meal
3 Large Eggs beaten - ½ C Water - 1 T Grated Parmesan
Begin heating 2 inches of oil in fryer to 375° while breading fish.
Beat the Eggs well, beat in the water, 1 tsp each of the Garlic, Salt, Pepper & Parmesan.
Put the flour on a large sheet of waxed paper; mix in the rest of the seasonings.
Reserve Bread Crumbs and Corn Meal
Prepare another sheet of waxed paper to hold floured fish, and cover a large cookie sheet with another piece of waxed paper.
Begin by rolling all the Fish Pieces in the Seasoned Flour until well coated, place on the sheet of waxed paper.
Add the Bread Crumbs and Corn Meal to the remaining Seasoned Flour. Mix well.
Dip each floured piece of fish into the Egg Mixture, roll in Bread Crumb Mix, & place on Cookie Sheet.
Store in refrigerator until ready to fry. (Best when fried just before eating).
Fry in hot oil in batches, about 2 minutes per side, depending on thickness of fish.
Drain on paper towels on bag.
Serve with lemon wedges and hot sauce on the side.
(If you have room, you can keep the fryer going and everyone can cook to order!)
Traditional Christmas Fruit Punch
Six-Quart Punch Bowl
Ice Mold
Ice Mold (Make several days ahead
Fill a plastic bowl or other mold ¾ full of water. Add 1 small jar of Maraschino Cherries, juice & all and stir.
Freeze until solid. Can be removed from mold and stored in freezer in plastic bag until needed.
PUNCH
4 C Very Strong Tea - Small Can Frozen OJ
2 Large Cans Hawaiian Punch (red)
1 Can Apricot Nectar or Juice - 2 Qt Ginger Ale
1 Qt Rainbow Sherbet
Chill all the Liquids before making Punch
Just Before Serving: Mix together all of the chilled fruit juices in the Punch Bowl, stirring well.
Add the chilled Ginger Ale, carefully. Stir once or twice. Carefully insert the Ice Mold.
Drop Scoops of Rainbow Sherbet liberally all over surface of punch. Serve.
(You can make 2 smaller punches, one at a time, by halving the tea, juices, ginger ale and sherbet, and using a second time over the same ice mold.)
Eggnog
Large Serving Pitcher or Punch Bowl
12 Large Eggs Beaten to a froth or blended in blender
1 Qt Heavy Cream - 1 C Sugar - 1 Oz Vanilla or Rum Flavor - Nutmeg
Beat the Sugar into the Eggs until Dissolved.
Add the Cream, beat 5 minutes.
Stir in Flavoring.
Sprinkle with nutmeg when served.
Alcohol of choice can be used (usually rum) in place of or in addition to flavorings.
There are now on the market many good types of commercial eggnog, when caught with unexpected guests.
Memories of Rosolio
White and Green Crème De Menthe can easily be found ready made, now…but I have never been able to find Rosolio. Neither can I find the base to make my own, as Dad and Grandpa did. I’d like to breathe that savory aroma, and have that nippy, sweet taste touch my tongue just once again, but for now I’m left with those fond memories of Rosolio on that Christmas Eve, long ago.
(UPDATE)Last Christmas I finally found the Rose Base for Rosolio. Not the 'oil', but the essence, so I made my own Rosolio! I used the base in proportion to a fifth of vodka (instead of the pure alcohol Gramps and Dad used, heheheh) and I thought it was wonderful. However, looks like there's going to be rosolio around longer than I am. Nobody else 'cared' for the rosy essence..so they never got past it to the wonderful spicy heat of it on the tongue.
The bottle will still go up on the sideboard with the Anisette and Creme De Menthe though. And I'll bet some day when I'm gone, they will be telling the story of "Mom Makes Rosolio"!
If any reader sees something they'd like a know-how on that I haven't included in the recipes...just ask. I'll try to get it here in time for 'your'
