Feast of the Seven Fishes

Maybe it’s because we’re in the middle of a “The Sopranos” marathon, I’ve been thinking of the Italian American Feast of the Seven Fishes. LaVigilia is a meal that lasts until midnight, the symbolic awaiting of the birth of the baby Jesus.

Our old neighbor, Tammy, did spectacular feasts! She’d have fried shrimp and calamari, scallops and lobster tails, clams and mussels. Even the year they had the kitchen fire, we still managed to have quite a memorable meal (my favorite was the soft-shell crabs in a spicy marinara sauce). Plus, there were firemen!

The menu for the feast is best executed for groups than for just two people, because it can be a little labor intensive. Bon Apétit did a menu last year that’s worth a look, as a starting point. I think I would the Spanish version of spaghetti with calms and use fideos in a garlic broth with a green goddess dressing. Their menu includes a salmon dip, squid, shrimp, clams, and a stew.

Epicurious has another great menu from Mario Battali that includes cod, clams, shrimp, eels, mussels, and anchovies.

Saveur has what looks like a retro menu of Italian American classics. Lobster Fra diablo and shrimp scampi are recipes deeply ingrained in Americana at this point. Other fish in this collection include cod, sardines, calamari, sole, and branzino.

Delish invited Lidia Bastianich to give ideas for a great vigilia, and she has cod, calamari, shrimp, mussels, lobster, swordfish, and a fritto misto—which like the stews and salads allow you to incorporate more than one fish in each course.

The Italian Chef has several choices from antipasti to first and second courses, including a seafood risotto and a stuffed lobster.

There are no rules, so you could potentially make an evening out of seven different appetizers, if it strikes your fancy. Food and Wine offers seven small dishes. As always, I find their choices pretentious and impractical, but you may find something to amuse your palate there.

Eating Well features a lemon-garlic marinated shrimp that includes precooked shrimp, but scroll down and you’ll find an extensive collection of recipes that aren’t quite as cynical: clams casino with Canadian bacon and Parmesan, caviar-stuffed new potatoes, five-spice scallops in the appetizer section alone.

Rachael Ray tends to get on my nerves, but not everything she makes can be dismissed. I give her credit for including puttanesca on her feast menu. Frankly, if you just check out the seasonal vegetable side dishes, it would be worth the side trip to her site.

For those with vegan inclinations, there’s a menu for you as well. Good luck with that!

Finally, Food52 has scoured the Net and offered exactly seven recipes that are one more alluring than the next: from crab beignets with aioli dipping sauce to the olive oil poached fish!

Cooking the feast can be pricy, but not all dishes require expensive ingredients. I remember the first time I attempted a modified (or perhaps mollified) version of the feast, I had just discovered what I thought was an adorable recipe, Balzac’s Sardine Pâté, which consisted of mashing a sardine with ½ to 1 tablespoon of butter and seasoning with lemon juice and pepper. If it was good enough for Honoré… If times are not quite that lean, then I recommend the David Lebovitz version instead.

Whatever dishes you may choose, I hope you can have a lovely meal with people you love as you wait to celebrate the metaphorical birth of Christ, the coming of Santa (or the last-minute, frantic wrapping of the gifts ritual), or the umpteenth midnight showing of “A Christmas Story.” 

Happy holiday!

Some Like It Spicy

One of the exciting prospects about the coming year, according to data collected by the National Restaurant Association, is an increase in spicy foods and African and Middle Eastern flavors. In terms of restaurants and available foodstuff, Brooklyn is setting the trends with already established businesses. For those of you not in the 'hood, or those who want to check it out at your own pace in your own kitchens, I offer four distinct spice blends that will be making the rounds in the national palate in 2016...

Harissa

If you want to get ahead of the curve, start with a bite of harissa (the Food Goddess has a Board for that!). In fact, we started the year with harissa! Harissa basically is a paste consisting of smoked chile peppers, garlic, olive oil, and spices found in Northern Africa and the Middle East. 

Harissa is sold already prepared, but I always want you to try to do it for yourself because you can control the ingredients that go into it. 

Dukkah

The Egyptians have a dip/sauce/condiment that is absolutely divine. It is a deceptively simple thing, a blend of toasted nuts and seeds that elevates food to ridiculous levels. Dipping bread into dukkah will make you moan. You can cook with it as well, and create a lovely crust on meats and even fish.

I read somewhere that it was a great desert food because it kept even after a few days out, and combined with olive oil and flatbreads, made for a good meal.

Check out the new Board with dukkah recipes (start with this basic recipe and then go wild!).

Baharat

Baharat literally means “spice” in Arabic, and it is a blend used throughout the Middle East. Recipes vary by region, but generally include pepper, cumin, and whole cloves. 

There’s a recipe here and a couple of dishes you may want to try.

Baharat Panko Crusted Albacore Tuna

Koshari (Egyptian rice, lentils and macaroni in spicy tomato chile sauce)

Spicy Ground Beef with Baharat, Mint, and Cilantro

Berbere

Chef Marcus Samuelsson has a recipe for the Ethiopian spice blend. The blend is used for seasoning and frying meats and especially stews/curries. There are dozens of wats with berbere as a base.

You may try any of these recipes:

Spicy Ethiopian Lentils (misr wat)

Ethiopian Chicken Stew (doro wat)

Ethiopian Mushroom Sauté (ingudai tibs)

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I encourage all to look up other recipes. I love to do themed brunches and dinners, but if you prefer to try international cuisines one dish at a time, that’s cool too!