When the cannons are fired from Castel St. Angelo the 24 hour fast ends – eight days after the special Novena of prayers and Church services began for Catholics, the feasting begins. In the olden days gifts were drawn from the Urn of Fate and good wishes were exchanged – today the eating starts and rarely ends before the New year has been well and truly welcomed. Christmas in Italy originated with the pagan traditions of the ancient Romans and the winter solstice celebrations they had around this time. It was for this reason that the Catholic Church decided to institute the Christian celebrations around

this time - they probably got the idea of celebrating the birth of Jesus because Saturnalia, in effect, celebrated the birth of Saturnus. The Italian word for Christmas, ‘Natale‘ meaning birthday was thus chosen for this day. The date and day is of no great importance, really – what is important is that we celebrate the birth of everything for which Christ died and remember to love our families in the true spirit of Christmas – it’s a pretty amazing time of

the year. One of the most endearing traditions of an Italian Christmas  is the building of the Nativity scene, the  presepio, at this time of the year. (As seen at the Vatican below). No matter how cold it is, children throughout the country are building them in the piazza’s, some doorways and in their homes – certainly one of the most typical symbols of the season. This tradition originated in Italy when St. Francis of Assisi asked  Giovanni Vellita who lived in the tiny village of Greccio to make a manger scene for him one Christmas – there he performed mass and from this humble sermon, the tradition grew.  In Italy the main exchange of gifts takes place on the 6th of January on the feast of the Epiphany when the Magi’s symbolically visit the Christ Child.

Children nervously await a visit from La Befana who brings gifts for the good and punishment for the bad. Legend has it that she was the old woman who refused food and shelter to the Magi and a while after they had gone, changed her mind and went to look for them but without success! Today she still looks for them. At times she’s a witch, at times a Fairy Queen and at times an old crone – it varies from region to region and family to family. We find the last tradition in Abruzzo and Rome where, in days gone by, the Christmas festivities were announced by the Piferari who played beautiful music on the bagpipes – the tradition is all but forgotten.

Christmas Eve dinner consists largely of  fish and often as many as 10 to 20 fish dishes will be prepared! In Rome, the traditional dish at Christmas Eve is is Capitone, a big female eel, roasted, baked.  Panettone, torrone (above) and panforte rich with hazelnuts, honey and almonds keep the sweet toothed happy – most Christmas sweets, in fact, contain nuts and almonds and are sweetened with honey. The peasants of old believed that to eat nuts favoured the fertility of the earth and contributed to the increase of flocks and family and in ancient Rome, it was honey for a sweet year!

ANGUILLE ARROSTO

Ingredients

• 1 kg eels, skinned and cleaned
• 4 or 5 bayleaves
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 2 lemons, zest only

Method

• Pre-heat oven to 180 C
• Make a cut in the back of the eel and coil it into the oven dish that has been rubbed with olive oil or, alternatively, make a cut in the back of the eel, cut it into large pieces and put on a skewer with a bayleaf between each section – in this way it is easier to roast it.
• Sprinkle with the lemon zest, salt and freshly ground pepper.
• Add the bay leaves and roast in the oven for about 40 minutes until done, turning once during the cooking process.
• It is very fat and will roast in it’s own fat – there is no need to cover it, roast it open but keep an eye on it.
• Serve with freshly sliced lemons and fresh crunchy bread.

CAPITONE LIVORNESE

Ingredients

• 500g eel-cleaned, and skinned
• 500 g prawns, cleaned and with the heads off
• 500g finely diced tomatoes
• 150 ml red wine
• 1 handful capers
• 1 handful black olives, de seeded
• 1 heaped teaspoon hot red paprika
• 250 g fresh, finely diced fennel
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Method

• Pre-heat oven to 200 C
• Rinse eel and slice into large slices, about 2.5 cm and dry thoroughly. Put the tomatoes, red wine, capers, olives and paprika in an oven proof pot and over medium heat bring to the boil.
• Season eel pieces with salt and pepper and put into the simmering sauce.
• See that it is well covered with sauce, put in the oven and bake for about 20 minutes.
• Remove from oven, stir in the prawns and see that the prawns are covered with the sauce.
• Cook for another 10 minutes.
• Remove from the oven and sprinkle with the chopped fennel – serve with thick slices of toasted Italian bread.

SFORMATO DI PANETTONE

Everybody has at least one Panettone in their store cupboard at Christmas time – they are so good that nobody really bothers to buy one nowadays anyway.  This is a delightful dessert for Christmas eve – the quantities can be doubled!

Ingredients.

• 100 g pannetone cake, cut into cubes after hollowing out, leave the crust and place the mixture inside it to set
• 2 tbsp orange juice
• 2  tbsp finely chopped, candied citron peel
• 3 tbsp sultanas
• 20 g candied orange, finely chopped
• 2 tbsp Grand Marnier
• 2 tbsp honey
• 2 gelatine leaves
• 300 ml custard
• 100 ml double cream
• 1 orange, zest only
• 1 lemon, zest only
• Berries for garnishing

Custard ingredients

Ingredients

• 250 ml milk
• 4 large egg yolks
• 120 g caster sugar

Method

• Put the orange and lemon zest, candied citron peel, sultanas and candied orange with the orange juice, Grand Marnier and honey in a pot and bring to the boil, reducing this by half.
• In the meantime, soak the gelatine in cold water for 5 minutes and squeeze out well.
• Remove the pot from the heat and whilst still warm, mix the content of the pot with half the custard and all the gelatin, blend very well and set aside to cool, stirring occasionally.
• Whisk the egg whites until they are stiff and fold this into the gelatine mixture and then all the caster sugar.
• Whip the cream until quite thick and fold this in.
• Finally fold in the panettone cubes and pour into the hollowed out crust –  allow to set for about 3 – 4 hours.
• Serve with the remaining custard.

Method for custard

• Pour the milk into a saucepan and bring to the boil, removing at once from the heat.
• In a separate pot, whisk the egg yolks and the sugar until pale and fluffy.
• Add the milk in a slow continuous stream whisking constantly.
• Cook the custard over a medium heat, whisking constantly until it thickens – do no let it boil!

SPUMETTI

Ingredients

• 500 g finely ground hazelnuts
• 500 g icing sugar
• 2 generous tablespoons unsweetened cacoa
• 7 egg whites

Method

Pre-heat oven to 180 C

• Prepare two flat baking trays by greasing and lining with baking paper
• Mix the hazelnuts, icing sugar, cocoa and cinnamon together with the egg whites and mix well with an electric mixer until everything has combined well.
• With wet (not sodden) hands, make small round balls (about one tablespoon of dough) and place on the baking tray about 2 cm apart.
• They do go flat when you bake them, but if you like to have an indentation in the middle,
• Bake for 30 minutes, remove and allow to cool before packing them away.