Feast of the 7 Fishes

Growing up in a Italian-American family, and neighborhood, on the East Side of Cleveland was the best part of my childhood. In Collinwood, there was no way you could do something wrong on another street and your Mom not know about it before you made it home for the evening (as the streetlights came on); you could rely on your friends through thick and thin; and Christmas Eve Dinner was always the traditional Feast of the Seven Fishes. Traditionally, this was a non-meat meal. No chicken, beef, pork, or lamb; but seafood of all kinds made up for the lack of land-based proteins.

Memorable dishes like Squid, Octopus, Eel, and Clams are good; but Baccala, Shrimp, Crab, Lobster, Smelts, and a variety of fish-steaks rounded out the menu, which included everyone's favorite, angel-hair pasta with a garlic and oil sauce. I would like to pass on to you a couple of my favorite recipes, and why I like them so much.

First, I have got to tell you about smelts. A small fish that reminds me of the bait you use when you go fishing. But cleaned, butterfly'd breaded and fried one of the antipasto selections that never lasted for everyone to get enough. I refer to them as Italian French Fries and they are just as addictive.

Start with 3 pounds of smelt

1. In a very heavy pan, pot, or better yet a cast iron skillet add and heat to 350 degrees about ½ to ¾ inches of olive oil. Not the fancy stuff and definitely not extra virgin olive oil.

2. Rinse and Dry the headless smelt with paper towels

3. In a deep dish add Flour, Red Pepper Flakes (as much as you like), a healthy pinch of salt and pepper, and a little more garlic powder than you think it needs. Mix thoroughly.

4. In a second dish put in one egg and a few tablespoons of water. Wisk until well beaten.

5. Dreadge the smelt in the flour mixture, then in the egg mixture, then back in the flour.

6. Knock off the excess and put it in the hot oil.

7. Brown on both sides

8. Remove from the cooking vessle and put on a wire rack, pile of paper towels, or a kitchen towel to remove excess oil.

If it is like my family, they will never make it past the kitchen!

Another of my favorite reasons fish-mas eve dinner is pasta. Simple, yet extremely flavorful, and healthy! Angel-hair pasta with garlic and oil to me means Christmas. That is the only time it is served at a family meal, but I may make it during the year to raise my spirits a bit.

To create this dish:

Make two pounds of pasta as you would any other day, but do not overcook it. . Al Dente (to the tooth) is proper. That means not mushy....

Be certain to add enough salt to the boiling water so it tastes like the ocean.

Once cooked and drained put it back in the same pot and add ½ cup of REALLY good extra virgin olive oil and about 8 to 10 cloves of finely minced garlic or get one of those tubes in the grocery store and use a few tablespoons (judge the amount for yourself. Personally, I...we...like a lot of garlic). Add a healthy pinch or two of crushed red pepper flakes.

With the heat on a Medium-Low and the oil and garlic on top of the pasta, lightly rewarm (not cook) the pasta in the garlic and oil. This will allow the pasta to soak up the flavors a little. Grind some black pepper in the pot and mix, add freshly grated parmesian cheese and mix lightly. Serve in a large bowl and grate more cheese over the pasta on the individual plates.

As an added bonus we like to add a pound or so of the tiny salad shrimp the same time we add the garlic and oil. It heats up the shrimp and is one of the first menu items to be returned to the kitchen sink empty and gone. The salad shrimp are perfect, they are really tiny, flavorful, pre-cooked, cleaned and no tails. Simply heat and eat.

Although this meal is just that, a meal; the Feast of the Seven Fishes is truly more. Sitting around the table with 20 family members, all talking and eating and joking is worth more than the great food you have before you.

If you decide to make the Feast of the Seven Fishes a tradition in your house, invite more than your family. A few good friends, members of the military from a local base who are single and not able to go home for the holiday will help to round out the festivities and if this becomes an annual tradition for them, ask them to make a fish dish for next year. They will appreciate the time with you more than you can imagine.