This much is a given: On Christmas Eve, Italian families around the world - and here in Baltimore - will gather for feasts in which seafood takes center stage. There's no quarreling about that part of the tradition.
Ask, however, how many dishes or how many fishes are to be served and the arguments begin. Three, four, seven? Nine, 12 or 13? It all depends on who's answering the question.
"This is one tradition in Italy where you can't paint a single portrait," says Sergio Vitale, whose family owns Aldo's Restaurant in Little Italy. "It changes from region to region, town to town, even family to family."
Two elements, at least, of the celebration are universal. First, Christmas Eve is one of the few days left on the Roman Catholic calendar during which the faithful are not permitted to eat meat. Thus, seafood is consumed. Catholics everywhere observe this rite, but the Italians make an art of it.
Second, the dinner is more than a meal. It is an all-out banquet that brings an entire family together for a day of cooking and an evening of eating, drinking and general merriment preparatory to attending midnight Mass.
Every Christmas Eve, says Sabrina DiPasquale of DiPasquale's Italian Marketplace, 30 to 40 family members gather at her father's Highlandtown row home to celebrate. "We eat, we drink, we dance, we stay up late," she says.
On the all-seafood menu are dishes like marinated cuttlefish and octopus salad, crespelle (fried dough stuffed with baked baccala) and merluzzo (whiting baked with fresh tomato and lemon). "The fish change according to whatever is fresh in the market," she says.
The question of the day, however, is this: How many dishes and how many fishes to include.
"Definitely seven," says DiPasquale. "It is always seven." Perhaps she's correct. In this country, the tradition is most commonly called "Feast of the Seven Fishes."
Lynne Basignani, owner with her husband, Bert, of Basignani Winery in Sparks, agrees. "We know it is seven dishes; my daughters did research for a school paper," she says. Most of the dishes on her family's Christmas Eve table reflect her mother-in-law's Tuscan origins, including chickpea soup gently infused with anchovy and poached rockfish dressed with olive oil, fresh parsley and lemon.
But the number seven doesn't jibe for Connie Bannister, a Catonsville resident who serves as secretary to the pastor at St. Leo's Parrish Hall in Little Italy. "For us, it is always 13 fishes, but not necessarily 13 dishes," she says.
She departs somewhat from the family traditions of her New York upbringing: "I'm in Maryland, so I use crab instead of baccala. And I'll use squid, but not eel." Spaghetti with lobster sauce and crab-stuffed lobster tails are now the centerpieces of her family feast.
The numbers have significance in the Catholic cosmology. Three is for the Holy Trinity, four is the number of gospels, five is the wounds of the Crucifixion, seven can represent the virtues, the days it took Mary and Joseph to reach Bethlehem or the number of fishermen among the apostles. You get the idea.
The number of dishes and/or fishes appears to increase as you head south along the Italian peninsula. In the north, above Tuscany, there is no specific number. Around Rome in Lazio, which is where DiPasquale's parents come from, the magic number is seven. By the time you reach Calabria - from whence the Vitale family hails - at the southernmost tip of the boot, you have entered the realm of 13 dishes, if not fishes.
"For us, growing up, the tradition was 13 dishes," says Aldo Vitale, chef owner of Aldo's Restaurant. He believes it would have been impossible to assemble 13 fishes on Christmas Eve in the old country.
"If you think back 100 years, you didn't have even seven fish available in Italy in wintertime," he says. "There was baccala, and maybe fresh sardines or anchovies and sometimes eel." Baccala is salted, dried codfish that must be rehydrated before it is cooked.
"In the south we had little, but we really knew how to make the most of it. Here in this country, there is so much seafood available, we have expanded. I think the seven-fish dinner is more American-Italian," he says.
Numbers aside, the "Feast of the Seven Fishes," is seeing a surge of interest as Americans explore their ethnic heritages. In recent years, broadcasts and articles on the topic have appeared in such forums as the Food Network, Southern Living Magazine and Saveur. This year, restaurant chefs, too, are weighing in.
On Dec. 12, Pippa Callendar, chef at Le Madri in New York City, cooked a version at that bastion of culinary history and trends, the James Beard House. After researching, she also concluded that it is a difficult tradition to pin down.
"It does derive from the people eating only fish on Christmas Eve," she says. "And the number seven is a holy number." But it is only American to put your own stamp on tradition: She served nine dishes that included seven fishes.
On the menu was baccala, the one fish that appears at most celebrations, paired with roasted red peppers in bocconcini, which means mouthful. Also served were braised cuttlefish with fresh cranberry beans, and marinated fresh anchovy bruschetta with blood oranges.
Baccala also appeared at the seven-fish, seven-dish dinner prepared locally at the Brass Elephant for members of the American Institute of Wine and Food. There, it was poached, then sauteed with escarole, tomatoes and black olives. Also on the menu were sauteed eel over mushroom risotto and pan-seared monkfish with eggplant caponata.
As families migrate and the pace of life quickens, customs, inevitably, change. "A little of tradition was lost from my parents to me," says Aldo Vitale. "As it will be from me to my sons."
This particular ritual, however, born in the Italian home, continues to find new forms. "Since we opened Aldo's, we've done our family dinner here rather than at one of my aunt's houses," says Vitale's son Sergio. The family comes, and the staff also is invited to sit. "It's now a Benetton Christmas," he says.
We, too, can partake of the "Feast of the Seven Fishes" at Aldo's, where it is offered on Christmas Eve as a prix-fixe dinner - without having to trouble ourselves over the thorny question of numbers. The four-course, seven-fish meal includes family favorites like Baccala alla Calabrese with potatoes and olives, fritto misto of fried mixed fish, and sardines marinated with olive oil, garlic and lemon.
Buon Natale!
Baccala alla Calabrese
Serves 4 to 6
2 pounds baccala (salt cod)
1/2 white onion, finely chopped
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 clove garlic, finely minced
2 vine-ripe tomatoes, peeled, seeded and diced
12 Calabrese (or kalamata) olives
2 bay leaves
4 or 5 fresh basil leaves, chopped
2 cups seafood (or light chicken) stock
2 medium potatoes, peeled, cut into 1/2 -inch dice
pinch crushed hot pepper
salt and fresh pepper to taste (judiciously, as the baccala will impart some salt to the dish)
To desalt and rehydrate the baccala, soak it in water for 24 or 48 hours, changing the water as often as practical. Then, cut the baccala in generous 1-inch squares.
In a large pot, saute the onion in the olive oil over medium heat until translucent, but not browned, about 4 minutes. Add the garlic and saute 1 minute. Add the tomatoes, olives, bay leaves and basil and simmer for 10 minutes. Add the stock, baccala and potatoes. Simmer for 10 to 15 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Season with salt and pepper to taste, remove bay leaves and serve immediately.
- From Aldo's Restaurant
Sarde in Bianco
Serves 4 as an appetizer
1 pound fresh sardines, cleaned (with heads, fins and entrails removed)
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 sprigs fresh parsley, finely chopped
1 tablespoon minced lemon zest
pinch dried oregano
salt and pepper to taste
Rinse the sardines and pat completely dry. Place them, along with all of the other ingredients, in a nonstick frying pan. Cook over low heat for 10 to 12 minutes, or until the flesh of the sardines is white throughout. Serve warm or cold.
- From Aldo's Restaurant
Aldo's Stewed Calamari
Serves 6
3 pounds whole calamari, with tentacles, cleaned
1 clove fresh garlic, minced
1 scallion, minced
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 whole bay leaves
1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste
pinch hot-pepper flakes
pinch dried oregano
4 cups prepared marinara sauce (homemade or canned)
Separate the tentacles from the body of the calamari, and cut the body into 1/2 -inch rings. Bring cold water to the boil in a small pot over high heat. Add the tentacles and simmer over medium heat for 4 to 5 minutes. Drain the tentacles in a colander and rinse them thoroughly with cold water to stop cooking. Drain well.
In a large pot over medium heat, saute the garlic and scallion in the olive oil. When the garlic just begins to brown, add the calamari tubes and tentacles, bay leaves, salt, hot-pepper flakes and oregano. Lower the heat and cook for 5 to 7 minutes, or until the calamari is tender. Add the marinara sauce and stew for an additional 5 minutes. Remove bay leaves and serve as is or over pasta.
- From Aldo's Restaurant