Been Too Busy Eating…
Yep, I know things have been quiet here for a few days, but I have a good excuse. With the Christmas Eve and Day holidays I’ve been way too busy eating and cooking to write too much about food. But now that these holidays are behind me (quite literally), I’ll share what we ate on the Eve. I may have mentioned cookies quite a few times over the past month, but Christmas Eve is all about the seafood. That’s because it’s customary for Italians to have a seafood feast on Christmas Eve. Some people have the feast of 7 fishes; others serve 11 fishes; and there are plenty of variations. I was planning to serve 5 fishes this year, but my mother convinced me to boost the number to 7 for good luck. And who am I to turn down good luck – although we cheated a bit. We ate the first fish at lunchtime by having a lovely tuna salad prepared by Louisa.
Fish number 2 for the day was shrimp cocktail – a course that’s popular with everyone in our family. Louisa prepared the cocktail sauce.
For number 3 we had bacala soup (cod fish), a traditional recipe from Joe’s family. I’ve been eating and cooking this soup since we were first married nearly 25 years ago. I’m still not crazy about it. But I do understand his need for traditional food on a holiday. It will be interesting to see, someday, if my girls associate this soup with Christmas Eve in a positive way, and feel it’s a necessity at their holiday table.
For fishes number 4 and 5 we had spaghetti with white clam sauce. I don’t normally add anchovies to this recipe, but it was a way to add another fish, as well as add extra depth to this recipe. It didn’t hurt that spaghetti with anchovy sauce has always been a tradition in my mother’s family.
Finally, for fishes number 6 and 7 we had baked, breaded flounder and fried crab cakes.
Yep, Christmas Eve is all about the seafood. And making the annual Gingerbread House!
Merry Christmas!
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What is the bigger task eating 7 fishes or cooking them?
Depends on who you ask. The cooking for me. The eating for the girls. They were stuffed by the end of the spaghetti with clams. I guess I just don’t feed my daughters enough to prepare their stomachs for a meal like this one.