Feast of the Seven Fishes

Clay pot clam bake

This Christmas Eve we decided to attempt the feast of the seven fishes (festa dei sette pesci), a traditional Sicilian meal. It is based on the Catholic tradition of the La Vigilia di Natale, the Vigil of the Holy Night, where some Catholics abstain from eating meat. 

I think the seven fishes correlates to the seven Sacraments in the Catholic Church.[i] However, seven is an important number in other contexts--- the seven virtues[ii]; the seven hills of Rome; seven gifts of the Holy Spirit[iii]; and the seven utterance on the cross. Some Italian-American families have 9, 12, or 13 different seafood/fishes.

The meal consists of whatever is fresh where you live and your means. The "traditional" items I came across were:  eel, smelts, salted cod (baccalà), linguine with clams (Linguine con le Vongole-- one of my favorite all time dishes), calamari, and anchovies.

I am quite excited about the meal. I am also slightly anxious-- it is a lot of work and several of the recipes I have not made before. Thankfully, I am making three of my favorites dishes (Caesar salad, clam bake, and cheesecake).

Here is what we have planned:

• Cheese antipasti (to snack on all day long); 
• Caesar salad (with anchovies) (recipe below)
• Clam bake with clams, scallops, and shrimp cooked in a clay pot (recipe below- adapted from The Clay Pot Cookbook by Georgia MacLeod Sales and Grover Sales); 
• Salt cod in tomato caper sauce[iv];
•  Lobster tail (see preparation below); 
• Crab ravioli in a lemon butter caper sauce[v];  
•  Italian cheese cake; and 
•  to top it all off we plan to have a mint (it's wafer thin....).

Caesar Salad

Steven usually makes the Caesar salad which frees me up to stress over last minute details. Here is the recipe---

Mash together one tablespoon of anchovy paste, 3 cloves of garlic (minced), and two teaspoons of champagne mustard. Then add the juice of one third of a lemon and salt and pepper and mix; slowly add two tablespoons of olive oil. Toss cut up romaine lettuce with the dressing-- adjust salt and pepper and then add shredded Parmesan cheese to taste. Prior to serving add croutons.

Caesar salad

Clam Bake

The first crisis was no clams. I went to Whole Foods yesterday to check that they would have clams today. I was assured that they would. This morning-- bright and early--- I went to Whole Foods to buy the seafood and no clams. Whole Foods did some wonderful service recovery and gave me mussels as a substitute (for free). So I guess this is a mussels bake??? 


The mussel bake is really easy- first soak your clay pot for 20 minutes and then put the following into the pot (in order)---

Clay pot clam bake

Sliced onion (one onion thinly sliced); mussels (8 oz/227 g), shrimp (1 lb/454 g shells on), scallops (8 oz/ 227 g), squeeze the juice of one lemon over the seafood and then either zest the lemon and add the zest or slice the lemon and add it, 1/4 cup (125 ml) white wine, 5 cloves of garlic (whole), fresh parsley, fresh thyme, and red pepper (we used a hot lemon pepper instead of red pepper), salt, and pepper to taste. Place in a cold oven and set oven to 450 F/ 232 C. Cook for 40 minutes. Serve with bread.  Note-- sometimes I add a piece of study fish to the mixture, clams, clam juice, lobster and/or crab. Also I add whatever fresh herbs I have-- oregano, basil, thyme, ect.... Also don't forget to rinse and dry your seafood before you put it in the pot.

Mussel bake

Lobster Tail

We had frozen lobster tails and thawed them in the refrigerator overnight. We cut the shell down the middle and added butter, garlic, parsley, lemon juice, salt, and pepper. We baked the lobster tails in a 350 F/ 177C/ Gas Mark 4 oven for 8 to 10 minutes.

Baking lobster tails

Crab Ravioli

The stuffed ravioli- much easier using wonton wrappers

I cheated with the crab ravioli- not only did I make them in the morning and put them in the refrigerator-- I also used fresh wonton wrappers. It wasn't as good as fresh pasta-- but it was quick and easy (I was really worried about the timing). I  also rinsed and drained the capers (to get rid of the brine taste). I thought the lemon butter caper sauce was wonderful and complimented the crab.

Finished raviolis

 Baccalà

Baccalà

I made the tomato sauce in the morning so it would be ready and I could just heat it up and cook the fish when the dinner was almost ready. We grow hot pepper each summer and dry them-- so we used a combination of hot pepper for the sauce. I think it makes a difference. I really liked the sauce-- the combination of slightly sweet onions with the capers and hot pepper is addictive and we will be making it again.
 

Dried peppers ready to be ground

Freshly ground and ready to add to the sauce!

---

[i] They are: Baptism, Holy Communion, Confirmation, Reconciliation, Anointing of the Sick, Holy Orders, and Marriage.

[ii] They are: faith, hope, charity, temperance, prudence, fortitude and justice.

[iii] They are: counsel, fortitude, knowledge, understanding, piety, wisdom, and fear of the Lord.

[iv] Recipe available at http://wwwepicurious.com/articlesguides/holidays/christmas/batalisevenfishes/recipes/food/views/Salt-Cod-with-Tomatoes-and-Capers-em-Baccala-alla-Vesuviana-em-350700)

[v] Recipe available at http://www.food.com/recipe/crab-ravioli-filling-with-lemon-caper-butter-356589)

Grilled Steaks Covered in Salt and Blue Cheese and Butter

The finished steaks - cheesy and buttery.

Steven and I (well mainly Steven) have developed this steak recipe over the last decade. Steven does most of the work and it is a bit of work. It is so worth it. This is our special occasion steak; it is the full fat version that other steaks are jealous of (we make sure we have biked earlier in the day so we don't feel as guilty eating it).

Preparation

Let the steaks come to room temperature

Combine equal parts softened butter and blue cheese

Butter cheese mixture

At this point light the coals for the grill.

The coals are ready.

A chimney makes lighting coals easier.

Rub Kosher salt (to taste) on one side of the steak (you will grill this side first).

Preheat oven to 500 F/ 260 C/ Gas Mark 10.

Cut butter into tablespoon pieces- one for each person eating

Create a "heat proof" place mat for each person eating-- the plates are coming out of the oven and will be HOT

Cooking (Scratch that - Grilling)

Grill the salt covered side first; when you flip the steak cover the cooked side with the cheese butter mixture.

Meanwhile place plates in oven to heat

Once the steaks are cooked to the desired temperature (you may want to under cook them slightly) take the plates out of the oven and put one piece of butter on each plate (it will sizzle) -- put the steaks on the heated plates (on top of the butter) and carefully enjoy.

Hot steak and hot plate with the butter melting on the plate

Blue cheese covered steaks

We served ours with crostini (toasted bread smothered in olive oil and garlic), a simple side salad, and Seghesio Zin. 
The bottom line: Will we have this again? Yes, we will as often as I can talk Steven into making it. 

Fleur de Sel Caramels

The finished caramels: one with salt and one without.

Candy making and baking are basically chemistry. They require following recipes and measuring ingredients (which is sometimes difficult for me - I like to improvise). Having written that, I have always been comfortable with baking and I will improvise with baking. But candy making not so much. Maybe it is the hot boiling liquids which could result in some nasty burns. Maybe it is the amount of time one spends stirring. But the results are so good that I am willing to give candy making a try. I have decided to start my foray into candy making with caramels. Full disclosure- we have made caramels before (we are crazy about caramels) so we are taking baby steps. This caramel recipe is spectacular--it makes melt in your mouth caramels.  It uses only a couple of ingredients-- so quality counts (I have notes below on two of the ingredients).

The different crystal sizes- Kosher, fleur de sel, and table salt.

Fleur de Sel

Fleur de Sel means "flower of salt". It is hand harvested sea salt, collected by scraping the top layer of salt before it sinks to the bottom of large salt pans. It is expensive (I only brought about a tablespoon for this recipe-- Whole Foods sells it by the ounce). (I did not buy the really expensive salt- hand harvested off of the coast of Brittany). It is a "wetter" salt and has a crystal size that is much larger than table salt but smaller than Kosher salt. Good substitutes would be Flor de sal, Maldon Sea Salt Flakes, and Cyprus Sea Salt Flakes. In a pinch, I think you could use Kosher salt. For an interesting article on salt tasting please see: http://www.slate.com/id/2117243/

Vanilla

Years ago I was introduced to Mexican vanilla and fell in love. I was careful to use the good vanilla only for special recipes. Then I realized that the good vanilla was one of the ways I made the recipe special. So I did some research and food out that making your own vanilla was really easy and the results were great. Now we use the good vanilla for every recipe. To make your own vanilla- buy a bottle of vodka and add two to three vanilla beans cut down the middle to the vodka. Every week shake the bottle and in two months you have a big bottle of great vanilla. I keep the beans in the vodka and it improves over time. That is all there is to it. I use the same amount of homemade vanilla as store bought vanilla in my cooking.

Caramels

2 Cups (500 ml) Heavy Whipping Cream10 Tbsp of Unsalted Butter, cut into pieces
2 Tsp Fleur de Sel
3 Cups (675 g) of Granulated Sugar
1/2 Cup (125 ml) of Light Corn Syrup
1/2 Cup (125 ml) of Water
1 Tsp of Vanilla

Line 9 by 13 (23 cm by 33 cm) baking pan with parchment and lightly oil the paper (I like to lightly oil both sides so the parchment will stick to the pan as well). I also put all of the ingredients in the sauce pans (except for the vanilla so they are ready to go).

Everything is prepped and ready to go.

 In a small sauce pan bring the cream, butter and salt to a boil and set aside.

I cut the butter into tablespoon-size pieces.

The sugar mixture starts out clear

In a large saucepan bring the sugar, corn syrup and water to a boil. Stir until sugar is dissolved then boil while swirling (not stirring) until the mixture is a light caramel color. (It feels like this step takes forever).

After the sugar mixture reaches a caramel color, add the cream

CAREFULLY stir in the cream mixture (it will boil violently). Next stir in the vanilla.  Simmer the mixture, stirring frequently until the camel registers 248 F/ 120 C on a candy thermometer. (High attitude: for every 1,000 feet/300 meters above sea level, subtract 2 F/1 C from the desired temperature).

The reaction after adding the cream mixture- Careful- it gives off a lot of steam

Boiling mixture

Carefully pour the caramel mixture into the prepared pan and cool until the caramels come to room temperature. Turn the caramels over onto wax paper and remove the parchment from the back of the caramels. Cut the caramels into bite size pieces and wrap in wax paper. We sprinkled 1/3 with fleur de sel, 1/3 we left plain, and 1/3 we dipped in chocolate. 

The caramels being poured into the prepared pan

More full disclosure- I reviewed and modified the following recipes to end up with the recipe above-- Ina Garten's recipe: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/fleur-de-sel-caramels-recipe/index.html and Epicurious's recipe: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Fleur-de-Sel-Caramels-230778

The bottom line: Will we make these again? Yes, yes we will. Based on how many we eat, we probably shouldn't. They are so so good. 

Chocolate Amaretto Bundt Cake

The finished cake. I dusted it with powdered sugar.

We are going to a Christmas party tonight and I was going to make an elaborate dessert-- but I ran out of time-- so I combined two great things- chocolate and liqueur and made a chocolate amaretto cake. It is easy to make and so yummy. It really is better the next day (the amaretto has more time to sink into the cake).  The trick to this cake is preparing the bundt pan by greasing and flouring it so the cake doesn't stick to it.

Cake Ingredients

1 (18.25 oz/ 517 g)) Package Chocolate Cake Mix

4 Large Eggs

1 (5.1 oz 145 g) Package Instant Chocolate Pudding Mix

2 Tbsp Amaretto Liqueur

1/2 Cup (125 ml) of Water

1/2 Cup (125 ml) of Vegetable Oil

1/4 Tsp of Almond Extract

Glaze Ingredients

1/2 cup (125 ml) Amaretto Liqueur

1 Cup (113 g) Sifted Powdered Sugar

1 Tbsp Melted Butter

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 F/ 176 C/ Gas Mark 4. I like to let the oven preheat for 15-20 minutes.
2.  Grease and flour a 10 inch (25 cm) bundt pan.
3. In a large bowl, combine cake mix, eggs, instant vanilla pudding, water, oil, almond extract, and 2 tablespoons of the amaretto; blend together well. I mix the ingredients together for 2-3 minutes, stopping to scrape the bowl.
4. Pour the batter into the prepared pan.
5. Bake in preheated oven for 40 to 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of cake comes out clean. Remove cake from oven and let it cool for 20 minutes.
6. While the cake is cooling make the glaze by combing the powered sugar and amaretto.
7. To remove the cake form the pan, run a knife around the edge and invert the cake onto the serving plate.
8. While the cake is still warm, poke holes in the surface. Drizzle with the Amaretto Glaze.

Note: This cake was made in a wreath bundt pan and sprinkled with powdered sugar after the glaze.

The bottom line: Will I make this cake again? Yes, I will. I have several liquor cakes I like to make and this is one of them. I also make a chocolate rum cake, a regular rum cake, and a chocolate Kahlua cake.