2015 NEW YEAR'S EVE DINNER WITH SEAFOOD

Although the main seafood meal for Italians is the Christmas Eve Seafood dinner, we finished the year with a New Year's Eve  with a wonderful lobster, scallops wrapped in bacon and shrimp meal.

Barb set a nice table in the dining room for our New Year's Eve feast.
Using up the Christmas napkins was a good idea. Our little white butter pot to dip the lobster was close for us to use.

I boiled some brussel sprouts to finish cooking them in EVOO- Extra Virgin Olive Oil, chopped garlic and some hot peppers. Little button mushrooms were cooked in EVOO with some garlic.

Ready to be cooked.

On a nice platter on the table to be eaten with some white wine. A fresh bun was the carbs portion for the meal. No pasta!

The best part of the meal for the cook is sitting down and eating it. I bought a pecan cheesecake for dessert which was eaten later with an espresso coffee. Barb stayed up to midnight to welcome the New Year. I was asleep beside her in bed. She awoke me for a quick kiss and I went back to sleep. The year started well. A new year! A new chance to cook some old dishes but the cook may just be looking for some new ideas to add to the daily meals. Send me your ideas and I just may try them and add to my blog.

CHRISTMAS EVE SEAFOOD DISHES

The Christmas Eve dinner can consists of as many seafood and fish dishes you want. As stated in other posts, the magic number is to have is 7 for La Vigilia di Natale-the wait for midnight birth of the baby Jesus.

Fresh shrimp, calamari and scallops are my favourite. Cleaning and cutting the seafood, put on a slightly greased cookie sheet and bake in the oven until cooked. Like the picture, the shrimp should be pink when done.

My family love the many dishes. Shrimps and scallops ready for the oven- then ready for eating!

A nice platter of cooked scallops and shrimps with wedges of lemon make a tasty dish. Have tartar sauce and cocktail sauce and add to your plate if you like to use them.
 Barb likes tartar sauce with her breaded fish and calamari.

My little grandchildren love calamari rings-store bought. I added some breaded halibut fish to the platter for them.

From a seafood salad to a pasta dish

using clams, shrimps and scallops in a tomatoe sauce on freshly made fettucine, the seafood dinner is way under way.

You can have a baccala soup too.

Or simply roll fish pieces in flour and fry in oil and garlic.

Along with your platters of seafood add any vegetable dishes you want. Mine this year were red peppers and rapini salad. Fresh buns are added to the table Italian style! In Italian homes around the world and especially here in Canada, this meal is such a tradition on Christmas Eve. Buon Natale!