Christmas Eve has always been my favorite day of the year. Growing up, while most people I knew had their big holiday celebrations on Christmas Day, my family always pulled out the stops the night before. And like any good Italian American family, we didn’t dine on turkey or ham or casseroles of any kind — rather, we celebrated Feast of the Seven Fishes, and still do every year.

Fasting from meat before a holy holiday is a very Roman Catholic thing to do, and back in the old days, fish was certainly more abundant and more affordable than meat in Italy. Even today, it’s very common in the southern parts of the country, from Rome to Sicily, to eat some sort of fish on Christmas Eve.