Today on Food on Fridays I want to share the tortellini dish that may or may not be traditional on Christmas Eve in Verona.

First, a photo:

Tortellini with Onion Cream Sauce

BTW, that’s freshly made, meat-filled tortellini. Freshly made not by me,  you understand. Rather, it was freshly purchased by me (and Chris) at a bakery here in Verona that is famous for making that kind of thing. I did make the sauce from scratch, though: it’s cream and sautéed onions, where the onions were sautéed in a little olive oil and a tad of butter, and then the cream was mixed in.

It’s a recipe that a Greek-German woman who ran a little deli told me about years ago when we lived in Tübingen. The deli sold tortellini,  and the owner once recommended this dish as something quick and easy, but a little bit more special than serving the pasta with just a basic tomato sauce.

Anyway, fast forward a few years to two weeks ago. Chris and I are standing in line at a butcher shop here in Verona; we’re behind two little old ladies dressed to the nines in fur jackets and hats. It’s still more than a week before Christmas, but these two women are in the midst of a debate about what is the proper traditional meal to make on Christmas Eve. One is lamenting that she needs to run all over the place to find the necessary “7 fishes” makings for the traditional fish dinner on  Christmas Eve. However, the woman who is standing nearest to me is exasperated, arguing emphatically that one does NOT need to do that whole fish dinner on Christmas Eve.  Rather, she says, a simple meat-filled tortellini, served in a quick cream and onion sauces, is all you need.

And then she turns to me for support, saying, “Am I right? I’m right, aren’t I?”

Yes, well. I rapidly consider:

1. I have heard about there being some 7 fish traditional meal  on Christmas Eve, but I don’t really know what that is exactly.

2. I actually have made that tortellini dish with cream and onion that she just described, and it was indeed good, and it was indeed easy to make. And it certainly does sound easier than having to track down 7 of anything, particularly fish — which, btw, the store we’re in doesn’t even sell. I’m not even sure why the issue of fish has come up between them as they are standing in this butcher shop, actually.

3. I realize that no good can come from getting dragged into the middle of a debate that is being conducted in Italian between two little old ladies at a butcher shop in Verona.  I haven’t actually followed 100% of their argument, and I realize at that moment that they might not actually be speaking in Italian — which I speak somewhat — but rather in Veronese, the local dialect — which I don’t speak at all.   But then, I do realize that I did actually understand the whole tortellini part of the discussion, so maybe they are speaking in Italian after all.

Anyway, what to do, what to do. The woman advocating for the tortellini waits for my support.  I smile and nod sympathetically at her,  but then try to cover my bases by also trying to nod sympathetically at the other woman, too.  Smile and nod, smile and nod.

I don’t think either one was completely satisfied, but they went on with their debate without me, which was just as well. FWIW, their discussion appeared to be set to continue even after Chris and I got what we’d come for and left the store.

But the following week, when we were trying to decide what to make on Christmas Eve,  I remembered that conversation. And decided that the tortellini woman was right — that tortellini dish with the cream and onions is a bit more special than my regular tomato sauce, but it’s also quick and easy to make. So, score one in the Christmas Eve wars for the tortellini woman.

So, to recap, Chris and I now have a new tradition for Christmas Eve:  an Italian tortellini dish made by an American according to a recipe provided by a Greek woman who runs a deli in Germany and endorsed by an Italian little old lady in a fur coat in Verona.

It would be hard to get a more multi-cultural food than that for a Food on Friday.