Christmas Eve 24th: Seven Fish Carte. What is your plan?

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Francesca

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The Mediterranean Seven Fish Carte, for Christmas Eve, has been somewhat lost its signficance amongst many who choose to do more modern menus for this special occasion .. However, in my family, we keep the traditions going and here is one of the cartes that we are in the process of discussing ..

Palate Opener: Sea Bream Carpaccio ..
Fresh Oysters on the Half Shell ..
Greek Taramasalata with Grey Mullet ..
A classic Saint Malo, French Blue Lobster served simply with French Butter & boiled or steamed in Sea Water ..
Half portion Italian Carnaroli Rice with Gamberi ( red prawns ) .. Or Bio Linguini Puttanesca with Anchovies or Vongole ( Clams ) ..
Peruvian Ceviche - with Sea Scallops or Crevettes Rouges .. Based on availability ..
Scottish Highland Whole Salmon ..
 
Well, I'm up for seven fish courses any time! But I doubt it can be achieved here on Christmas Eve. My son is vegan which doesn't help. I could eat any of these courses except for the taramasalata (I'm intolerant for some reason). I'd have caviar instead. Would these courses be served alone or with any accompanying salads/veg?
 
morning glory said:
Well, I'm up for seven fish courses any time! But I doubt it can be achieved here on Christmas Eve. My son is vegan which doesn't help. I could eat any of these courses except for the taramasalata (I'm intolerant for some reason). I'd have caviar instead. Would these courses be served alone or with any accompanying salads/veg?
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@morning glory

The starters or amuses boûches would include Caviar served traditional French style, a crudities platter with home made dips and a simple salad of Rucola, Lloso (oak leaf curly lettuce with a magenta rim), Raddichio & Canónigos ( A Spanish Kress), which we serve at the end of the meal, with a simple Bio Evoo & Champagne Vinegar and an amuse boûche of Boletus Eduli wild mushrooms sautéed simply not to cover up the rustic forest aromas & tastes of these delicacies with Evoo, 2 tiny cloves of garlic & fresh minced parsley. Breads, Grissini and assorted Ecological Cracker breads .. My mom and mom in law, always bake desserts, Tiramisú, one of our family favorites and my dad and sons and husband love it and my daughter in laws always do typical Catalan Christmas desserts / tiny pastries & cookies and my Mom in law does some French Provençal traditional pastries which have an extensive historical significance .. I always créate a cheese board on slate and serve with fresh seasonal Winter fruits ..

We keep portions light and small as it may sound like a small dinner, it is not when you get to number 7 !
 
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Francesca said:
The Mediterranean Seven Fish Carte, for Christmas Eve, has been somewhat lost its signficance amongst many who choose to do more modern menus for this special occasion .. However, in my family, we keep the traditions going and here is one of the cartes that we are in the process of discussing ..

Palate Opener: Sea Bream Carpaccio ..
Fresh Oysters on the Half Shell ..
Greek Taramasalata with Grey Mullet ..
A classic Saint Malo, French Blue Lobster served simply with French Butter & boiled or steamed in Sea Water ..
Half portion Italian Carnaroli Rice with Gamberi ( red prawns ) .. Or Bio Linguini Puttanesca with Anchovies or Vongole ( Clams ) ..
Peruvian Ceviche - with Sea Scallops or Crevettes Rouges .. Based on availability ..
Scottish Highland Whole Salmon ..
Click to expand...

@Herbie

This is an exceptionally extraordinary evening for most Spaniards, Italians and French Roman Catholics and we do not eat meat on the eve of the 24th. The number 7 has a religious significance ..

We change the fish and shellfish varieties from year to year and this is our carte for 2017 ..

Have a lovely holiday .. and a wonderful day ..
 
Francesca said:
This is an exceptionally extraordinary evening for most Spaniards, Italians and French Roman Catholics
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I remember having something like this at my nonna's (grandma's) house when I was young. My parents didn't keep up the tradition when she passed, and I'm afraid no one in my extended family would want to eat most of these things if I were to make them now.
 
@The Late Night Gourmet,

Wow .. The Mediterranean is steeped in profound traditions when it comes to the upcoming holidays, the 24th and 31st of December and the 6th of January ..

Pleased to hear that your Grandmother kept up this tradition ..

All my best for a Happy, Healthy holiday season ahead ..
 
ElizabethB said:
@Francesca - your traditional meal sounds lovely. I would enjoy such an amazing repast.
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@ElizabethB

Thank you very much for the lovely compliment .. It is an extraordinary occasion for us to all pitch in and sit down together and share in the festivities and the significance of this amazing time of the year ..

Have a beautiful holiday season ..
 
My plan won't include fish or meat either. It also won't include dairy for obvious reasons. Currently I actually don't know what we will be having because we have ditched the Christmas cake in favour of a pavlova of some kind make with coconut cream cream (not a typo but cream made from tinned coconut cream. It is possible to make a light whipped cream from it which I have previously successfully done.) and summer fruits. In the past we have had a particular Thai dish that had been veganised. I have the recipe uploaded on here somewhere. I can't quite remember the name, it's on the tip of my tongue.... But we had it last year on Christmas day and decided that it was easy to substantial and spicy hot to be eating when the temperature was well above 35C outside (as were we). So currently other than some kind of summer fruits pavlova I actually have no ideas yet. Perhaps @morning glory's spelt pancakes with mushrooms and... Might make an appearance bit I'll have to find something to replace the gkobe Artichokes with because I haven't seen them available here. I think I can see the beginnings of a garlic and mushroom dish, perhaps I'll just fall back onto my lovely classic mushroom and garlic tart or perhaps I'll try for a dairy free version of my mushroom medley.
 
SatNavSaysStraightOn said:
My plan won't include fish or meat either. It also won't include dairy for obvious reasons. Currently I actually don't know what we will be having because we have ditched the Christmas cake in favour of a pavlova of some kind make with coconut cream cream (not a typo but cream made from tinned coconut cream. It is possible to make a light whipped cream from it which I have previously successfully done.) and summer fruits. In the past we have had a particular Thai dish that had been veganised. I have the recipe uploaded on here somewhere. I can't quite remember the name, it's on the tip of my tongue.... But we had it last year on Christmas day and decided that it was easy to substantial and spicy hot to be eating when the temperature was well above 35C outside (as were we). So currently other than some kind of summer fruits pavlova I actually have no ideas yet. Perhaps @morning glory's spelt pancakes with mushrooms and... Might make an appearance bit I'll have to find something to replace the gkobe Artichokes with because I haven't seen them available here. I think I can see the beginnings of a garlic and mushroom dish, perhaps I'll just fall back onto my lovely classic mushroom and garlic tart or perhaps I'll try for a dairy free version of my mushroom medley.
Click to expand...

@SatNavSaysStraightOn

Sounds very lovely .. Artichokes are an autumn winter vegetable and so yes, they might be hard to find as you are coming into Summer .. As we are going into Winter ..

The spelt pancakes by Morning Glory sound like a wonderful idea too .. And of course mushrooms ..

Summer fruits are always a treasure .. I love most fruits of all seasons ..

Have a lovely day ..
 
Francesca said:
@ElizabethB

Thank you very much for the lovely compliment .. It is an extraordinary occasion for us to all pitch in and sit down together and share in the festivities and the significance of this amazing time of the year ..

Have a beautiful holiday season ..
Click to expand...

@ElizabethB

As my husband and I are both only children, our immediate family is quite small .. Twin married sons with 1 son each and my inlaws and my parents and we still both have both grand parents .. and of course my 2 daughter in laws who are also only children .. So we always do a 7 Fish Carte on the 24th as it has profound Roman Catholic religious significance for those in the Mediterranean who maintain the tradition ..

It dates back to the Roman Empire. And we are all avid lovers of the sea and its jewels ..

There are some well written historical based articles on line regarding this tradition. One of them is Wikipedia ..

Have a lovely day .. And weekend ahead ..
 
The Symbolic Feast of the 7 Fish Dishes of Christmas Eve 24 / 12:

This is called the Vigilia di Natale in Italian, or La Vigilia also, in Spanish .. It originates from Southern Italy and commemorates the waiting for the midnight birth of Jesús Christ. The long tradition of of eating seafood on Christmas Eve, dates back to the tradition of abstaining from eating meats during certain times of the year.

There are uncountable theories for the number 7, and is repeatedly used in the Bible ( 0ver 700 times).

Other theories reveal the 7 Sacraments of the The Roman Catholic Church or representing the " 7 Hills of Roma", and indicates that during ancient times 7 meal components included anchovies, sardines, dried salt cod, eels, squid, prawns, octopus, mussels and clams in Italy. Also pastas and vegetables and wine were served .. The most accurate are the 7 Sacraments according to a Priest friend.

So, for this reason, I had posted our 2017 carte, however, I have saved all our Christmas Eve cartes which include dishes such as:

Baccalà Mantecato alla Veneziana ( a dip of salt cod, Fresh herbs, salt, black pepper, garlic, and Butter ). Today is it also made with Evoo ..
Clams Casino ( Baked clams )
Fried Calamari
Sea Scallops
Octopus Salad
Linguine with anchovies, clams, crab and lobster
Insalata di Mare ( shellfish and seafood salad )
Linguine Puttanesca ( with anchovies and White wine and Capers )
Spaghetti Frutti di Mare ( seafood and Marinara Sauce )
Stuffed Seppia ( Stuffed Squid )
Smoked sea Eel

One can read:

1) A seven course feast of fish - The New York Times - Author Craig Clairborne
2) www.italiansrus.com
3) www.thefoodtable.com
4) www.italianfood.about.com
5) Wikipedia
 
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