GRANPA MADE A WONDERFUL SEAFOOD CHRISTMAS EVE DINNER

 Adolph's cooking will always be missed.

I loved his seafood dishes.

Baccala soup with a pinch of raisins the way his mother made it.

Cod frying.

Calamari rings.

Crab was always good.

Fish with a pinch of parsley.

Seafood sauce on homemade egg noodles.

Scallops were one of my favourites.

Adolph's seafood sauce.

Scrimps made the easy way.

Fish breaded was an easy way to eat another dish.

So the memories of a good meal will have to suffice.

#seafoodinner#christmaseveseafooddinner#rememberingadolph'sgoodcooking#reflectivethoughtsbybarbara#barbaradimambro

LA LA LA PESCE FRITA- BACCALA

Baccala  is the common dish for any Christmas Eve Seafood dinner. It is salted cod. The trick is to soak the cod in water for even as long as a day to reduce the amount of salt before cooking.
Dishes include simply frying some pieces in oil and garlic on the stove.

It can be rolled in a breaded  mixture or  flour and baked in the oven along with other fish/seafood dishes.

My mother used to make a baccala soup by putting some pieces in a tomato mixture.

I don't make the soup because no one else really eats it. My family like some baked cod or baccala from the oven.

This can be dish # 3 and # 4 depending on whether you make the soup.

Baccala is a good addition  to have for anyone who has a shellfish allergy and wants to partake in the Christmas Eve Seafood dinner.

Added note- don't over soak the fish in water to remove the salt. One year I did that and there was no taste left of the fish. It was very bland!

An old Italian rhyme- la la la, pesce frita, baccala!

CHRISTMAS EVE SEAFOOD PASTA

A  Christmas Eve Seafood dinner would not be complete without a pasta dish. The dish I make is a simple clam sauce.

Buy tins of clams to make this dish easy.

Using my basic tomato sauce- saute the onions and garlic in some olive oil, add a can or two of plum tomatoes, simmering until mixed then drain the water from the clams before adding to the tomato sauce.

If you want, you can use a seafood medley as used for the appetizer.

Let the seafood sauce simmer for about an hour.

Make your own linguine or fettucine if desired or buy fresh pasta from the store or simply use the packaged kind. A long wide pasta works best with this sauce.

Cook the desired pasta, drain and add the sauce on a nice serving platter.

This can be dish #2 for the Seven Fish/Seafood dishes of Christmas Eve.

Last Christmas Eve- 2011, I made two kinds of pasta since there was a mixed crowd. The one in the foreground had a meatball sauce while the one in the background had the clam sauce. I actually used fresh clams for that night. Some people ate both pastas.
Last night- December 15, 2012, I made a seafood sauce using clams, shrimps and scallops again with the simple tomato sauce on fresh fettucine.
Added note- a good cook will improvise with the crowd being served. A seafood sauce can include whatever combination you like.

A CHRISTMAS EVE SEAFOOD APPETIZER

For a complete Italian Christmas Eve Seafood dinner, it is fun to have  seafood or fish for every course except dessert. A simple shrimp ring with cocktail sauce could suffice if the cook is in a hurry. Another easy dish to have is the seafood salad.

INGREDIENTS

Fresh or frozen shrimp. Precooked is the easiest

Fresh or frozen calamari. Precooked is the easiest.

Or simply buy a frozen bag of seafood medley mix as featured in the photo.

Celery- one stalk.

Two garlic buds or more if wanted.

Fresh lemon or two.

Olive Oil- one or two tablespoons.

Salt, pepper to taste.


DIRECTIONS

Defrost and drain frozen seafood or cook the fresh seafood.

Chop into bite size pieces.

Chop the celery stalk into small pieces.

Dice the garlic into small pieces.

Put the ingredients into a bowl.

Add the olive oil and mix the ingredients.

Cut the lemon in half and squeeze the fresh juice onto the mixture. A second lemon does add more flavour to it. Mix well.

Add salt and pepper to taste.

Put in the fridge for at least two hours before serving. This allows the dish to marinate.

It can be made a day ahead if needed and kept in the fridge until ready to serve.

There are several brands of frozen ready seafood appetizers that can be added to the meal. Other non-seafood appetizers can be offered if wanted for Christmas Eve too. It depends on the crowd you are serving and what is preferred.

If trying to serve 7 seafood dishes, this could be number 1! Numero Uno!

#christmaseveseafoodappetizer#calamari#shrimp#celery#addalemonforzing#asimpleappetizerforChristmasEver#granpaloveshisseafoodappetizer#marinatetheseafoodappetizerinlemonandoliveoil#sevenseafooddishesforChristmasEve

CHRISTMAS EVE DINNER/LA VIGILIA DI NATALE

Christmas is Italy was a religion holiday. There was always good food. For Catholics there is no meat before the religious days. Thus the tradition of having seafood and fish on Christmas Eve while everyone waited for the birth of the baby Jesus. My mother would cook a variety of dishes. Apparently according to some research I did, eel is the most popular delicacy. We never had eel because no one liked it. The meal also is called the Feast of the Seven Fishes or Festa dei Sette Pesci. Coming to Canada when I was 9, we started to acquire Canadian customs such as a Christmas tree and exchanging presents on December 25th. The one important Italian tradition maintained in not only our home but other families of Italian descent was the Christmas Eve seafood dinner. For many Southern Italians not just those from the Ciociaria area, baccala-salted cod fish was the basic staple for the meal as it was very affordable to the poor. Today baccala continues to be eaten in a soup, fried or baked in the oven. There are several dishes to make for this festive meal. Over the next weeks, I will post a dish or two at a time. Years ago when my mother was alive, she would make the Christmas Eve dinner and Barb would make the Canadian Christmas dinner- a real blend of two cultures. Our children love seafood too. During the year both Barb and I try to enjoy a meal from the sea as was apparent from our trip to the St. Lawrence Marked last summer when we bought some fresh PEI mussels. Canada is home to a variety of fish and seafood. Just ask any Maritimer about the great lobster. Once a meal for the poor, anyone who purchases fresh fish and seafood knows it is actually a very costly endeavour.

#ChristmasEvedinner#\italiantraditiononChrismasEve#theprescipio#feastofthesevendishes#festadeisettepesci#lavigiliadinatale