Italian Christmas Feast of The 7 Fish Cookbook

 

The FEAST of The SEVEN FISHES

"La VIGILIA"

The FEAST of The 7 FISH

ITALIAN CHRISTMAS

SEAFOOD RECIPES

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The FEAST of 7 FISH

"La VIGILIA"

The FEAST of The SEVEN FISH Italian Christmas is one of Italy and Italian-America's most sacred traditions. The Feast, known as La Vigilia in Naples and Southern Italy is a wonderful  ritual practiced by Italians in Italy, and the Italian-American Enclave of America. This wonderful Christmas Eve Feast might be very well more fervent with Italian-Americans in The USA than it is back home in mother Italy.

It is said that the 7 Fish of La Vigilia signifies The 7 Sacraments of The Roman Catholic Church. La Vigilia translated from Italian to English means "The Vigil" in which Mary and Joseph and people in Bethlehem, Jerusalem awaited the birth of the baby Jesus.

The Feast may be made with whatever seven fish (Fish Dishes) an Italian Family might choose. The most traditional dishes are Baccala (Cod Fish) and EEL.

"Will you make this wonderful Feast this year" ?

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Chicken Caccaitore Recipe

 

POLLO alla CACCITORE

An ITALIA-AMERICAN FAVORITE

Pollo alla Cacciatore is quite popular all over Italy, from Piedmonte in the North West of Italy, down to Campania and Naples, and even into Sicily. The dish is especially popular in Tuscan and the Umbria region of Central Italy. Chicken Cacciatore is hugely popular with the Italian-American Enclave, as it is tasty, easy to prpepare, and has inexpensive ingredients, and the dish holds well when left in the refrigerator and is reheated for multiple meals. This being said, you can make larger batches by doubling and even tripling the following recipe.

There is no one sigle recipe for Pollo Cacciatore which means hunters chicken. The dish was originally made by hunters, using rabbits, which you can subsitute one or two rabbits for the chicken in the recipe that follows. 

As the original dish was made by hunter, who besided shooting rabbits and other wild game, and also coming across wild mushrooms in the woods, the hunters made their Cacciatore with Muschrroms. If you don't like msuhrooms, as many people do not, they may be omitted from the recipe. If you don't like Peppers, you can omit them as well, as long as you have the base sauce recipe, of the tomatoes and wine, and the aromatic vegetables, especially the garlic, and onoins. You can also add Olives to the dish, if you so choose. Experiment, and make the recipe you own., just Enjoy.

Italian POLLO alla CACCIATORE - Recipe

INGREDIENTS :

• 2 pounds Chicken Thighs
• 1 pound of Whole San Marzano Tomatoes (crushed)
• One carrot
• One garlic clove
• 1/2 cup Red Wine
• One celery stalk
• Salt to taste
• A sprig of rosemary
• Pepper to taste
• 12 ounces Mushrooms (washed and sliced)
• 1 Sweet Red Bell Pepper, cored and sliced
• I large Onion, peeled and diced
• 2 bay leaves
• Italian Olive Oil
• 
  

Wash the carrot and celery under running water and chop them coarsely.

Pat dry the Chicken with paper towels. Season both sides of the chicken with Salt & Black Ground Pepper.

Take a frying pan and put the olive oil in it and heat it well.

Add the Chicken to pan with the olive oil and cook on medium heat, until the chicken is nicely browned on all sides, cooking over medium heat for 4-5 minutes on each side.

Remove the Chciken from the pan, and set aside on a plate to rest.

Add the Red Bell Peppers and cook on low heat for 6 minutes.

Add the Mushrooms to pan, and add the Salt & Black Pepper to the peppers and mushrooms. Cook on medium heat for 5 minutes. 

Add th onion and cook on low heat for 3 minutes.

Then add the chopped garlic and the bay leaves. Cook on low heat for 3 minutes.

Add the chicken back to the pan. Turn heat on high.

Add the Red Wine to pan and cook on jigh heat until the wine is reduced by half its original volume. About 4-5 minutes.

Add the Tomatoes, Carrots, and Celery to the pan.

Turn heat to high and cook until the contents strarts to bubble and boil.

Turn the heat to a low simmer, and let everything cook until the chicken is tender.

About 25 minutes.

Turn the jheat off and let the Chicken rest.

Serve 3 pieces of Chicken with the vegetables and sauce to each person. 

You can serve this with boiled or raost potatoes, or over any pasta or egg noodles that you choose.

Enjoy !!!

FAVORITE ITALIAN DISHES

And SECRET RECIPES

SOUPS PASTA LASAGNA

CHICKEN CACCIATORE

And MUCH More ...

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Sunday Sauce Still The Best

 

The following 3 paragraphs are excerpted from a piece by EATER, titled The RED SAUCE JOINT in a Jar ... October7, 2022

The RED-SUACE JOINT, in a Jar

Rao’s, the century-old 10-table Italian restaurant in New York City, is one of those places where most people, myself included, need not bother trying to get a reservation. (It is, by many reports, a challenge.) Despite that, Rao’s has succeeded in becoming a known name in far more homes than its capacity would allow, thanks to the pasta sauces it started selling in 1992. As of August, Rao’s Homemade, a line that sells sauce, frozen meals, and pizzas, is reportedly on track to become a billion-dollar brand.

Given Rao’s success, the only surprising thing about Carbone, the perpetually buzzing NYC Italian American restaurant, creating its own line of pasta sauces was the fact that it took so long to do so. Carbone, the crown jewel of the Major Food Group restaurant empire, opened in 2013 and became “an impossible reservation almost instantly,” Helen Rosner wrote in the New Yorker. In the years since, Carbone has grown into “the most celebrity-studded restaurant on Earth,” according to Vanity Fair; an NYC export; a singular example of the whimsies of the elite; and a social media phenomenon (the search term has over 1.4 billion views on TikTok). Rao’s and Carbone aren’t just any restaurants; they’re restaurants that make lists for Celebrity Sightings and where the powerful share meals.

“The sauce category is a crowded one, but what it is lacking is a premium product that can stand up to what’s served in restaurants,” CEO of Carbone Fine Foods Eric Skae claimed — perhaps boldly, in the purview of Rao’s fans — in a press release at the line’s launch in March 2021. Now, that premium sauce category expands further: This month, Rubirosa — another of NYC’s hot-table Red-Sauce Joints,

... excerpted from EATER, October 7, 2022

___________________________________________________________________________

You read the previous 3 chapters? OK, all this being said, jarred Italian Pasta Sauce might be OK for those who can't cook, and those who aren't of Italian-American ancestry, but no "Self Respecting Italian" would ever dream of buying Sauce in a jar. "No way, no how." We grew up with our nonna's and mothers making the tastiest Italian Sunday Sauce Gravy just about each and every Sunday of our lives. It's a right of passage and weekly ritual of practically anyone who counts themselves as Italian-American of this great country of America. 

Each Sunday our family would gather at one of my aunts and uncles houses in Lodi, New Jersey, and my aunts Fran and Helen would make our beloved Sunday dish of Sunday Sauce, aka as Gravy. The sauce was laden with Meatballs, Sausages, and Braciole that slowly simmered with tomatoes, garlic, and basil. First we'd have a little mixed Antipasto of Salami, Provolone, Roast Peppers, and Olives, preceding the main event, the Sunday Sauce Gravy with Maccheroni. We'd dig in and get our fair share, then relax a half hour or so, before we started on coffee and dessert, which conisted of Cannoli, Sfogliatell, assorted Italian Cookies and Cakes, and Espresso with Anisette for the adults.

They were warm and wonderful times at the Bellino's as we all gather with my mother (Lucia), her brother Jimmy, Tony, and Frank, aunts Wanda, Helen, and Fran, and my cousins Anthony, Phylis, Connie and JoAnne, and my brother Jimmy, Barbara, and myself. My aunt and uncles friends like, Charlie Palumbo, Jimmy Scarlotta, Alice Foggi, and other would stop by for coffee and dolce as well. These were and still are the most beautiful times of my life, those memories of Sunday meals with our Italain family. And of course we weren't the only one. These Sunday rituals of Sunday Gravy, maccheroni, Cannoli, friends, and family were practiced by a couple million Italian families all over America. We grew up with the most tasty Italian foods. We were the envy of our Irish and Polish friends, and we would never dream of buying and eating sauce from a jare. We always make it homemade (recipe ), "never ever store bought from a jar. Never" !!!

DBZ

AMERICA'S LEADING BOOK

On SUNDAY SAUCE ITALIAN GRAVY

SUNDAY SAUCE

WHEN ITALIAN-AMERICANS COOK

STORIES - RITUALS & RECIPES

by DANIEL BELLINO ZWICKE

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Italian Christmas FEAST 7 FISH

 

ITALIAN CHRISTMAS

:FEAST of The 7 FISH"

TEE SHIRT

The FEAST of The 7 FISH

ITALIAN CHRISTMAS

TEE SHIRT

The FEAST of The SEVEN FISHES COOKBOOK

The FEAST of The 7 FISH

ITALIAN CHRISTMAS

COOKBOOK 

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The FEAST of The 7 FISH

by Daniel Bellino "Z"

La Vigila "THE FEAST of The 7 FISH" is The Southern Italian Ritual Christmas Eve Meal of 7 Fish, Representing The 7 Sacraments of Holy The Roman Catholic Church 

This Meal is a Sacred Ritual of The South of Italy and Italian-Americans in New York, New Jersey, Boston, Providence, San Francisco, New Orleans, Philly and Pittsburgh. And You'd be surprised to know that it is Mostly of The South of Italy and of Italian-America and that many Italians from Central Italy to The North have do not partake of This Great Traditional Feast as it is mainly of The South. Have You ever wanted to Make or Eat one, but Don't Know Where to Start? 

The Know-How is mostly Passed Down in Families from one Generation to the Next and Not Much Has Been Written on This Great Subject. Not Until Now anyway with the Publication of This Book by Daniel Bellino Zwicke. You'll Find Everything You Need to Know to Partake, Make, and Eat this Most Important Meal of The Italian Calender Year The FEAST of THE 7 FISH, known in Italy as Festa di Sette Pesci.. 

The Book contains Stories, Recipes, and Instructions on How to Make This Great Feast, Your Very Own "FEAST of SEVEN FISHES" so Cook, Make, and Partake, and Mangia Bene. The FEAST of The 7 FISH by Daniel Bellino is a Amazon Best Seller and Top Book of this eclusive Genre of The Feast of The Seven Fishes. 

Buon Appetito e Mangia Bene !

On AMAZON.com

Remembering Bar Cichetti NYC

 

Chef Daniel Bellino Zwicke

with Cameron Diaz

At BAR CICHETTI

GREENWICH VILLAGE, NEW YORK

CLICK HER to SEE MORE ...

Daniel Bellino Zwicke was the Crator of BAR CICHETTI along with partner Tom Taraci.

Daniel is the Best Selling Author of several Italian Cookbooks and Travel Guides

CLICK HERE FOr BOOKS by DANIEL

Me My Chinese Duck and NOODLETOWN

 

NOODLETOWN

NEW YORK

I started goign to Noodletown on The Bowery, way back in 1983, a good 14 years before Mario Batali ever dreamnt of the place, I was there eating Roast Duck over white rice, and my favorite thaing on the menu, the amazing Shrimp Wonton Soup. I was sort of an expert on eating in New York Chinatown, knowing all the best place, and what to eat. My favorites were The Double Hey Rice Shop on Mott Street, Sun Say Gai Rice Shop on the corner of Baxter and Canal, and a few other places in the neighborhood.

My ex-girlfirend Genie's Uncle Suwat taught me what I knew. He was the real expert. He was born in Bangkok Thailand, and je knew the Royal Family of Thailand. He moved to New York and opened an antique shop on West 10th Street in Greenwich Village. Suwat knew all the good places to go, and he gave me an education. I used to work at John's Italian Restaurant on East 12th Street in the East Village. Suwat and Genie would meet me after work, and we'd go down to Chinatown for some good eats, 

At Double Hey, we'd eat Fried Butter Fish, Roast Duck, BBQed Pig, Soy Sauce Chciken and all sorts of tasty Chinese Food. And so I was hooked. I really fell in Love with Chinese Roast Duck, and ate it 6 to 8 times a month. Back in the 80s when I lived in the East Village, I'd eat in Chinatown at least 2 times a week. The food was amazing, and so cheap, it was absolutley amazing. For years, Roast Duck over Rice, cost just $4.50 a plate. Even to this day, it's just $6.50 a plate. Barbecued Pig, Roast Pork, Soy Sauce Chicken, or Roast Duck, all cot the same amount, $4.50, or you could pick two of those items on a plate with rice for the same amount. You could get half Duck and jalf Pork with rice for just $4.50, and if you wanted 3 items, you told the waiter which three you wanted and it was jist 1 dollar more.

I also loved  Roast Duck & Wonton Soup, which was a big bowl filled with chicken broth, Roast Duck, and Pork Wontons, all for juts $4.50 (now about $6.50). I loved it. Noodtown which I discovered on my own, was what is known as a Rice Shop, and they had all these dishes too, but I discovered their amazing Shrimo Wonton Soup in 1983 and I was hooked. It was amazing. I loved it, and still do. When I went to Noodletown, aka Great NY Noodletown, I always got the Shrimp Wonton Soup, and maybe Roast Duckm or antother item. But whenever in Noodletown, I always had a bowl of that tasty soup, that no other place could make quite as good as Noodletown.

SHRIMP WONTON SOUP

NOODLETOWN

People always talk about Mario Batali and how he discovered Noodltown and told all the other chefs about it, like he was the first chef  (or cook) to discover the place and turn all the other people in the indsutry (restaurant business) about it. "Not" ! I was eating in Noodletown a full 14 years before Noodletown was ever a thought in Mr. Batali's mind. And I was a Chef too. Being in the restaurant business since I was a teenager, first as a busboy, then waiter, going to Culinary School, cooking, then I became a Sous Chef and finally Chef at Corado Restaurant and Bar Cichetti, before wising up, getting out of the kitchen and becomming a Sommelier, and one of the Top Italian Wine Guys in New York, along with Charlie Shiccilone, and Renzo Raspiacoli.

Yes I dsicovered and was eating Noodles, Pork, and Duck 14 years before Noodletown was a glimmer in the great Mario Batali's eye. 

I ate all over Chinatown, Chinese Food, Vietnamese, Malaysian, and Camodian, starting in 1982. Well I ate there when I was a kid, long before the 80s, but it was in the 80s when I really started getting seriously into it, and it became a wonderful obsession.

My ex-girlfriend Dante used to eat at Nahn Thrang Vietnamese Restaurant every Sunday, and I ate too many bowls of Pho to count, long before the Pho crave that started a good 15 years after my first bowl. And the Pho back then, yep just $4.50 for a huge bowl. "Ah the Good ol Days"? Now the younger generation are opening restuarants, and charging a lot more for the food. Not happy about that, but there's still a few more reasonable places around, though little by little they disappear. Again, the good ol days. Wish we could bring them back. Anyway, I'm oh so glad that Noodlewon is back, and good as ever. Amen.

 Daniel Bellino Zwicke

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ROAST DUCKS & SOY SAUCE CHICKEN

A RICE SHOP

NYC

A Whole ROAST PIG

AND RACKS of RIBS

A RICE SHOP in CHINATOWN

NEW YORK

Rocky Marciano Pasta

 

ROCKY'S MOM COOKS HIM PASTA

SPAGHETTI alla MARCIANO

CLICK HERE to READ

Recipe

Queen Elizabeth Has Died RIP

Queen Elizabeth II

April 21st 1926  -  September 8th 2022

RIP

 

QUEEN ELIZABETH II

Queen Elizabeth has Died

RIP

QW II has Passed Away

September 8th 2022

"GOD SAVE The QUEEN"

Queen Elizabeth II April 21, 1926  -  September 8, 2022

Queen Elizabeth II, the longest-reigning monarch in British history, has died at the age of 96.

Prince Charles, 73, heir to the throne since the age of three, is now king, and the Duchess of Cornwall is now Queen Consort.

In a statement, Buckingham Palace said: “The Queen died peacefully at Balmoral this afternoon. The King and the Queen Consort will remain at Balmoral this evening and will return to London tomorrow.”

Flags on landmark buildings in Britainwere being lowered to as a period of official mourning was announced.

As Queen of the UK and 14 other realms, and head of the 54-nation Commonwealth, Elizabeth II was easily the world’s most recognisable head of state during an extraordinarily long reign.

Queen Elizabeth II

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QUEEN ELIZABETH

1926 - 2022

Tote Bag

How to Make SICILIAN EGGPLANT CAPONATA - Recipe

 

CAPNONATA

Caponata is a Sicilian dish consisting of chopped fried aubergine and other vegetables, seasoned with olive oil, tomato sauce, celery, olives, and capers, in an agrodolce sauce. Numerous local variants exist concerning the ingredients, by adding carrots, bell peppers, potatoes, pine nuts, and raisins.

RECIPE:

Ingredients :

2 large Eggplants, washed and cut into ¾” cubes

½ cup olive oil

2 medium Onions, cut into ¼” dice

1 small Red Pepper and 1 Yellow Pepper

Cut into ½” dice

2 Celery stalks, ¼” dice

¼ raisons, soaked in hot water for 15 minutes

1 ½ cups Tomato Sauce

6 tablespoons sugar

6 tablespoons Balsamic Vinegar

2 teaspoons Salt

3 teaspoons black pepper

3 tablespoons of Capers

Preparation :

Sauté the peppers in a large pot with ½ of the olive oil for 10 minutes.

Add the onions and sauté over low heat for 15 minutes.

Add the celery and tomato sauce and continue simmering. 

While the other ingredients are simmering, brown the Eggplant 

in several batches in a large frying pan with remaining olive oil. 

Add the browned Eggplant, sugar, and vinegar to the pot and simmer for

12 minutes over very low heat. 

Cool and serve on its own, as a topping for Crostini, as part of an Antipasto

Misto.

RECIPES From MY SICILIAN NONNA

DANIEL BELLINO ZWICKE

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Fire at PJ Clarkes New York NYC

 

PJ CLARKE'S

NEW YORK

by Bellino

FINE ART PRINT From FINE ART AMERICA

NEW YORK - August 28, 2022  "Fire at PJ Clarke's "

Yes there was a fire at PJ Clarke's, the famed Old New York Bar and eatery on 3rd Avenue at East 55th Street.

The good news is that nonone was hurt, and there was very little damage. If PJ Clarke's had burned down, this would have been very devestating news for those of us who truly love this wonderfule Old New York Institution, and would be crushed if it was gone, and we'd be unable to go there any longer.

Though PL Clarke's has lost much of its charm in the past few years, when many more people than is usual have discover the place, and it has become overly crowded, in comparison to years past, when yoy would go in the back room, and it was not overly packed with way too many people. It was much more enjoyable.  Anyway, Thank God it is still there, we can see it, and go there, hopefully when it is not overly crowded, in which case the great vibe of the place is ruined, ever since the actor Timothy Hutton became a partner. My advice, is not to go for dinner when it gets way too crowded for comfort. Go for lunch, and sit in the back room, order a Burger and your beverage of choice, and relax.

Note :  Yes PJ Clarke's was the late great Frank Sinatra's favorite bar. Whenever in New York Frank would stop in. The great songwriter Johnny Mercer was a frequent patron of the establishment, and even wrote a song of which PJ Clarke's is the inspiration and setting of the song. The son is One For My Baby, and is one of Frank Sinatra's all-time greates saloon songs, as Frank woulds say, "Est em up Joe."

Jackie Kennedy was a fan of PJ Clarke's and often brought her two children Joh F. Kennedy Jr., and Caroline Kennedy there for the famosu PJ Clarke Burgers. Yes, many celebrites have eaten at PJ Clarke's pver the years, including the great singer Nat King Cole who called the burger at PJ Clarke's, "The Caddillac of Burgers."

Basta! 

Daniel Bellino Zwicke

OLD NEW YORK

PJ CLARKE'S

by Bellino

Canvas FINE ART

From FINE ART AMERICA

SUNDAY SAUCE

FRANK SINATRA'S FAVORITE COOKBOOK

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