This week we offer you the complete Christmas menu from fish appetizer to dessert. You will prepare delicious dishes at home to offer to friends and relatives!
The warmth and the crackle of the fireplace, the noise of dishes and familiar voices, the intermittent colored lights of the tree, the smell of moss and cork used for the nativity scene, but above all that feeling of magic that feels that day so special and characteristic that everyone likes .. finally comes Christmas!
I Christmas markets here are not only those who sell decorated balls for the tree or subjects for the nativity scene, but also those who rage in the streets of this splendid city with noisy and characteristic vendors of food of all kinds, families that go shopping and street artists so numerous to make Naples itself its most beautiful living nativity scene!
And how to pay homage to this beautiful city if not dealing with a whole Christmas menu? The heading Cooking Neapolitan presents you the most classic dishes that can be:
Christmas menu
- Fried fish mix
- Sauteed mussels
- Russian but Neapolitan salad
- Reinforced salad
- Raffaiuoli
Ingredients for the Fried Fish Mix
- 1 kg of totani
- 500 gr shrimp
- 400 gr flour 0
- Salt and Pepper To Taste
- parsley Qb
- 1 lemon
- 250 ml seed oil
Preparation of fish
We clean the totani by eliminating the internal viscera, separating the head from the tentacles and the skin. Once cleaned, close them to rings. We also clean the camberi by depriving them of the head and the first part of the carapace, trying not to detach the tail.
Frying
We pass the squid rings and the prawns still wet in the flour, eliminating some when we see that it is too much, and fry in abundant boiling seed oil. Better to do it in a saucepan that is higher than it is wide, which will allow the fish not to absorb too much oil.
After having fried them until they are golden brown, drain them from the excess oil using absorbent paper and serve them with a sprinkling of salt, pepper and chopped parsley. If you prefer, also season them with lemon.
Ingredients for Sauteed Mussels
- 2 kg mussels
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 1 chilli
- oil, salt and pepper
- 400 gr cherry tomatoes
- abundant chopped parsley
Blanch the mussels
We wash the mussels by removing the filament and impurities from each one. In a large saucepan, fry the garlic and chilli in the oil and add the mussels, covering with a lid. We open all the molluscs and, as soon as they are ready, sift the sauce with a narrow mesh strainer.
Sauté preparation
Bring the sauce back to the heat and add the well washed and halved cherry tomatoes, season with moderate salt and plenty of pepper and add the mussels again. After two minutes of cooking, we serve the mussels with plenty of chopped parsley and toasted bread (the classic “freselle”).
Ingredients for the Neapolitan Russian Salad
- 200 gr carrots
- 300 gr potatoes
- 200 gr peas
- 150 gr pickled vegetables
- 300 gr mayonnaise
- 2 boiled eggs
- 10 gr desalted capers
- black and green olives Qb
Blanch the fresh vegetables
After having cooked the hard-boiled eggs, let them cool well and then cut into chunks, keeping 2 whole slices for decoration.
In a few saucepans filled with salted water, let's boil the chunks obtained from potatoes, carrots and peas. After a few minutes we drain the vegetables, which should be well cooked, but still firm and crunchy. Let it cool well.
Season the salad
We combine the pickles with the blanching vegetables, adding the olives, eggs and capers and mix everything seasoning with plenty of mayonnaise. We serve in a bowl covering everything with del'altra mayonnaise, the egg slices as decoration and other vegetables to your liking. In case you want to prepare homemade mayonnaise, just whip two egg yolks with 20 ml of lemon juice and extra virgin olive oil poured slowly until whipped.
Ingredients for the Reinforcement Salad
- 1 kg cauliflower
- 30 gr capers
- 150 gr black olives, white olives, seasoned olives
- 200 gr pickled vegetables (including papaccelle)
- 10 salt anchovies
- oil and salt Qb
Blanch the cauliflower
It is an easy and very tasty dish. To prepare it, it will only be necessary to blanch the cauliflower in water, previously salted for at least 10 minutes, after having washed it well and after having separated the flowers.
seasoning
After it has cooled, let's condiamolo with salt and oil, olives, capers and anchovies, desalted and the vegetables deprived of their excessive quantity of vinegar.
Raffiuoli
To find out the recipe for these typical Christmas sweets, read ours article dedicated entirely to raffiuoli.
Notes from the cook
These are the most classic Christmas dishes on the tables of the Neapolitans, obviously accompanied by other cornerstones of the tradition such as the pickles prepared in autumn, the fried capon and the three versions of cod. To best end such a rich dinner, many different types of dehydrated fruit and dried fruit called "Ciocere“, Mainly consumed playing bingo.
And when it's time for dessert, just before going to church, there is never a shortage of other desserts such as the pairing of mostaccioli and Roccoco enjoyed throughout the holiday season, but above all the inevitable struffoli. All these delights, you can easily prepare them at home, following the our Christmas recipes.
Merry Christmas from Napolike!
