Celebrate Christmas Eve with a seafood meal

BY

When my kids were younger, we were frequent visitors to our local Canyon Lake library. Story Time each Friday was a must-do, as were the special events, summer reading program, and book sales. There have been many wonderful librarians that have headed up the library over the years, but the constant faces we saw each week while checking out books are the ones my kids remember: Miss Luisa, Miss Ginny and Pat.

It’s easy to take public libraries for granted, but please, let’s not. A quick look at history shows that libraries that are free and open to the general public have not always been around.

Lending libraries have long been available to the clergy and to university professors and students but not to the masses until about 250 years ago. Access to works of fiction, non-fiction, research materials and various media is a fairly young concept in the larger scheme of time.

My kids have benefitted from years of borrowing books, from picture books, early readers and chapter books in the early years, to classic novels, non-fiction research books, and current bestsellers as they grew up. You can guess that I have checked out my fair share of cookbooks and cooking magazines. It is great to have access to more recipes than I will ever have time to make, but a girl can still dream, can’t she?

Food inspiration didn’t just come from the books and magazines I borrowed there. Sometimes it came from the lovely library ladies themselves: a story here, a recipe clipping there, an old magazine they were getting rid of.

I had never heard of the La Vigilia di Natale (the vigil of Christmas) until one of the library ladies told me about the tradition. Her Italian family has a huge seafood meal each Christmas Eve.

In researching this tradition, I discovered that people who hail from certain regions of Italy celebrate Christmas Eve with a vigil that includes fasting from meat. Abstaining from meat, observant Catholics would eat fish instead.

The Christmas Eve meal, sometimes called the Feast of the Seven Fishes, includes anywhere from seven to thirteen types of seafood. Dishes range from baked cod to deep fried shrimp, octopus salad to marinated eel, and oyster shooters to scungilli (sea snail salad).

Other menu items of the feast include pasta, vegetables, dessert, and wine. I don’t think one has to be Italian to appreciate what a fun Christmas Eve meal this would make!

This week’s recipe is adapted from a recipe on Food Network by superstar chef Rachael Ray, who happens to be Italian. I made a few adjustments to have a better noodle-to-sauce ratio to suit my family’s taste. You can see the original recipe on the Food Network website. Clocking in at under 30 minutes, this dish is perfect if you celebrate the Feast of Seven Fishes, or just want an easy weeknight dinner with real Italian flavor.

Photo by Betty Williams

Linguine with Clam Sauce

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 1 lb. linguini
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 6 fillets flat anchovies, chopped
• 8 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
• 1/2 to 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 cup dry white wine
• 2 (15-ounce) cans whole baby clams, with their juice
• Handful flat-leaf parsley, chopped

Directions

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add linguine and salt and bring water back to boiling. Lower heat and cook pasta for 7 to 8 minutes, until al dente. The linguini will continue to cook later in the clam sauce. Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add the oil, anchovies, garlic, thyme, and red pepper flakes, cooking until the anchovies break up and incorporate into the oil. Add the wine and clams with their juice. Drain pasta. Place drained pasta in the clam sauce, tossing together. Cook until pasta absorbs some of the liquid, about 2 or 3 minutes. Season with parsley and fresh black pepper before serving.