A "Feast of the Seven Fishes" deeply Italian

A collection of seven Italian seafood traditional recipes for your Christmas Eve.

Ciao!

Here we are, welcome to my new home on Substack with a very special Christmas issue!

This year, in fact, I decided to depart from the Ligurian tradition, to think big and embrace all the Italian traditional cuisine.

I decided to suggest you an Italian menu for your Christmas Eve inspired by the Italian-American tradition of the "Feast of the Seven Fishes" and for putting it together, I sought the help of a group of amazingly talented fellow food writers expert in Italian regional cuisine. A collective menu, therefore, that gathers wonderful seafood recipes of different Italian traditions.

The Feast Of The Seven Fishes (1)

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If you are not American, or even better Italian-American, you might be wondering, "Feast of the Seven Fishes"?  What are you talking about?

Probably if you’ve seen the Netflix series "The Bear" you have a rough idea. In episode 6 of the second series, in fact, there is a Christmas Eve dinner at the protagonist, Carmy, family house, inspired by this traditional event (a rather dystopian dinner, though).

If you haven’t seen the show, you’ll be probably wandering in the dark like I was a few months ago. Then this summer during cooking classes more than one American guest asked me how we celebrate in my family the "Feast of the Seven Fishes" in the absolute belief that it was an Italian tradition.

Obviously, I didn’t have an answer because here in Italy nobody celebrates any “Festa dei sette pesci” on Christmas Eve, but I’m curious and made some research. So I discovered that the "Feast of the Seven Fishes" is a culinary tradition born in the families of Italian emigrants to America.

Most likely inspired by the Italian tradition to have a meatless dinner on Christmas Eve (to meet the provisions of the Catholic Church), the feast consists of a sumptuous banquet where at least seven seafood-based courses go on stage. Normally one different seafood per course and possibly all cooked in a different way. The reason for the number seven is not clear. Perhaps it is always linked to Catholic symbolism (e.g. the seven sacraments).

The recipes vary from family to family and are often handed down by Italian grandmothers/ great-grandmothers emigrated to America.

Therefore, I thought, it would be interesting to prepare a Christmas Eve menu as our American cousins but using seven traditional Italian recipes. A way to strengthen the original link we share, made of sacrifices, hopes and dreams.

In this little Christmas project, as anticipated, I involved six friends and colleagues from six different Italian Regions (plus me makes seven!). Six amazing food writers, cookbook authors and cookery teachers who share the Italian culinary heritage with an international audience with love and passion. I asked them to submit some seafood dishes from their land for Christmas Eve, then we discussed them -  because putting together a seven-course seafood dinner is not the easiest thing in the world -  and finally we launched the menu that you can find attached below.

It’s made up of three entree, a pasta course and three main courses. Seven different fishes, seven different ways of cooking them, seven different Italian cuisines represented.

Here’s who we are and our dishes:

-  Me, from Liguria,  with Brandacujun (potatoes and stockfish spread) croutons;

- 

Carlotta Panza

, from Piedmont, with Bagna Cauda (anchovy and garlic sauce with raw vegetables);

-  Valentina Raffaelli, from Trentino, with Roasted Polenta with marinated herrings;

- 

Monica Campagnoli

, from Emilia Romagna, with Tuna Spaghetti alla Bolognese;

- 

Giulia Scarpaleggia

, from Tuscany, with Oven baked seabream with potatoes;

- 

Domenica Marchetti

, from Abruzzo, with Gabriella’s stewed calamari;

-  Fabrizia Lanza, from Sicily, with  Double crust swordfish pie.

Each recipe comes with a historical introduction and a brief biography of the author. So, if you want to know more about my partners in food, in addition to click their names above, browse through the attached document! They all do wonderful things and I’m glad they accepted my invitation to put together this little Christmas culinary project.

You don’t have to embark in the complete seven-course feast. Read the recipes, evaluate them, and maybe get inspired just by a couple of dishes. They are all mouthwatering recipes for all tastes, times and abilities. 

But if you want to cook all the menu (all respect to you), you will find at the end of it a “roadmap” that we thought to help you plan the kitchen for a just-fun and stress-free Christmas Eve!

Now go snooping (you have to click on the PDF below to open it) and then, if you want, reply to this email and tell me what you think! Needless to say: if you cook some or all these dishes share it, at least with me!

Before leaving you with this Christmas Menu, I wish you a serene Christmas time, made of simple things, slow moments, the scents of tangerine peels and pine needles, lights shining in the eyes of your beloved ones and good things that nourish your body and your soul.

I will be back in January with exiting adjournments about what you will read in this newsletter from 2024.

See you next year!

Enrica

The Feast Of The Seven Fishes

2.92MB ∙ PDF file

Download

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