Recipes: Holiday Favorites From Joey Campanaro

Dec. 24, 2008 — -- Joey Campanaro has long drawn inspiration from holidays with his large Italian-American family

After getting his start as a dishwasher, a job he took to save money for a boat, Joey Campanaro now operates the Little Owl in Manhattan.

Click Here to read more about chef Joey Campanaro.

Spaghetti With Clams and Shrimp

Recipe courtesy of Joey Campanaro

1 diced shallot

2 cloves of chopped garlic

3 cups clam juice

¼ pound butter

1 teaspoon chopped parsley

1 teaspoon chopped basil

1 teaspoon chopped oregano

1 can tomato puree

1 cup dry white wine, such as sauvignon blanc

½ cup grated pecorino Romano

2 pounds of cherrystone clams

1 pound peeled deveined shrimp

Instructions

In a large skillet, lightly brown the garlic in olive oil. Add the shallots and butter, and cook for 3 minutes constantly stirring.

Add the clams, tomato puree, clam juice and white wine. Cook uncovered until the clams begin to open. Once the first clam opens, lower the heat and add the shrimp.

When all the clams finally open, the shrimp will be cooked perfectly. Add the herbs and turn off the heat.

The pasta should be ready exactly at the time the sauce is ready. Pull out the seafood, put the pasta in the sauce, mix with pecorino. Serve.

Pizelle Cookies

Recipe courtesy of Joey Campanaro

Yields 100 cookies

24 eggs

3 cups sugar

8 cups all purpose flour

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 teaspoon fennel seeds

Instructions

Mix the eggs, sugar, extract, fennel seeds until creamy. Add the baking powder and flour one cup at a time.

The dough will be sticky and thick. Use a spoon soup spoon to add the dough into the hot pizzelle iron. They last for many weeks in an airtight container.

Yeast Dough for Holiday Zeppole

Recipe courtesy of Joey Campanaro

3 cups warm water

4 tablespoons molasses

4.5 ounces fresh yeast

3 teaspoons olive oil

8 cups all purpose flour

Instructions

Mix all the wet ingredients well. Slowly add the flour until it forms a soft moist ball. Pour the dough unto a clean floured surface and gently need until smooth.

Place in a large mixing bowl with a large enough capacity to support the dough rising by double.

Keep in a warm area of the kitchen. They will double in size. At this point you are ready to pull off pieces of the dough and deep fry them. The shapes should be rough and not too big.

Place the torn-off pieces of dough into the canola oil that has reached approximately 350 degrees. Fry the dough pieces until lightly browned, remove from the hot oil onto a napkin and sprinkle with generous amounts of powdered sugar.

I like to serve these with Nutella. Some terms for this sweet dessert in my family have been zeppole, svinge or simple fried dough.