Feast of the Fishes

Well, my favorite day of the year has arrived - the feast of the 7 5 fishes, where we eat seven five different fish on christmas eve. I became envious of a co-worker, Joel, who rhapsodized at length on the various fish preparations that his lovely wife Joy would create for Xmas eve. Joel, a jewish kid from "joisey" was married to an Italian, and he made me want to be italian too :-)
So, my beautiful wife and I decided to make it a custom of our own, despite the fact that neither of us is Italian. I am Irish and my wife is american of swedish heritage mostly.
So for the last number of years, we try and do 7 fish over the course of one day. We generally start with  smoked salmon and then it largely depends upon what the fishmonger has available, in our case this year, Wegman's of Scranton, PA.
First up, smoked salmon, served with capers, on a bed of arugula, and lemon, with a side of apple chipotle bar-b-q sauce (Truett-Hurst winerey in Sonoma). Accompanying this was either a little dram of  Aberlour 12 year old scotch, or a glass of 1998 RH Coutier champagne.

Either one went deliciously with the smoked salmon.
Following that we had some Barrier Island oysters, from Chesapeake Bay. Again sampled with our glass of champagne, a bit of lemon, and the bbq sauce as an optional side. Mmmm.

Next up .. moules marinere, cooked in a little dry white wine from Savoie (Domaine Idylle "Cruet")

And here is the end result. Edited the recipe slightly to remove the shells at the end, and add a soupcon of cream to the mussel broth, butter, garlic, and shallots

After that it was rest and take a break for a while.
Ok, break over. Next up, some grilled calamari, a la "Locanda Locatelli" which is just brushing the squid with some garlic, oil, and seasoning with salt and pepper.

 After that it was onto the Tuna, similarly prepared. Simple yet superb. To accompany these, we had a '95 Chablis from Robin ... a grand cru "Le Clos" and it hit all the notes that we had hoped for. Quite herbal, with hints of sage, vanilla, melon and a nice fatness that complimented the fatty grilled tuna. Arty shot is courtesy of Nikki :-)

Once we had finished the five fish, we were done. The portions were too generous for two, so we had to call it a night. A nice sea salt chocolate with a glass of Dow's vintage port, and we ended the night on a high. Next year we plan to make it Seven :-)

Happy Christmas to all.

Love,

KnN