Homemade Pasta On Boxing Day

By Jeanine Consoli

Many Italian American families make traditional menus for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Since Christmas Eve is a holy day, most Italian Catholics don't eat meat. My mother always served several fish dishes, including pasta, on Christmas Eve. At my house, the fish dishes would change depending on what my mother wanted to make, but we didn’t eat meat until Christmas Day.

On Christmas Day, we would have so much food, you'd think we were feeding the whole neighborhood. We would start with "antipasti" or a charcuterie platter. The next course was lasagna with meat sauce. After the pasta course, a roast would appear complete with all the sides. After a break to clear the dishes and open gifts, the cofee pot went on the stove. The traditional pastries, cookies, fruit, and nuts were laid on the table for dessert when the cofee was ready. It was an event that lasted all day.

Merging Families

When I met (and later married) my husband, one of the things that connected us was our shared heritage. We were both Italian and grew up in immigrant households. Both of our dads were first-generation Americans from Southern Italian families.

But my father-in-law's traditional side was set in stone. The meal on Christmas Eve never changed. The fish dishes were always the same ones, prepared the same way. Even the vegetables were fried. The starter was a fried dough ball (think zeppole but not sweet) and a pickled vegetable salad called giardiniera. After the salad, a pasta dish with a sweet lobster sauce came out. And then fried fish and fried vegetables such as cauliflower and asparagus were the sides.

After my twins were born, the meal transitioned to our house so that our daughters could wake up

Photos: Merging Families Jeanine and Tony Consoli© Andy Chen.JPG; Christmas Eve with the Consoli family ©Tony Consoli.jpg

at home on Christmas morning. My husband and I realized that too many fried foods were on the menu, and we went in a healthier direction. The menu got pared down to salad, lobster sauce, sauteed vegetables, and desserts. We had a lot of leftovers; it was way too much food. Every Christmas Day, we spent with my side of the family at my brother’s house for the “roast beast" feast.

A Boxing Day Tradition Is Born

After two days of eating, you'd think we would take a break and fast, but no. We created a new tradition, a nuclear family tradition, just for the four of us. We make fresh pasta on Boxing Day because we don't feel like going out, and there aren't leftovers at our house. It's an activity the four of us can do together and it provides dinner for us afterward, so it's a win-win. We know it's another day of decadent eating, but we agree to be healthier after this meal. It started three years ago when I received Kitchen Aid pasta attachments under the tree. We were bored watching movies and lazing around all day when one of my daughters asked if we could make fresh pasta and use the new attachments. We peeked in the refrigerator and decided to see what we could scrounge for the dish. I said, “Let’s use up the ricotta from the cannoli." My other daughter lit up and squealed, "Let's make homemade ravioli!” I had a metal mold for ravioli, so we prepared a pasta dough and used the Kitchen Aid mixer roller attachment to make sheets, and we went with it.

The following year we used the tagliatelle cutter. We threw together a meat sauce with the ingredients from the pantry and the freezer. The object of “Boxing Day Pasta” is to use what’s on hand.

Last Year's Pumpkin Gnocchi

Last year was the best yet. My niece grew sugar pumpkins and gave me two to make pies for Thanksgiving. I roasted them, pureed them, and froze the extra puree.

When we needed an idea last year, we came up with pumpkin gnocchi. We used leftover ricotta, pumpkin puree, butter, and fresh sage (I brought a side dish to Christmas Day dinner that needed fresh sage). Voilà we had the makings of pumpkin gnocchi in a sage butter sauce.

I mixed the puree, flour, parmesan, ricotta, and eggs in a bowl with a wooden spoon. Then turned the mix out onto the counter sprinkled with flour. One of my daughters shaped it to look like a loaf and cut it into strips. We each took a ribbon and rolled it into ropes. We were careful not to touch it too much. Then we cut our ropes into cubes and took a fork to make dents in the top. After that, we boiled the gnocchi. Then my husband sauteed the pillowy dough in batches in a pan with lots of butter and sage. Everyone added more grated cheese to top their portions and were giddy with excitement. As we hoped, they were terrific. We never tasted better.

I can't wait to see what we come up with this year. What's impressive is there are no hard and fast rules to our tradition, just that we have fun together. We wing it and enjoy the experience.

Photos from top left: The sugar pumpkin before it became pumpkin gnocchi ©Jeanine Consoli; Turning out the gnocchi dough on a floured surface ©Jeanine Consoli; Dad making pumpkin gnocchi ©Jeanine Consoli; Gnocchi about to go in the boiling water ©Jeanine Consoli; Pumpkin gnocchi with fresh Parmigiano Reggiano cheese ©Jeanine Consoli