Cotechino Lenticchie Lentils Italian

COTECHINO & LENTILS For ITALIAN NEW YEARS 

COTECHINO e LENTICCHIE 

LENTILS For GOOD LUCK

ITALIAN NEW YEAR TRADITION

COTECHINO LENTICCHIE

ITALIAN COOKBOOK author DANIEL BELLINO

Wrapping My COTECHINO

PINO'S PRIME MEATS

ITALIAN BUTCHER SHOP

PINO

SUNDAY SAUCE

LASAGNA - MEATBALLS - PASTA

And STORIES of ITALIAN-AMERICAN NEW YORK

by Daniel Bellino Z

AMAZON.com

COTECHINO LENTICCHIE "EXPLAINED"

PINA Makes COTECHINO

With LENTILS

Feast of Seven Fish Italian Christmas

La FAMIGLIA

"La VIGILIA"

 

The FEAST of The 7 FISH

"ITALIAN CHRISTMAS"

AMAZON.com

The FEAST of The 7 FISH. "ITALIAN CHRISTMAS"

Daniel Bellino-Zwicke is the author of 

The Feast of The 7 Fish, a popular cookbook celebrating the Italian-American Christmas Eve tradition. The book features recipes, stories, and instructions for preparing the multi-course seafood meal, often called La Vigilia. 

About Daniel Bellino-Zwicke: 

He is a long-time Italian food and wine professional from New York.

• He has worked as a chef, wine director, and managing partner at various restaurants, including 
  Bar Cichetti
  , which he founded.
• Bellino-Zwicke has authored several best-selling Italian cookbooks, including Sunday Sauce, Ragu Bolognese Cookbook, and Positano The Amalfi Coast Cookbook.
• He often writes about Italian-American cuisine and culture, incorporating personal stories and travel experiences. 
• About the book, The Feast of The 7 Fish: 

The book serves as both a cookbook and a cultural guide to the traditional meal.

• It provides historical context for the Southern Italian and Italian-American Christmas Eve feast.
• The recipes include traditional dishes such as Baked Clams Oreganta, Seafood Salad, Linguine with Clam Sauce, and Mussels Marinara.
• The book aims to preserve and share the family tradition, which has often been passed down orally through generations. 
• The tradition of the Feast of the Seven Fishes: 
• Origin: It is an Italian-American tradition that evolved from the Catholic practice of abstaining from meat on the eve of holy days. While fish-centric meals are common in Southern Italy, the specific "seven fishes" tradition is largely an American development.

• Symbolism: The number seven can symbolize various things, including the seven sacraments of the Catholic Church, the seven hills of Rome, or the seven days of creation.
• The meal: It is a multi-course dinner featuring a variety of seafood, which can include baccalà (salt cod), calamari, clams, mussels, and eel. The specific dishes often vary by region and family tradition. 

SETTE PESCI

Dinner at Babbo

 

BABBO

Greenwich Village, New York NY

December 4, 2025

New York, NY

We had an amazing dinner at Babbo last night. Babe, the restaurant created by Mario Batali and Joe Bastianich (mostly Mario). Mario Batali became famous with Babbo, and a show on The Food Network simultaneously. The year was 1998. Anyway, Mario was (still is) a marvellous chef with tons of personality. He gained fame, became a celebrity chef and TV personality. Then he had a fall from grace, lost his TV show, and eventually sold his share in Babbo and other restaurants he owned with Joe Bastianich. After Mario left, Babbo began to slide, and lost much of its cache, which was Mario. Babo has never been the same post Mario.

Mark Ladner worked for Joe B & Mario during the duo's glory days. Mark was the chef of Lupa, and later the Executive Chef of Del Pesto. Mark is very talented, and so when restaurant impresario Stephen Starr bought Babbo and Lupa from Lida and Joe Bastianich, Starr hired Ladner as the executive chef of Babbo. Good move. Mark's food is amazing. Our dinner last night proved that. My cousin Joe made the statement that we had eaten at Babbo many times, and he said "This was our best meal here ever." I tend to agree. The food was amazing, we had some phenomenal wines, and I was with my cousins Joe, Eddie, and Tommy, and our good friend Max. We are all heavily into food and wine, and we are quite knowledgeable and versed on these subjects.

The food was quite wonderful. There were 6 of us, and we ordered more than half of the items on the menu.  We had the 48 Day Minestrone, whatever that means. It was delicious. Everybody at the table loved it. Then for antipasti, we ordered Sweetbreads, Vitello Tunato, salad, and Carne Cruda. 

We had two pasta courses. We ordered ; Tagliatelle with White Truffles, Beef Cheek Ravioli, Cavatelli with Rabbit Ragu, Spaghetti Vongole, and Tagliatelle Bolognese. All of these pasta dishes were amazing. The Truffles were sublimed. The Tagliatelle Bolognese was spectacular, a true Ragu of Bologna, "So Good." I loved it. Everyone, including me loved the Cavatelli with Rabbit Ragu. Really Tasty. And I always have loved eating the Beef Cheek Ravioli. I must say the pasta course was the highlight of the meal. Totally awesome.

We had started the meal with a Pigato, which I picked. Not many people would have ever heard of Pigato, a wine and grape varietal that comes from Liguria. It's a refreshing tasty white wine, and everyone at the table loved it. After the Pigato, my cousin Eddie ordered a magnum bottle of Barolo "Francia" 2001 from Giacomo Conterno, which is considered along with it sibling wine "Monfortino" to be the very best Barolos in the World. The wine was in perfect condition, and we all just loved it.

Our second pasta course came. The famed 100 Layer Lasagna by Chef Mark Ladner. This is becoming the signature dish of the restaurant and Chef Ladner. It's $100 a Pop. Not Cheap, but dammed good. Everybody in our group loved it.

For the main course, we had a T-bone Steak, Veal Chop Marsala, and Swordfish Milanese. The Steak was phenomenal. Loved it. The Veal Marsala was really good as well, but again, "The Steak," seriously good. The Swordfish was OK.

For dessert we had Saffron Zabiglione which was quite good, Panna Cotta (so-so), and Olive Oil Chocolate Cake which was one of the best-tastiest Chocolate Cakes that I've ever had. "So Good." we drank Averna Amaro with our desserts. The meal was phenomenal, and we all had a wonderful time.Thanks Joe. Cousin Joe who bought us all dinner. Not Joe B, he's gone.

And thanks to Chef Mark Ladner, and the whole crew at Babbo. Great job, we really enjoyed.

Thanks,

Daniel Bellino

GIACOMO CONTERNO

BAROLO "FRANCIA" 2002

"One of the Best BAROLOS I've ever had"

CHEF MARK LADNER

BABBO