Feast 7 Fish Italian Christmas Seven Fishes Cookbook Recipes

The BEST ITALIAN COOKBOOK

For The ITALIAN CHRISTMAS

FEAST of The SEVEN FISHES

For CHRISTMAS 2022

THE FEAST of THE 7 FISH

by Daniel Bellino-Zwicke

La VIGILIA   

The Feast of The 7 Fish     My Aunt Helen used to make the famous Italian Christmas Eve Dinner, “The Feast of 7 Fishes,” The 7 Fish of the Seven Sacraments. I know she made it because I used to hear her talking about it when I was a little kid. Although I shared many wonderful meals with my dear Aunt Helen, I never had the pleasure of having the famous Christmas Eve Dinner “La Vigilia” Feast of Seven Fish with her. We always had Christmas Eve dinner with the immediate family and Aunt Helen had the Christmas Eve with her brother and sister and other family members. Aunt Helen was born in Salerno, Italy and was my Uncle Franks (1 of my Mother’s 3 brothers) better half. So for our Christmas Dinner my mother would make an Antipasto of Salami, Provolone, Peppers, and Olives, followed by Baked Ziti and a Baked Ham studded with cloves and Pineapple rings. The first time I ever had the mystical dinner was about 12 years ago with my cousin Joe, his family and my girlfriend Duyen. 

We had been talking about this famous Italian Feast a few weeks previous, and were thinking of making it. Joe told me he wanted to have the Christmas Eve Meal of The Feast of The 7 Fishes, known in Italy as La Viglia (The Vigil) or “La Festa Dei Sette Pesci,” which is also known in Italian-America as The Feast of The 7 Fish, that signify the 7 Sacraments. Now, how’s all that for a mouthful?  

This Dinner, La Viglia originated in Southern Italy, especially in and around the environs of Napoli. The Feast of The 7 Fish is a Southern Italian tradition that does not exist in the rest of Italy, it is of the South. La Viglia, or “The Feast of the Seven Fishes” as it is known to Italian-Americans commemorates the waiting (Vigil) of the Baby Jesus to be Born at Midnight and the Seven Fish represent the Seven Sacraments of the Roman Catholic Church. Some also believe that the Seven Fish might signify the 7 Days of Creation, or The Seven Deadly Sins, but most believe the 7 Fish pertain to the Seven Sacraments.  So Joe asked me if I wanted to make this festive and all important dinner, to perform the ceremony. He didn’t need to ask twice. I had never made it before and was dying to do so. For a long time I had yearned to partake in this celebrated old Southern Italian Ritual, and this was my chance. Naturally I was excited, so was Joe. 

The anticipation of the Great Feast to come was of happy expectations and excitement.  And what for the menu? I know Aunt Helen made Bacala, Shrimp Oreganata, Mussels, Baked Clams, Calamari, Octopus, and eel, all much Loved Southern Italian (especially Napoli and Sicily) Creatures of the Sea. We decided which fish we wanted and how to cook each one. Much thought and planning went into the menu and its execution. Joe wanted; Langoustines, Lobster, and Bacala. Alexandra asked if I would make Stuffed Calamari. We also decided on Shrimp Cocktail, Baked Clams Oreganata, and Cozze al Posillipo. The menu was set. Duyen helped me with the Calamari which we stuffed with Shrimp, parsley, breadcrumbs, and Peas. We braised the Calamari with tomato, White Wine, and herbs, and if I must say so myself, the Calamari came out superbly. The Stuffed Calamari were a lot of work to make, but well worth the effort as they were a huge hit with all. The Macari boys, Joey, Edward, and Tommy, as well as sister Gabriella, Alex, Joe, Duyen, Jose and Sergio from Barcelona were all in attendance.  The Mussels Posillipo were cooked with garlic, white wine, parsley, and tomato. The sauce is great to dip your bread into. This dish was one of my mother’s favorites back in the days when few Americans other than those of Italian origins ever ate these wonderful little bivalves. Now-a-days every-body does. As a young boy I remember my mother sending me to Bella Pizza in East Rutherford to get an order of them for her. She always gave me a few and I have Loved them ever since.  Joe helped me to cook the Langoustines. They are hard to find and I had to order a ten-pound box from Silvano in order to get them. 

The best way to cook langoustines is to split them in half and sauté them on each side in olive oil with a little butter and garlic. We served the Langoustines the same way as Silvano does as we feel his recipe is the best and everybody loves them that way. The Langoustines are served with a salad of thinly shaved fennel and celery dressed in olive oil and lemon with some split cherry tomatoes. Absolutely delicious!!!  The Lobsters we prepared the best way possible, the New England way, steamed and served simply with drawn butter and lemon wedges. There’s nothing better on Earth, well except for Sunday Sauce of course.   

Well, that Christmas Eve Dinner The Feast of Seven Fishes was quite a wonderful experience. It was a huge success but quite a bit too much work and actually, too much food, everyone was kind of full already by the fifth fish. The following year we decided on incorporating the Seven Fish into three courses instead of seven separate ones as it’s just too much, too much to eat and too much to cook, a lot of work, and who needs to work that hard on Christmas. It was a good decision. We still had 7 different fish, which is a must. Serving these 7 Fish in three courses was a good idea as it is much more manageable that way, both to cook and to eat.     

On this Feast of The 7 Fish in “3 Courses” we decided to make the Stuffed Calamari, which I would not have chosen again because it was a lot of work, but it was Alex and Joe’s favorite and they said that it was a must. This was our Antipasto Course. Alexandra and her mom helped me, so the amount of work was cut down and divided into three, “A good thing.” The stuffed calamari took care of two of the seven the shrimp that were stuffed into the squid.   The second course (Primi) of Linguine Frutti de Mare consumed four of the Seven Fish required for the meal. It consisted of Mussels, Clams, Lobster, and Scallops cooked with garlic, oil, herbs, and just a touch of tomato.     The seventh and final fish was fresh Cod that I roasted and served with a sweet and sour onion sauce (Bacala Fresca Agro Dolce). Everybody went bananas for it especially cousin Joe who raved at each and every dish I put down. It’s a pleasure cooking for Joe as his passion for eating and for the Italian American way of life, the food, the wine, the rituals. 

Joe truly Loves and savors the experience, so I always love to cook for him, Alexandra, their children, or just about anyone for who savors the experience so well. This goes the same for my cousin Anthony Bellino his wife Debbie and their three girls Chrissy, Danna, and Allison, along with all my close friends and family.     It makes cooking a joy rather than a chore. When cooking for family or friends, you give two of life’s great gifts, a tasty Home-Cooked meal combined with a little bit of Love. Scratch that. “A whole lotta Love!”     

If you don’t want to go so crazy, with 7 Fish as it’s quite an undertaking, you should try to do an odd numbers; 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, or 11. Three (3) is a Nice Number and Represents the Holy Trinity of The Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Buon Natale! . 

Excerpted from The FEAST of The 7 FISH "ITALIAN CHRISTMAS by Daniel Bellino "Z"

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  The FEAST of THE 7 FISH 

Available in Paperback

and Kindle 

  AMAZON.com 

As Italians we all took part in the great fish meals we would have growing up 

and even in our adult years. Just the cover of this book brought back so many memories to our family . My girls had ideas that they knew exactly who to send 

this book to. There was great joy over this gift to my son-in-law. He does such a great job on Christmas Eve with all his great gourmet fish meals. God Bless him 

for his labor of love!!!!!

The Feast of The 7 Fish? It's the Great Italian Christmas Eve Feast that's the 

most important and elaborate Italian meal of the year. The Feast is Mythical 

and Magical .. Maybe you've heard of it, maybe not. Like me, you nay have 

heard and been enamored of it and always wanted to make it yourself but 

didn't know how to go about it. Well, now you need not let that stop you 

any longer. 

Daniel Bellino Zwicke has written a wonderful book on the subject 

"The Feast of The 7 Fish" Italian Christmas Eve Feast. The book has everything you'll need to finally partake in this awesome Italian Ritual, including fabulous recipes and great advice. I bought this book a few weeks before Christmas last 

year. I studied it, bought the fish, and made it with a little help from one of my cousins. The meal was a huge hit, everyone Loved it. I couldn't have done it 

without this book, so I'll impart what I knew through experience. If you want 

to make this great Italian Christmas Fish Feast, get this book, it awesome, 

and it'll guide you threw the meal, and not only for Christmas, but you can 

use these wonderful fish recipes the whole year through. Get it!

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POSITANO

The AMALFI COAST

TRAVEL GUIDE - COOKBOOK

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How to Get Table at RAOS New York NYC

RAO'S

116ths Street & Pleasant Avenue

East Harlem, New York

Last night was cold and rainy, with hail, in New York City. It seemed like a good night to attempt something I've wanted to do since I was little: eat at Rao's.

I grew up eating the restaurant's famous bottled tomato sauce on pasta my mom made at home and when I moved to New York five years ago and started covering food and restaurants at New York magazine, I heard about how impossible it is to get a table at the 119-year-old, family-owned East Harlem institution. "You would have better luck getting invited to dinner at the White House than getting a proper reservation at this wiseguy Italian joint," New York reported. 

My girlfriend Emma and I got dressed up and took a cab up to 114th Street and Pleasant Avenue. The taxi driver asked if we were going to the restaurant—he'd apparently transported similarly dressed patrons there before. 

Luckily the restaurant was open (it had been closed when I attempted this once before), since when I'd called earlier in the day the line was either busy or, when I did get through, played a recording stating, "Thank you for calling Rao's. At this time, the reservation book for 2015 is closed. Unfortunately, we will not be accepting any reservations left on the phone as a message or reservations in person coming to the restaurants. Thank you for your call. Have a great holiday season and a happy and healthy new year."

The prospect of actually having dinner there didn't seem good, but I thought it was still worth a shot and my wonderfully tolerant girlfriend was willing to go on an adventure with me. We figured that if we were turned away, Patsy's Pizzeria was a decent backup. (I should add that in a couple of days I'm leaving for three weeks in Tanzania where I'm climbing Mount Kilimanjaro, so this was a bit of a special farewell dinner.)

The first thing I noticed when we walked in was how bright the place is. It may be the brightest fine-dining establishment I've ever been to. The second thing I noticed was all the Christmas decorations (a story I'd read said they stay up year-round). Every chair at every table was full and the bar was crowded. An older bespectacled man sat on a stool in the corner, surveying the room, and motioned to suggest we sit at the two stools open next to him.

"Whose table are you at?" he asked. I said we weren't at a table and had stopped in for a drink. (The tables, as I knew, are all "owned" by regulars who come themselves, invite friends, or donate the table to charity auctions where just the reservation regularly sells for thousands).

After we settled in and ordered a negroni and a white wine, the gray-haired man asked how we'd heard about the place. "How haven't I heard about it?" I responded. I explained that I'd been eating the tomato sauce since I was a kid.

"The sauce has done well for us," he said. It was clear that this was a guy worth knowing. He introduced himself as Frank Pellegrino, one of the owners (I'd heard he's known as "Frankie No" since he has to decline so many requests for reservations). He said he's there every weeknight (Rao's is closed on Saturday and Sunday) except when he's on the West Coast visiting Rao's locations in Las Vegas and Hollywood, which his son manages. 

I asked about the reservation policy, and Frank said he started assigning tables to steady customers after a three-star review from the New York Times' Mimi Sheraton in 1977 made it nearly impossible to deal with demand. 

"No one gives them up," he says. "Every table has been booked every night for the past 38 years. There's weeklies, biweeklies, monthlies, and quarterlies, so in every three-month period, I see all my clients. And now I'm dealing with their children and grandchildren."

So how does someone get a table?

Frank looked around the room. "That first table there, they gave their table to this group at the bar. These guys are all executives from PepsiCo. If you have a table, you can give it to your friends, your business associates, or to a charity auction. I had Bobby Flay, Michael Romano, a whole bunch of big chefs last week and I didn' t know they're coming. I never know who's coming in. That's what makes it wonderful. It's serendipity. There's no grand design or plan. The only caveat is if you're not going to use your table and no one else is going to use that table, that's when you call me."

Getting in touch with Frank isn't especially easy, though. He doesn't have a cell phone and "doesn't touch computers." So when people want to contact him, "they call everybody else who's associated with me and then they come and say, 'Frankie, so-and-so called,' and I'll say, 'Okay, call them back, lemme talk to them.'"

We survey the room. "These are my four big tables and then I have six booths."

So there's only one two-top, right?

"One deuce," Emma—who's in graduate school and until recently worked part-time as a restaurant hostess—corrects me.

"One deuce," Pelligrino said. "And if you're willing to wait, I'll feed you at that deuce." 

Hallelujah! Fifteen minutes at the bar with Frank Pelligrino, and we'd cracked the impossible code of getting a table at Rao's.

We were in for a wait, but didn't care. We'd been promised a table.

"This is Vinny Sciortino," Frank says. "He's my tailor. Vinny makes all my clothes. He's great." (Frank's herringbone jacket is especially handsome.) Sciortino, who has tailor shops in Red Bank, NJ, and New York City, says he's making suits for Frank for 27 years.

"He's like a second father," Sciortino says. 

"I am that old! I could be your father!" says Frank, who will celebrate his 70th birthday this year.

Sciortino, who recently celebrated his 50th birthday at Rao's in Los Angeles, gets a table about once a month, but the days vary. Tonight he has a Monday. Next month he has a Thursday. Like the rest of the table owners, he gets his assignments at the beginning of the year. He's been coming here—"coming home," as he calls it—for 25 years.

"And this is Tony Tantillo. He's on CBS every day, cooking with his daughter," Frank says, introducing us to another friend who's come up to the bar. "Listen, Tantillo. I gotta tell you. You're too good-looking. You're too handsome."

"I'm not as debonair as you, Frank," says Tantillo, whose cooking segments appear on the 5 and 12 o'clock news. He and Frank spent time together in Italy, where Frank met some cousins for the first time. When Tantillo pointed out how beautiful Italy was, Frank said he'd rather be in East Harlem.

"I need your help," he tells Tantillo. "You remember my cousin? He sent me an invitation to his son's wedding and I need you to interpret the letter. I want to send him them something." Tantillo speaks fluent Italian. Frank doesn't.

"Anthony! This is Anthony Abbot," Frank says. "He's a member of Stanwich, a great golf club. He invites me to play golf with him." Abbot went on a golf trip with 11 other guys 20 years ago. Frank was one of them, and when names were drawn out of a hat, he and Abbot were matched up.

"We laughed and cried for two days and at the end, he says to me, why don't you come by the restaurant?" Abbot tells me.

In the old days, Abbot says, Frank used to open the reservation book on a quarterly basis and when he came by to get his table assignment, Donald Trump was waiting in line outside the door with other regulars.

"This was in January, and Frank said, 'Can you come here May 6?' I didn't know anything. So he writes the date on a business card and hands it to me and says, 'Two things just happened: One, you got a reservation at Rao's which is no small deal. Two, you can always get a reservation at Rao's. I love you. [Abbot makes a kissing sound.] Both cheeks."

Frank turns back to us and starts crooning Stevie Wonder: "I just called to say, I love you. I just called to say how much I care. I just called to say I love you, and I mean it from the bottom of my heart" he sings melodiously to Emma, who's clearly smitten.

As it turns out, Frank sang in a group called the Holidaes in the 1960s. "I was an old doo-wop guy," he says. "I get Billy Joel, Sting, Jimmy Fallon in here. Jimmy Fallon loves to sing doo-wops! So whenever he's here, I start singing, and boom, he jumps up and starts singing. And before you know it the whole room is going nuts." 

After the musical interlude, Frank's back to making sure his guests are happy: "Give Tony a drink, give this guy a drink, give that guy a drink," he says to his bartender (who's also named Tony).

"Tony, who's this kid?" he asks, pointing to a preppy young guy in a blazer sitting on the stool next to Frank's. "He's a neighborhood guy," Tony tells him. It turns out Kevin has lived five blocks away from Rao's for all 23 years of his life. He likes to come in for a drink from time to time.

"Congressman! Does Hillary have a shot?" Frank asks U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell, who represents the 9th District of New Jersey and is with a group that was given a table by its regular owner. "Bill is a Democrat like I am," Frank tells me. He points out his picture with Hillary Clinton on the wall, alongside the other photos of celebrities who have dined here. I say I don't think I've ever met a congressman out in the world. "Come here! You'll meet them!" he says.

Last week U.S. Rep. Peter King, from New York, was in. He's a Republican, I point out.

"Good guy. I like him. He's okay. I could sit with Peter King and say what I like and what I don't like. I'm a political junkie," Frank says. There's a letter from President George H.W. Bush on the wall. Frank doesn't discriminate.

He checks in on another couple of tables: "How are you? Did you enjoy? Everything good?"

It's 10:20 p.m. We've been here since 7:45, but the hours have gone by in a flash and I have no desire to give up my bar stool and leave the center of all the action.

"Give my girlfriend a drink," Frank tells his bartender, referring to my actual girlfriend. "Give my friend a drink," he says, referring to me. Emma says she would come back here just so she could sit at the bar and hang out with Frank.

"And you would be protected," he tells her. "I am a gentleman and I only allow gentlemen. If anybody is stupid, I would be right there. I only allow ladies and gentlemen. I don't want anything else."

What about Frank's own companion?

"I am married 46 years," he says. "Same woman. She's great. I love my wife. 46 years. Does she come here? No. I don't want her here. When I come here, I work. What am I going to do? Sit with her at the bar? I have people I have to talk to, things I have to do."

"I say to my wife, 'I wish I had a Rao's to go to. I wish I had a Rao's to go hang out in, to go sit at the bar and meet wonderful people, and then sit down and have a wonderful meal," he says. I can see why.

"Just think about what happened while you were here," he tells me, putting his hand on my forearm for emphasis. "You met my tailor. You met Tony Tantillo. You met Tony Abbot." (I met a trio of Tonys, if you include Tony the bartender.) "You met all these people. You met the congressman. You're seeing Rao's." And because it's so bright, which Frank says is because "it adds to the energy of the room," I really am seeing everything. 

Someone brings over two copies of the Rao's cookbook for Frank to sign, which he points out is the second best-selling cookbook in the history of Random House. It seems like an appropriate moment to ask what we should have for dinner. 

"You cannot make a mistake," he says. "I'm in my kitchen every day. I work with my waitstaff every day. And it's gotta be good. It's gotta be right. My vegetables, my meat, my fish—everything is delivered every day fresh. And we look at it. If it's not what I want, it gets sent back. If it's not the best, do not send it to me. I don't want it. I won't use it. I want a standing ovation every night. We did a good job today. Tomorrow has to be better. Those are my rules and my staff knows that." 

SUNDAY SAUCE

With MEATBALLS BRACIOLE

And SAUSAGES

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