Name: Eel With Olives, Chiles, and Capers (Anguilla Livernese)
Yield: Serves 4
Ingredients: 2 cups basic tomato sauce; 1 cup dry red wine; 12 caper berries; 12 gaeta olives; 1 teaspoon hot red pepper flakes; 2 pounds eel, (from the sea or river), skinned and gutted by your fishmonger, rinsed, patted dry, and cut into 4-inch-long pieces; Salt and freshly ground black pepper; 2 tablespoons chopped fennel fronds

Image may contain Animal Seafood Food Sea Life Lobster Fish and Herring

Photo by Beatriz Da Costa

Eel can be a tough sell, until you have tried it. In Italy, however, it appears in a magnificent and succulent dish on almost every table during Christmas week, particularly on La Vigilia, Christmas Eve, when it is perhaps the most traditional dish of all. The many fish dishes served that night.

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