ns_russian_xmas

Untraditional HOL I DAY T R A DI T IONS
From Russia, with love
T
he year I lived in Moscow I missed
Christmas altogether, even though I
was there on December 25. Russians
who follow the Russian Orthodox faith celebrate according to the old Julian calendar
on January 6–7 (and by then, I was on my
way to Budapest). As it turns out, missing
Christmas is something I shared with most
Russians.
When the Communists seized power
in 1917, their hard-line atheist stance banished religious celebrations. Soviet citizens,
ever resourceful, adopted Christmas traditions like Grandfather Frost (Santa Claus),
Christmas trees and gift giving for the New
Year’s celebration, but Christmas disappeared for more than 70 years. Now that
Russians may again freely observe the holiday, many have to start from scratch. Some
celebrate the traditional way by observing the Nativity Fast, which bans meat,
eggs, fish, dairy, oil and alcohol for 40
days before Christmas. On Christmas Eve,
Russians fast until the first star appears in
the night sky. They go to mass, then gather
around tables laid with 12 meatless dishes
to commemorate the 12 Apostles. Symbolic
dishes like kutya, a wheat porridge studded
with poppy seeds and honey, are served to
bring hope, happiness and peace. Those
without links to generations past (or who
live abroad) may improvise the feast. In
America, each church parish decides individually if they’ll celebrate along with the
Western world on December 24–25, or
observe the time-honored dates of January
6–7. The holiday table is laid with traditional Russian dishes like roast goose, sausage and cheese, borscht, a type of ravioli
called vareniki, homemade black currant
wine and, of course, vodka.
Vareniki, known as pierogi in Polish, can
be sweet or savory. Fruit and cheese-stuffed
vareniki are served at dessert, while meat,
cabbage, mushrooms, potatoes, and/or
cheese fill them at dinner. Once the
vareniki are made, they can be frozen or prepared immediately; serve
them up with caramelized onions
and sour cream. At holiday time,
they offer families an opportunity to
get everyone involved in the preparations, including children. For those of
us with more curiosity than time on our
hands, a quick post-holiday variation takes
advantage of leftover mashed potatoes and
store-bought wonton wrappers.
—Catherine Nash
x
Vareniki
(RECIPE ADAPTED FROM
KATIA’S RUSSIAN TEA ROOM)
2½ cups flour
1 egg
3 tablespoons sour cream, plus more
for garnish
1½ teaspoons salt, divided
1 pound baking potatoes, peeled and
cut in eighths
2 tablespoons butter, divided
1 onion, half chopped, half thinly
sliced
fresh ground pepper to taste
½ cup grated cheddar cheese
(optional)
In a
large bowl,
mix flour, egg, sour
cream and 1 teaspoon salt
dough,
with ½ cup warm water until
moisten
a sticky dough forms. Add more water
with a few drops
if needed. Knead a few times in the bowl, of cold water, and form a ball. Reroll and
then cover with a towel and let rest for 30 continue to cut rounds until dough is gone.
minutes. Meanwhile, in a large pot, cover Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.
potatoes with water and bring to a boil. Boil vareniki until they float, 5–7 minutes.
Boil until tender, about 7 minutes. Drain Drain. Meanwhile, melt remaining tableand mash. Melt 1 tablespoon of butter over spoon butter over medium heat. Add sliced
medium heat and fry the chopped onions onions and cook, stirring occasionally, till
until soft, about 5 minutes. Mix mashed caramelized, 15–20 minutes. Toss vareniki
potatoes, chopped onions, remaining ½ with onions and serve with sour cream.
teaspoon salt and pepper (and cheese, if Time-saver variation: For filling, add fried
desired). On a well-floured surface, roll the onions to 2 cups leftover mashed potatoes
dough out to 1⁄16 inch thick. (Work with and season to taste with salt and pepper.
half the dough if you have limited counter Wrap in store-bought wonton wrappers
space.) With a 3-inch cookie cutter or glass, (round or square), seal tightly, then prepare
cut rounds in the dough. Fill each round with as directed.
2 teaspoons of filling, then fold over to form
SERVES 4 TO 6
half-moons. With well-floured fingertips,
seal edges tightly shut. Gather the scraps of
An Italian Christmas Eve – The Feast of the Seven Fishes
W
hen I asked Carlo Middione, awardwinning cookbook author and chef/
owner of Vivande Porta Via on
Fillmore Street, to work with me on recipes
for this article he chuckled, “Do you have a
month?”
Indeed, the Italian Christmas Eve known
as the Feast of the Seven Fishes can be laborious – many families serve more than seven
fishes. In fact, many will serve over 20 dishes
prepared various ways.
While I’ve never participated in the ritual
myself, I heard tale of it from my Sicilian
grandfather, who explained that the seven
fishes stood for the seven sins of the world—
pride, envy, anger, gluttony, sloth, lust and
greed. Mostly a southern tradition, this is not
the only explanation you will hear, in fact,
everything from the seven days it took Mary
and Joseph to travel to Bethlehem to the
seven sacraments of the Catholic Church are
rumored to be catalysts for the occasion.
Carlo savors childhood memories
of his mother’s Christmas Eve dishes: fried smelt tossed with thin
slices of lemon, warm crab
with olive oil, parsley and
garlic, and sfincioni – sautéed anchovies and
onions stuffed in
focaccia dough,
sprinkled with
oregano, tomato
concentrate, salt and
pepper, and olive oil
and baked in
the oven.
One of
his favorite dishes
is a simple
seafood salad,
usually made with
shellfish.
“My mother liked to use calamari, shrimp and
octopus,” Carlo remembers. “That was three
of the seven fishes right there!”
For a side dish, Mother Middione often
served fried celery. “I know it sounds strange,”
Carlo says, “but it’s really good.”
4 Northside | December 2005
Carlo was kind enough to share his reci- 3-inch pieces (or longer if you like) and set
pes for simple seafood salad and fried celery aside.
(hey, don’t knock it ’til you’ve tried it). Buon
In a medium-size pot boil about 2 quarts
of water and add salt to taste. Toss in the celappetito!
—Susan Dyer Reynolds ery pieces and cook about 7 minutes, or just
until they begin to lose their crunch. Drain
x
well and lay out on towels to cool and dry
Here are two delicious recipes. They are not
completely.
difficult, and I hope readers will try them.
Put enough olive oil to reach about ½ inch
There is a prejudice about frying things,
up the sides of a low-sided frying pan and
but with deep-fried turkey being all the rage,
heat the oil to about 360 degrees—hot but
you would think some little ol’ pieces of
not smoking. Spread the flour in a shallow
celery would stand a chance. This is a dish
dish. Lightly beat the eggs in another shallow
highly regarded in Campania and is often
dish. Toss the cooled celery in the flour, then
served at holiday times to be eaten with bread
toss it in the beaten egg. Remove the pieces
and wine. It is a very good accompaniment
a few at a time and place them in the hot oil
to roast fowl, lamb or pork. It is also very
until they are deep gold on one side. The egg
good with roasted or grilled fish such as cod
makes a soft, irregular coating. You can dust
or halibut.
the fried celery pieces with coarse ground
black pepper if you like.
An excellent variation of this recipe: After
Sedano tossing the floured celery in the beaten eggs,
Fritto
toss them again in plain bread crumbs. Then
proceed as directed. I like the crunchy texture
– Fried
that
results.
Celery
In either case, serve the sedano fritto hot
1 head of celif you can, but Italians often eat it as room
ery about 1½
temperature—never icy cold.
pounds, scrubbed
SERVES 6
clean
x
all-purpose flour
Insalata di Calamari is a must-have dish for
for dredging
Christmas Eve, but is good any time of the
2 or 3 large eggs
year and for almost any meal. It is delicious as
extra virgin olive
a first course or light lunch and is also good
oil for frying, Q.B.* stuffed into tomatoes cups, on large yellow
sea salt to taste
butter lettuce leaves, or on fresh bruschetta
coarse ground black
heavily brushed with garlic and slathered
pepper (optional)
with extra virgin olive oil. A dry white wine
bread crumbs (optional) is welcome with this dish, such as Alcamo
(NOTE: Q.B. MEANS “QUAN- Bianco or Vermentino di Sardegna.
TO BASTA,” OR THE AMOUNT
NEEDED. WITH THE USE OF Insalata di Calamari –
INTELLIGENCE, DILIGENCE AND Calamari Salad
EXPERIENCE, IT WILL WORK FOR
2 large green bell peppers
YOU EVERY TIME.)
2 large red bell peppers
Remove the fibrous strings from the celery
1 large carrot, peeled and trimmed
stalks using a vegetable peeler. This should
5 stalks celery
make a nice appearance. Cut the celery into
3 large cloves garlic, peeled and finely
chopped
½ teaspoon sea salt, Q.B.
plenty of fresh ground black pepper
1½ lbs. cleaned calamari (net weight)
⅓ cup extra virgin olive oil, deep green
and best quality
¼ cup fresh-squeezed lemon juice
⅓ cup coarsely chopped Italian parsley
Wash and trim the peppers; slice them into
very thin julienne strips. Wash and dry the
celery; cut it lengthwise into very thin julienne strips, 2 or 3 inches long. Combine the
peppers, celery and garlic in a large bowl and
set aside in the refrigerator.
Bring 2 quarts of lightly salted water to
a simmer (about 170 degrees). Slowly add
the cleaned calamari tubes (bodies) to the
water and stir gently. Let simmer about 2
minutes—not more, or they will toughen
badly. Remove from the simmering water
and plunge them into a bowl of ice water to
stop the cooking. When they are cool, drain
them well. Put in the tentacles and cook
about 2 minutes. Remove them to the cold
water and then cool and drain them well.
Cooking the calamari parts separately keeps
them white; otherwise, if mixed, they turn a
kind of lavender—nice if you like that.
Cut the cooked calamari tubes into julienne strips lengthwise to approximate the
peppers and celery. If the tentacles are small,
leave them as they are. If they are quite large,
cut them in half or thirds lengthwise. Toss
the calamari with the remaining ingredients,
mixing well. Let rest for about an hour before
serving for best flavor.
You can make the salad up to one day
ahead. Store well covered in the refrigerator.
Do not serve icy cold—just chilled is best.
Taste for balance, and add more salt, pepper,
garlic or lemon juice as you like. Serve with
crusty Italian (not sourdough) bread.
MAKES 4 TO 6 SERVINGS
—Carlo Middione