How to Plan an Italian “Feast of Seven Fishes”

The Feast of the Seven Fishes is a traditional Southern Italian and Sicilian event. Christmas Eve, known as vigilia di magro, is a Catholic day of fasting; no meat is eaten. Toward evening a family will traditionally break the fast with a feast of seven fishes prior to midnight mass. In America today, Italian-American families continue to follow the tradition of the feast, with some families adding nine, eleven or even thirteen fishes. The seven is believed to represent the seven sacraments.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

1. Either purchase precooked or fresh medium-sized shrimp. If using fresh shrimp, boil them in salted water. This can be done the day before and the shrimp kept cold. Serve these with cocktail sauce as an antipasto.

2. Another antipasto that might be served and is easy to prepare is a crab bruschetta. Bruschetta is toasted rounds of Italian bread with a little olive oil drizzled over the top and a rubbed with a garlic clove. Mix a few ounces of canned crab meat with chopped plum tomatoes and basil and spoon that mixture over the toasted bread.

3. For Christmas Eve serve either linguine or spaghetti with a clam sauce. The clam sauce can be either white (white wine and olive oil-based) or red (tomato-based). You can purchase prepared clam sauces in Italian specialty shops or over the Internet, but the best are homemade.

4. Prepare squid, a traditional member of the seven fishes. The easiest way to prepare squid is to purchase them already cleaned and cut the bodies into rounds that look like rubber bands, but taste great. Gently sauté the rounds in good olive oil with a little garlic and red pepper flakes until tender.

5. Try baking a fish in the oven. Traditionally, cod is served on Christmas Eve, but haddock or tilapia would do nicely. Bake with rosemary, white wine and butter.

6. Prepare sautéed scallops with pesto and caviar. Saute the scallops in a small pan with a little butter until golden and cooked to your taste. On a small plate place a tablespoon of prepared pesto in the center. Place three scallops on the pesto and top with American caviar.

7. Serve an antipasto with crumbled tuna as the seventh fish.

Tips & Warnings

• A fishmonger can help you select your fish and even provide some prepared dishes.