the feast of the seven fishes
It's an Italian-American tradition the night before Christmas, and it’s as delicious as it sounds. The whole “fish” thing is rooted in the Roman Catholic practice of abstaining from meat during certain holidays. The whole “seven” thing is rooted in the Bible — it’s the number that appears again and again and again, considered to be the most sacred and symbolic of all of the numbers. And I’m pretty sure the whole “feast” thing is just rooted in the fact that us Italians love to eat.
Every family that celebrates does it a little differently. For some, it’s a seven-course meal made up of Italian seafood dishes. For others, it’s one fish cooked seven different ways. For my family, it’s a feast of however-many-courses-we-feel-like, which collectively incorporate lots of pasta and seven different types of fish.
This is hands-down my favorite family tradition, and the meal I look forward to every year.
Christmas Eve is already a magical day on its own, for obvious reasons. But on top of the wintry weather and the present wrapping and the delivering of Christmas cookies and the sleepy midnight mass, our family spends half the day cooking and eating this wildly delicious feast. You know that month-long bender of holiday eating that we all tend to give in to each December? You know the one. I tell myself it's inescapable, it can't be avoided; but deep down I know I'm really just preparing, training, expanding my stomach for this one night of endless fish and pasta.
Each year looks a little different. But regardless of the crowd or circumstances, there are several go-to dishes that have stood the test of time, and Christmas Eve dinner usually goes something like this...
#1: SQUID
This fried calamari makes for the perfect first appetizer to kick off the meal. Lightly battered in a dry flour mixture, it’s deep-fried in hot oil to a light golden brown, then sprinkled with a generous amount of salt and served with a homemade marinara dipping sauce. It’s transferred directly from the stove to the table as it’s cooked, only to be inhaled by whoever's in the kitchen before the next batch is even ready.
#2: SHRIMP
Because of its versatility and general crowd-pleasing abilities, shrimp is usually used in more ways than one throughout the meal. Normally we'll start with some shrimp cocktail as another appetizer, and then it's sautéed and included in one of our go-to main dishes: shrimp and scallops over angel hair pasta in a creamy, buttery, alfredo-like sauce. (You know, one of those sauces you’re better off not knowing how it’s made).
#3: SCALLOPS
Scallops will sometimes show up as an appetizer of their own — buttery and bacon-wrapped — and they'll almost always make their way into one or more of the pastas as well, whether it's shrimp + scallop pasta or frutti di mare. They’re often overlooked or under-appreciated, but these juicy mollusks are an absolute staple to the feast.
#4: MUSSELS
Another under-the-radar element of the meal, mussels are most often found in one of our classic pasta dishes, frutti di mare — mussels, clams, shrimp and any other seafood you fancy, steamed and served over linguine in a zesty red sauce. But once in a while they’ll get their moment in the spotlight, shining in a green, garlicky sauce that’s sop-worthy and best accompanied with warm, crusty bread.
#5: CLAMS
Clams are big player, making an appearance in many different ways over the years — whether they’re served as clams casino baked on the half shell with bacon and breadcrumbs, as one of the many goodies found in the frutti di mare, or as the star of a simple but delicious linguine + clams. They always take a bit of extra effort to prepare with all the scrubbing and the prying, but they’re always worth it.
#6: CRAB
Hands down one of the most delicious (and expensive) parts of the feast: king crab legs. Bake 'em, crack 'em, dip 'em. That's all there is to it. Somehow they always end up getting left in the oven for one reason or another and tend to show up to the table late. Which is fine by me, because they make for the perfect last couple of delectable bites.
#7: MYSTERY FISH
The final fish to round out the meal is usually a toss-up. A wild card. You never really know what will show up that year. Will it be fried smelt, which 0% of people will touch? Will it be some kind of canned fish..? Or will it be a gigantic hunk of blackened salmon, rubbed with a spice mix of sweet and savory goodness? Who knows and honestly who cares, because what’s one more fish at this point?
