There is arguably no bigger or more important day of the year – food-wise, customs-wise and traditions-wise – for Italians, than Christmas Eve! – the famous night where you gorge yourself on various types of fish (sorry vegetarians and meat eaters, this night is not for you), while drinking too much Prosecco and explaining to your American friends that no, you’re not yelling, that’s just how we talk. 
But for us personally, there is another night just as important, if not more so than Christmas Eve. It’s what we in the Perretta household call “Dough Night”.
This is a food festival galore that we host usually a few days before Christmas Eve. On this night we “open” our stomachs in preparation for the Eve feast by, you guessed it, eating. A lot. 
Most of our family and friends back home in Italy no longer do this. But we have not missed Dough Night one single time over the decades since we’ve been living in the U.S.

So, you may ask: What is Dough night? Well, it’s as it sounds – a night filled with dough, and lots of it.  We spend hours during the day making an embarrassingly large quantity of dough that we later deep fry and enjoy for dinner. No big deal, right? Wrong! This is a very special potato-based dough used to make “pettole”, which are customary to make only around Christmas. So, we only get to eat these once a year. Hence the overeating. Get ‘em while they’re hot, because once they’re gone you won’t see them for another 365 days. Years ago, our mom passed down to Teresa the dough making task and we are all proud of big sis for her exceptional kneading skills!
We eat these pettole on their own like bread, or cut them open and make sandwiches with prosciutto, salami, provolone. And not to be missed is our homemade mozzarella (thanks to our dear friend Richie who has become part of our traditions over the years).

But wait, there’s more. We don’t slave away all day only to make fried dough for savory sandwiches.  We obviously need other dough to fry for sweets because we wouldn’t be good Italian eaters without a follow up dessert.
So, we have a second batch of dough that we use to make stuffed, fried ravioli cookies known in our hometown dialect as “cavezuncidd” – or in real Italian, “Calzoncelli”. And, oh my god, are these the best stuffed cookies sent down from heaven that you have ever tasted. The stuffing? Oh, nothing crazy… just dark chocolate batter made with boiled chestnuts, sugar and cooked red wine. Mamma still has the monopoly on making this filling because… Why mess with the best?  She also passes the dough through the pasta maker to create the sheets that we then, in proper assembly line formation, place the chocolate stuffing into carefully, in order to create these perfectly delicious ravioli desserts.
First, we stuff the cookies, then we fry them to a perfect golden color and then, of course, we stuff ourselves.

The basis of Dough Night is food-and-drink focused (as are most things with Italians) but, most importantly, it’s about maintaining traditions and creating memories, year after year, with family and also the friends we’ve adopted along the way. We often have more people with us at Dough Night than we do Christmas Eve, as it’s become a bit of a to do. Over the years, this special night has grown in fame with many vying for an invite to witness this spectacle firsthand. Being the good Italian hosts we are, we try to include as many as possible without it getting out of hand! Because is there anything better than cooking, eating and drinking with those you love the most? Ovviamente no! Buon Natale a tutti. See you next year amici.