Christmas Eve – Feast of the Fishes
This year it was my turn to host the Christmas festivities for my family. For a variety of reasons, we didn’t have a huge Christmas celebration, like the days of yore. In days gone by my great aunt hosted a Feast of the Seven Fishes on Christmas Eve for the whole extended family and we went every year to Western Pennsylvania to enjoy it followed by Christmas Dinner the next day, at my Grandparents house. The feast on Christmas Eve was held in my aunt’s basement and when you walked down there, from the main part of the house, it always smelled so good! Like you were entering a restaurant with so many smells. I remember those warm, happy times spent with my extended family, when everyone was still with us. We will never have those days back and so…
This year I wanted to honor those old and cherished family traditions and memories. I have found often, in my life, that food can bring back the past . One small bite of something or a long forgotten smell, can make the past come swooshing into the present. If only for a second. Since we will be moving in April, I don’t know when the next holiday will be that I can share it with both my mom and my cousin Michelle who both live in Florida. So I decided this was the year to bring back the Feast of the Fishes!
This feast is an Italian American tradition – not celebrated in the motherland, and is derived from a time of abstinence, as it says on Wikipedia: “ in this case, refraining from the consumption of meat or milk products—on Fridays and specific holy days. As no meat or butter could be used, observant Catholics would instead eat fish, typically fried in oil”.
But I must admit, that for me, it was always about the food!
We haven’t done a Feast of the Seven Fishes in my immediate family for years, but it is certainly a tradition that we all enjoyed. So this year, since I was in charge of the menu for Christmas Eve – I decided to bring this tradition back. It was a small gathering this year, only 4 of us, so I decided to do 4 fish courses – including 5 fishes, not the copious amounts of fish dishes from the past, but a revised menu. The menu was dictated by what was available at our local fish store the day before, and what the guests enjoyed from the past. I also wanted to make each course easy to prepare, so that I could enjoy time with my family without being too stressed. Most of these dishes we prepared in between courses together, or while we were eating other courses. So much fun was had in the kitchen with family!
Roberto and I love ceviche, but have never made it at home. In fact it is one of my favorite things, first having fell in love with it in Jamaica on our honeymoon. It is kind of become a “special occasion” dish for us. We had it for our one year anniversary, and most recently for my birthday. So I knew I wanted to make a version of ceviche for this special occasion. I found and used a recipe for Shrimp and Scallop Ceviche from The Ravenous Couple which was excellent. It was the perfect course to enjoy with our champagne toast. The beauty of this dish is how flavorful it is, and also so easy to prepare. It would surely be a hit at any dinner party – elegant, beautiful and fresh.
Next up was Bergensk Fiskesuppe, Bergen Fish Soup. I had received a soup starter from my buddy and Norwegian food blogger Siri, from Transplanted Baker. I was saving it for a special occasion, and this was the perfect one. I added fresh clams to it, and it was very much like a clam chowder, creamy and delicious. Again, with minimal effort. Everyone loved it. All that needed to be added was a bit of cream, water, a splash of wine and the clams. Bring to a boil and serve. Perfect and delicious! I am going to have to get Siri to send me some more! 🙂
The third course was Zeppole con Alici. These are basically Italian donuts. However, there is a surprise stuffed inside these Calabrase zeppole or zippoli – they are not sweet like donuts, but savory, and filled with anchovies! I grew up with these, and they were the treat that everyone in my family looked forward to the most at my aunt’s Christmas Eve dinners. Since I entered the world of food blogging, I had seen various recipes for zeppole, but never our anchovy filled ones, until one day, I read my friend Michelle’s post on Bleeding Espresso . Then again last year, here . Apparently Zeppole con Alici, or anchovy filled zeppole are common among the Calabrese, and she grew up in PA with them as a child too. Michelle and I have a lot in common besides being born in PA and growing up with Calabrese relatives! But this post was a revelation to me! Finally a life long mystery solved! Especially since my Italian husband had never heard of these! He loves them now too!
Although my great aunt never did give away her secret recipe, my mom did a bit of recon this year, and found a recipe for zeppole dough. Although you can use Michelle’s – it is pretty much the same one – except her’s has a splash of wine added…yum….We had a great time making zeppole – all of us got in on the action, me, my mom, cousin Michelle and Roberto! Even the pups and cat were excited, smelling all the anchovies. These turned out differently than the zeppole of our youth, but were still delicious. So good in fact that we ate the entire plate of them! 🙂
The next course was the main dish, a Stuffed Flounder prepared by my mom. She made a stuffing of toasted pine nuts, bread crumbs, Italian parsley, and capers. Then used it to stuff rolled fresh flounder fillets. You then bake them in some white wine, until flaky. We served this with an easy spinach salad. They were delicious – an easy and great way to make fish. I will certainly do it again in the future.
The last dish was dessert – Trifle with an Italian Twist and no fish included. A few weeks ago, I was watching an episode of the Barefoot Contessa and she was making a holiday meal for a blogger – for her blog (lucky girl). For dessert she made a Red Berry Trifle with a cognac pastry cream, and it looked delicious and festive. I adore trifles – well any desserts made up of cream and custard is a winner in my book! So I decided to make a version of her trifle, except with more Italian flavors. Instead of cognac cream, I made frangelico cream. I also put frangelico in my whipped cream, and skipped the sugar. I also skipped the strawberries, opting for full on raspberries and sprinkled it with more frangelico instead of framboise. And I opted for Pandoro – which is a plain version of Panettone, in lieu of pound cake . Pandoro is usually served this time of year in Italy. The trifle was delicious. So delicious that my cousin, Michelle, who vows that “eating any dessert not made with chocolate is a waste”, ate every bite and loved it!
We had a really great night, full of laughter, and good times! This is how I remember Christmas Eve’s of yore and so I guess it all worked out! 🙂
kellypea - December 28, 2009 at 1:24 pm
I’ll take an order of the stuffed flounder (oh, those capers…) and a chaser of that luscious trifle.
Nice feast! Sounds like you all had a great time!
Joan Nova - December 28, 2009 at 1:37 pm
Jenn, that’s a beautiful dinner and a nice nostalgic post. I’m only accustomed to the sweet version of zeppole served in brown paper bags with powdered sugar — but I sure would like to the con alici version!
Best wishes to you and Roberto for the new year,
Joan
Michelle | Bleeding Espresso - December 28, 2009 at 1:57 pm
Oh wow, Jenn…what a feast!!! I made zeppole too for Christmas Eve but without the anchovies since no one else likes them but me. They have *no* idea what they’re missing!
ValleyWriter - December 28, 2009 at 2:09 pm
Wow – this is quite the feast! I recently saw a show that mentioned the Feast of the Fishes and was totally intrigued – very cool to see it in action. Hope you had a great time with your family & a lovely holiday weekend!
Bob - December 28, 2009 at 2:14 pm
I’m not really a big fish fan, but I would definitely try all of that. Especially the trifle… heh.
Estela @ Weekly Bite - December 28, 2009 at 2:33 pm
I LOVE ceviche but have always felt too intimidated to make it!
Looks like a wonderful Christmas!
Rosa - December 28, 2009 at 2:40 pm
What a gorgeous feast! Different and so delicious!
Best wishes for 2010!
Cheers,
Rosa
Jenn - December 28, 2009 at 3:32 pm
What a great way to bring back some fond memories. This is definitely my kind of meal. I love fish and seafood.
ravenouscouple - December 28, 2009 at 4:54 pm
Love your progression of dishes…would have loved to have been there! 🙂 Thanks for the link back to the ceviche–yours look so fresh and delicious!
Peter G - December 28, 2009 at 6:00 pm
A beautiful feast Jen! I’m in love with the Zeppole con Alici…and Frangelico is so luscious! A great way to end a meal. Best wishes for 2010.
Cakelaw - December 28, 2009 at 6:29 pm
You guys look as if you had a blast! The food sounds amazing, and it’s great to dig into your heritage and hold something like this. Hope you all had a very merry Xmas, and wishing you all the best for 2010!
kat - December 28, 2009 at 7:18 pm
wonderful gatherings, happy 2010!
Judy - December 28, 2009 at 9:02 pm
Sounds like such a wonderful feast! Love that flounder and of course the dessert!!!
Simply Life - December 28, 2009 at 9:38 pm
wow looks like a wonderful way to celebrate the holidays!
Adam - December 28, 2009 at 10:10 pm
Looks like you really did have a fantastic holiday… I’m glad you had some of the extended family together and relive the memories 🙂
Fish on fridays was always popular in all of our European homes. I’m actually kinda surprised to see that tradition fade away recently.
Maybe trifle Friday could take it’s place then 🙂
patsy - December 28, 2009 at 10:22 pm
That looks like a fabulous feast that surely brought back some amazing memories of previous Christmas celebrations.
suzanne - December 28, 2009 at 11:57 pm
I have always loved seafood of any sort 🙂 While reading this post i was ready to lick the monitor!!
Bren - December 29, 2009 at 2:14 am
ay que rico!!! love the ceviche and the great thing about that dish is that there are so many varieties to work with! Sounds like you guys had an amazing feast! Merry Christmas!
Ivy - December 29, 2009 at 7:56 am
What a wonderful spread of delicious food. Best wishes to you and Roberto for the New Year.
Michelle - December 29, 2009 at 9:11 am
Hats off to you for having the Feast of the Seven Fishes! I have wanted to do this same thing for years and just never seem to have time, love planning it though!
Arlene - December 29, 2009 at 9:48 am
This was a lot of fun cooking and visiting together. It was wonderful trying some new fish dishes along with some standbys.
Michelle - December 29, 2009 at 9:55 am
Right on sister! Great food, great company, and great fun! I couldn’t think of a better way to have spent Christmas Eve. Thanks for inviting me!
Michelle - December 29, 2009 at 9:55 am
…and thanks for not putting those horrible photos of me on your website! 😉
Pam - December 29, 2009 at 11:02 am
Beautiful family, food, and past tradition….such wonderful memories Jenn…thank you SO much for sharing with us….SO appreciated!
Your hair is so cute!
Enjoy and Happy Holidays!
bellini valli - December 29, 2009 at 1:01 pm
Looks like the Leftover Queen household is on to creating new traditions mixed with the old. I believe in the power of food to bring back great memories whether it was a vacation or a cherished childhood memory.
Paula - December 29, 2009 at 1:48 pm
Thanks for sharing your family traditions! Happy New Year!
Erica - December 29, 2009 at 6:48 pm
Wow! I love family traditions…..The food looks great, Jenn! I would love a large ceviche, please! Happy new year.
Natashya - December 29, 2009 at 7:16 pm
What a delicious feast! Such a refreshing change from turkey – I love it!
(also relieved that there were no fish in the trifle.. 😉
Bianca @ South Bay Rants n Raves - December 29, 2009 at 9:08 pm
I’ve always wanted to try the Italian donuts.
I hope you have a wonderful New Year
Nancy - December 30, 2009 at 12:46 am
That trifle is beautiful!
Amy @ Simply Sugar and Gluten Free - December 30, 2009 at 12:23 pm
I am so impressed…way out of my current culinary comfort zone. I would have loved to just watch so I could learn from you. The trifle was a perfect ending, too. Light and delish!
redkathy - December 30, 2009 at 12:55 pm
Somewhere along the way I remember eating those donuts, thanks or the memory jog! My grandmother made so many Italian “things”, too bad I was way too young to recall each one. Your feast looks superb. BTW- I grew up in PA too, small world. Wishing you and yours a wonderful, blessing filled New Year!
Peter - December 30, 2009 at 1:21 pm
Merry Christmas Jenn! The clam photo and that trifle got my utmost attention.
Have a wonderful New Year and best wishes for a smooth move to Vermont.
Jen of a2eatwrite - December 30, 2009 at 6:14 pm
Oh, Jenn, this all looks so marvelous! I’m going to have to try zeppole con alici, as I love zeppole and alici! The only zeppole I’ve tried before are the sweet kind, but these sound just lovely. I’m sure you all had a wonderful feast!
farida - December 30, 2009 at 6:28 pm
Looks like you guys had tons of fun! Everything looks great and everybody look happy:) Happy New Year to you and your loved ones, Jenn!
pam - December 30, 2009 at 6:43 pm
What a glorious feast of fishes!!
cookeaze - December 31, 2009 at 11:54 am
A decadent and glorious dessert, so perfect for me liking
Enjoy your holidays and the best 2010 for you!