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LINDA & ROCCO MANISCALCO

We Hear That There Will Be Delightful Italian Cookies being Served

Appropriately, it is subtitled A Reminiscence with Recipes.

Updated and revised, the second of Italian Christmas Eve: The Feast of Seven Fishes, has added thirty new pages of recipes, with reminiscences, to the first edition. Despite its small size of 78 pages, this book is a treasure on many levels. It is a tribute to a rich cultural tradition, expressed through its food: Italian food, in practically all its manifestations, is loved throughout the world. It also expresses reverence for a particular religious heritage, Italian Catholicism; and love for the warmth of the Italian family.

Italian Christmas Eve: The Feast of Seven Fishes. Fishes deals with only one meal — but one of the most important and tradition — heavy meals of the year to Italian Catholics. It is the last meal of the penitential season of Advent, which explains why it features fish and seafood rather than other types of meat. Right after eating it, the family goes to Midnight Mass; and, as they step inside the church, they go from a season of longing and repentance to the joy of the holiday of Christ’s birth.     

Linda, who describes herself as a home cook, collected the recipes and did mostof the writing and illustration for the book project. The work gains much of its interest from her instructions, general cultural information, and background on the individual recipe contributors. In addition to the fish and seafood selections, there is a good variety of other recipes, including vegetables and antipasto, cookies and other desserts.

Rocco is a master mixologist, and provides drink recipes and instructions on how to set up to serve drinks. Wines and spirits are in evidence here, but also non-alcoholic Italian Christmas Eve Punch and Italian Hot Chocolate.

To learn more about Linda & rocco, visit their web site by clicking on the image of the book above.