We are putting one on the year. The meal typically consists of seven different seafood dishes. The tradition comes from Southern Italy, where it is known simply as The Vigil (La Vigilia). This celebration commemorates the wait, the Vigilia di Natale, for the midnight birth of the baby Jesus. We are doing our own take but this is what I was thinking:

• Crab Artichoke Dip
• Shrimp Cocktail
• BBQ Shrimp over pasta
• Clam Bake (Steamers, LittleNecks, Mussels, Lobsters)

All of these are reltively easy prep and cooks. With the BBQ Shrimp over pasta being the most work. I was thinking about throwing some chargrilled oysters in the mix but that may be too much. Thoughts or suggestions?

Did you add the hot links for Jesus and seafood or did Texags do that?

He cut and pasted it out of wiki and the links followed

Yeah from the Wiki the links came. Yes definitely a modern take! The top chef episode actually inspired it.

I'd do some sushi/sashimi and raw oysters instead of the roasted ones, maybe a cioppino, and some kind of fish like a salmon

I thought of that as well, although from my research shellfish are commonly used in the meal. The traditional fish are salt cod, smelts and eels. I don' have any experience with those, so I hesitate to bring them into a big meal. I thought about do a salmon with shellfish minestrone to get a fish in it.

Pics please.

I wish I would have taken some I was too occupied cooking, it was great though

Ok so this year I am going to make some changes. Keeping a mixed theme of southern and italian.

Prelim Menu

Shrimp Cocktail (sous vide) - Raw Oysters (Wellfleet, BluePool, Gulf, Rappahannock)
Scratch Caesar Salad (anchovy)
Crab cakes Fried Catfish Honey Butter Biscuit with Lemon Vinaigrette
Lobster Ravioli with Salmon Mousse
NOLA BBQ shrimp
Salmon over shellfish minestrone(mussels, steamer and little neck clams) Ciopinno (Squid, Shrimp, Clams, Cod)

This year my plan is:

Breads

• Bread (Overnight Blonde)
• Clam toast

Apps

• Cheese Board
• Oysters
• Tuna Crudo

Salad

• Insalata di polpo e patate or pan seared squid salad with lemon aioli

Pasta

• Malloreddus Alla Carlofortina
• Spaghetti with Clams

Soup/Main

• Cioppino

Dessert

• Cakes and Chocolate (panettone, pandoro, torrone, panforte)

Going at it for year 4 and growing in popularity, we are expecting 20-22 this year so we are going to add some canned/tinned fish since they are "in" right now and easy. Any suggestions other than on toast or cracker for canned fish?

Would be a solid addition to the charcuterie board. Citrus and some jams can go nicely.

I saw one restaurant add tinned seafood into a gazpacho and that seemed intriguing to me. That may be worth some research and trying out especially with a larger crowd.

I love tinned seafood ontop of pizza. Could be a main course or miniaturized as an app.

Any brands you like?

These have been my favorite so far.

https://www.josegourmet.com/en/produtos/

You get those online or can you find them at HEB/etc?

I've seen them at my local Central Market for sure.

Amazon has them as well so I would assume whole foods carries them in stock? I have not checked.

Great time for Christmas Eve dinner.

Doing smoked salmon
Cioppino
Ceviche
Tinned delicacies( nephew works for Regalis)
Faccia di vecchia (sardine bread with literal translation being face of the witch)
Clams and linguini

Question what dessert goes with the 7 fishes?

Ciopinno

We did an Italian cream cake one year, affogatto one year, pannetone and chocolate last year

Spore Ag said:

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Great time for Christmas Eve dinner.

Doing smoked salmon
Cioppino
Ceviche
Tinned delicacies( nephew works for Regalis)
Faccia di vecchia (sardine bread with literal translation being face of the witch)
Clams and linguini

Question what dessert goes with the 7 fishes?

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Cannoli

Ornlu,

What type of sausage is that ???

how about a course of conservas and crackers? could get Italian sardines, mackerel, anchovies, etc canned in olive oil.... be easy and authentic Italian

My wife is Italian so we do the feast every Christmas Eve. Dishes this year include:
Alaskan king crab
Scallops
Oysters
Cavier
Salmon
Scungilli
Squid
Blue crab
And some others I'm forgetting.

Bump.

Anyone doing the Seven Fishes this year? Can you share your menu?

This is what I have for a menu so far:

Merenda: Crab-artichoke dip
Apperti: Tuna Crudo
Primi: Basa all' Acqua Pazza
Secundi: Shrimp Fra Diavolo
Insalata: Lobster Caprese
Dolci: Panatone

I'm now going to move on to actually finding or creating for each.

We're doing some big house renovations right now - everything except the kitchen & upstairs bedrooms - so this meal is going to be pretty difficult.

Gabster43213 said:

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Ornlu,

What type of sausage is that ???

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Sorry, I just now saw this. It's just the image you get if you google "Jesus Sausage".

\_()_/

Been prepping all week for a seated dinner for 20
Aperitif happy hour - BA
Brandade da Morue - Serious Eats
Asian cucumber salad with fried smelt - my recipe
Ciopinno - BA
Lobster Fra Diavolo - Serious eats
Olive oil cake and expresso - my recipe

Final menu:

Merenda: Crab dip, by SeriousEats.com
Apperti: Tuna Crudo (own recipe, gonna be more like Hamachi but with Italian ingredients)
Primi: Basa all'Acqua Pazza, made with Stripper from Lake Texoma. America's Test Kitchen recipe,
Insalata: Lobster Caprese (own recipe, just lobster, basil, tomatoes, mozerella pearls, EVOO, and balsamic)
Secundi: Shrimp Fra Diavolo, Giada's recipe
Dolci: Panatone - wife is baking this.

It was a good time as always, got no pics of the food but did remember to get a picture of the set table

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