I’m hearing more people talking about “The Feast of the Seven Fishes”. It may be becoming known because of The Bear and a Netflix movie with that title, but for my family a big seafood dinner with lots of friends has been the Christmas Eve tradition without fail for generations. We were surprised to learn in recent years that people north of Rome don’t have a Christmas Eve dinner of any sort and have never heard of this tradition which, now thanks to technology, we share with cousins in Italy in real time. The “Feast of the Seven Fishes” name was a new development for us a few years ago. We always called it simply Christmas Eve, though Gram always made sure we had at least seven different kinds of fish, and we always delighted in counting carefully, and sometimes a little creatively, just to be sure.
So what’s it all about and would you enjoy adopting this little piece of Southern Italian culture at your house? If you have seen the episode about Christmas Eve on The Bear, let me assure you that THAT is not normal! If you’ve read Tomie DePaola’s “Merry Christmas Strega Nona”, well that’s more like it.
During my childhood, our dinner was a mix of Napoletano and Siciliano traditional dishes. My maternal grandparents at whose house we celebrated were from Naples and my Dad, whom my grandmother adored, was from Sicily so she learned to make the dishes he most loved. A week or more ahead of the holiday, Grandpop would take us to Ninth Street in Philadelphia to buy baccala, as well as chestnuts, cookies, torrone, oranges, figs, Jordan almonds and other treats and ingredients. The baccala were pungent boards of dried salted codfish that had to be brought home a week early because they needed to be soaked in a tub of water which was changed everyday until the fish was purged of salt and reconstituted to its plump white flesh. Then it was slow-cooked with onions, garlic, basil and tomatoes for one of our fishes, plus the cooking liquid reduced and used to dress one of our spaghetti dishes. (Does that count as one or two “fishes” on the table?) Sometime in my teens, Gram switched to fresh cod, which is what I have always used. She always had fried and boiled shrimp which we loved and fried breaded smelts which nobody liked but had to be on the table anyway. I still make one of the Christmas Eve pastas we’d always have. I’ve never seen a recipe so I’m not sure which branch it came from but it breaks the five ingredient rule and is uniquely delicious. Spaghetti is dressed with a sauce made from olive oil, garlic and anchovies, walnuts, black olives and pine nuts. A half century ago, the pine nuts were a variety imported from Italy instead of China. Gram would delight me by snipping off one end of a pine nut with her fingernail and then squeeze the nut from the bottom. Five little lobes would rise up and fan out of the open top, the Baby Jesus’ fingers, she’d say. There was whole baked fish and sometimes clam sauce on linguine or a big pot of mussels.
I now know snails are not fish, but they did crash the party once in a while. Called “babbalucci” in Sicilian, they need to be purged before they are cooked in tomato sauce and wine. I remember one time that we got them from the market and Gram filled the kitchen sink with water, white bread and the snails so they could eat the bread and clean out their digestive systems. During the afternoon and evening she’d walk past the sink and give them a stir with her hand. We all retired to bed and in the morning woke to find an empty sink and the critters hanging from the kitchen curtains, up the walls, and enjoying the potted herbs on the counter.
My Dad remarried to an Italian lady who did not do a Christmas Eve dinner, so he really liked it when he could visit us for the holiday. He loved eating those dishes from his childhood because I made, and still make, everything the same way his mother and my grandmother did. I will always feel great joy that I was able to give him that gift and see him so happy. He also loved escarole and cannellini beans, a traditional Chistmas Eve side dish, along with broccoli rabe. Both are served dressed with olive oil, garlic and salt. A big green salad finishes off the savory portion of the meal and then come the sweets. We have cookies like chocolate pistachio biscotti, amaretti and festive cucciddati with sprinkles (kooch-ee-DAH-tee…. as much fun to say as they are to eat) which I was told were the inspiration for Fig Newtons. When I began doing Christmas Eve on my own after moving to Colorado, I added cannoli. Then come sweet oranges, roasted almonds and dried figs. The peels of the oranges are used as markers on Tombola boards, a game like Bingo, and everyone puts their pennies, nickels and dimes in a pot for the winner. Our dinners go too late for our young grandchildren to make it to Tombola, but someday.
I would love to share some recipes with you so you can enjoy a little taste of Southern Italy whenever you want. Meanwhile “Buon Natale” from our family to yours.
Shrimp Cocktail
Try to find wild caught 16-21 (aka extra-jumbo) shrimp with shells on. EZ peel deveined shrimp are a gift. Thaw completely on toweling in the refrigerator.
For 2 pounds of shrimp….
Fill a pot with enough water to cover the shrimp. Bring to a boil and add a handful of Old Bay seasoning and a tablespoon or so of white vinegar to the water. Add the shrimp, bring back to a boil using a lid, and then stir as needed to evenly boil the shrimp until they are curled to halfway between straight and tail-touching the head, no more than 2 minutes. Curled up all the way is overdone. They’ll keep cooking after you take them out, so you’re just looking for halfway.
You can peel them for your guests or let them peel their own. Serve warm or cold with Bookbinders Cocktail Sauce and lemon slices.
Hint: If you opt to peel them, don't leave the last segment of shell next to the tail on, because most people will only eat down to the shell and not bother to dig out that hunk of meat. Better to remove the tail completely than waste succulent shrimp meat, say I!
Poached Cod
Choose a roomy pan about 2 inches deep with a lid.
In the pan, place 2 plump garlic cloves, well-smashed and peeled, and extra virgin olive oil to completely cover the bottom of the pan. Turn heat to low and cook the garlic in the warm oil until it becomes fragrant and waxy. Add 1 or two yellow onions, cut crosswise into slices about ½ inch thick. Coat with the oil and cook until they wilt. Add hand-squeezed fresh or canned San Marzano tomatoes and mix well. Add 8 - 16 ounces of water ....
(depends on the diameter of your pan. You want altogether with the other ingredients about an inch and a half of liquid)... a glass of good white wine, the juice of 1/2 lemon, a bay leaf, some peppercorns, a teaspoon of salt, parsley stems, and a small piece of celery.
Raise the heat a bit and cook at a gentle boil for about 10 minutes, stirring often. Nestle the pieces of cod into the liquid among the vegetables, adjust heat so the liquid comes back just to a simmer - not a boil - and cook until the fish flakes easily, from 5 to 10 minutes – it depends on the thickness of the fish how long – turning it over once so it all gets into the flavored liquid. You can cover with a lid or a cartouche to cook faster. Remove the fish, season lightly with salt and pepper to taste. Remove the tomatoes and onions with a slotted spoon and top the fish, then garnish with chiffonade of sweet basil..
Spaghetti with Fish Sauce
Strain the liquid you cooked the cod in through mesh strainer into a bowl. Remove all solids remaining in the pan. Return the liquid to the pan. Taste it and correct the seasoning. Bring a pot of water to a boil and add a handful of salt. Add spaghetti or other pasta of your choice. Return quickly to a boil using a lid. Turn on the pan of cooking liquid from the fish and bring to a boil. Cook the spaghetti to halfway done and then transfer it to the pan with the boiling fish liquid and finish cooking to al dente. The liquid should get absorbed. If you need more, add some pasta cooking water.
Serve with parsley or sweet basil.
Note: This is a good sauce for thin spaghetti. If you like angel hair, you can even cook it in the boiling sauce without using a pot of water at all.
Escarole and Beans
Soak 1 pound of dry cannellini beans in water to cover by 2 inches for 6 hours or overnight. Drain and put in a pot with water to cover by 3 inches. Add some olive oil, bay leaf, pepper, sage leaves. Bring to a boil and then turn down to a simmer and cook until beans are just tender, about 1-2 hours, or more depending upon the altitude. Add salt to taste in the last part of cooking.
Keep refrigerated with the cooking liquid until needed.
You can use canned beans -- just beans, water and salt without anything else.
Wash escarole and cut into pieces. Bring water to a boil and add a good amount of salt. Cook the escarole in the boiling water until tender - about 5 minutes. Drain.
Put extra virgin olive oil to generously cover the bottom of a skillet and place in it 2 or 3 well-smashed and peeled garlic cloves, bring the heat to low and cook the garlic until fragrant and waxy. Add some peperoncino or crushed red pepper flakes to taste and stir. Add the beans and cook so that they become flavored with the oil and garlic. Add the escarole and some of the bean cooking liquid and allow to cook and reduce until you have a creamy sauce. Taste and add salt if needed.
Amaretti Cookies
8 oz shelled almonds
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large egg whites at room temperature
½ teaspoon almond extract
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 375°. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
Process almonds in a food processor until fine. In a bowl mix sugar and ground almonds well. Add extracts and egg whites and mix well until slightly thickened. Let stand 5 minutes.
Pipe or drop rounded mounds of 1 ¼ “ diameter, an inch and a half apart, onto the parchment paper- lined sheets. Press a whole blanched almond ( see note) or a candied cherry into the center of each cookie.
Bake 12- 15 minutes until golden.
Let cool completely on a wire rack before removing from the cookie sheets.
Makes about 40 cookies.
Note: Blanch almonds by placing in boiling water for a half a minute. Remove. The brown layer will slide right off using your fingers. Soak the blanched almonds in cold water for about 10 minutes before putting on the cookies and they won't get too toasty while baking.
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