FEAST OF THE SEVEN FISHES
The Italian American tradition of a fish and seafood feast on Christmas Eve is a laden table to behold. No one quite knows the origin of the seven fishes, but there is a practice of not eating meat on the day before a religious feast day. As families gather around the dinner table on the night before Christmas, a special dinner was an inevitability. Italian cuisine includes a delicious variety of fish and seafood specialties—here are just a few ideas for your Feast of the Seven Fishes. Enjoy!
- Baccalà with pasta, as a salad, or fried (dried salt cod)
- Baked cod
- Clams casino
- Codfish balls in tomato sauce
- Deep fried calamari, cod, fish, shrimp, scallops
- Fried smelts
- Insalata di mare (seafood salad)
- Linguine with anchovies, lobster, crab or tuna sauce
- Marinated or fried eel
- Octopus salad
- Puttanesca sauce with anchovies
- Scungilli salad
- Shrimp cocktail
- Stuffed calamari in tomato sauce
- Stuffed-baked lobsters
- Stuffed quahogs
The Kitchen Hive
