“As a child I never did understand why we had to eat fish on Christmas Eve and why there had to be seven different kinds. I was not a big fish fan and most of my cousins felt the same way. As the entire family gathered to celebrate we often made faces as Baccala and Mussels and Tilapia fillets adorned the table. We put up with this mainly because it was Christmas Eve and we didn’t want to upset the adults. From Gracie’s Christmas Eve Recipe Book – Night of the 7 Fishes
As I got older I really began to love that tradition. I made my best attempt the past years to pass that along to my children as well. However, like me at their age, they make faces when the seafood is brought out and ask if I made pasta, or pesto or gnocchi. So with that, my “Night of the & Fishes” has turned into 3 fishes and a bunch of other stuff. Here’s what I’m making:
Antipasto:
As with just about ant special occasion we start out with Gracie’s Farmer’s Antipasto. I talked about this in my Thanksgiving post, so if you missed it or need a refresher, Click Here.
Next up Shrimp Wrapped in Prosciutto. I love this dish and for some strange reason have not made it in a few years. In my Christmas Eve Recipe book I talk about how you need to make sure you make enough. If you have any big eaters coming over, keep an eye on them as this dish will quickly disappear.
Preparation:
This is one of those dishes that you need to buy according to your needs. If you having 20 people than make 40 . The below ingredients will make enough for 10 people, unless of course you invite me over.
- 20 Jumbo Shrimp, peeled and deveined
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 1/2 cup white wine
- 20 thin slices of Prosciutto
Preheat your oven to 450 degrees. You may have to make this in stages, so in a large sauté pan warm the olive oil and add the shrimp. Sauté quickly until they turn pink, about 2 minutes. Remove from the pan and add white wine to deglaze, soaking up the brown bits on the pan bottom. Remove the pan from the heat.
Wrap each shrimp in a piece of Prosciutto and place on a baking dish. Place in the oven to help seal the juices from the meat over the shrimp, about 2 minutes.
Meanwhile reheat the pan juices and arrange the shrimp on a serving platter and top with the pan juices. The recipe says to serve immediately, which should be no problem as your guest will be lining up waiting.
First Course (Primo):
In a traditional Italian meal the first course or Primo usually consists of something heavier than the antipasto but lighter than the main dish. It is almost always a hot dish. My second daughter married and settled in Alabama some years ago, but always comes North for Christmas. Her one and only request is for Gnocchi in Pesto Sauce.
| Need our great Pesto Recipe with Gracie’s secret ingredient, then CLICK HERE! |
Along with the Gnocchi, there are others who need a special dish. So I’m planning a simple pasta with Marinara Sauce to keep my son happy and Linguini with White Clam Sauce, to get me in another seafood. Here’s our Recipe:
Ingredients:
• 4 tbsp. olive oil
• 3 tbsp. butter
• 4 cloves chopped garlic
• three 6.5 oz. cans of chopped clams
• 1 1/2 cups of reserved juice from the clams
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 1/2 cup chopped Italian parsley
• fresh grated Parmesan
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 lb. Linguini
Heat the olive oil and butter in a large skillet over medium heat and sauté the onions and garlic until softened about 3 or 4 minutes. Add the reserved clam juice and the wine – raise the heat, and bring it to a vigorous simmer, then lower the heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Begin cooking the Linguini in a pot of salted water.
Drain the linguine when it’s done al dente. Taste the sauce for salt, then add the clams, the linguine, and the parsley, and simmer together for 5 minutes, until the sauce is mostly absorbed. Serve with grated Parmesan
Round Three (Secondo):
Depending on what region or area of Italy you originated from this is usually considered the main or most important course. Think meats like pork, stew, steak or sausage. On Christmas Eve it’s seafood. My Choice this year Sole Stuffed with Crabmeat. Here’s the recipe from Gracie’s Christmas Eve Recipe Book – Night of the 7 Fishes.
Ingredients -Serves 4 to 6: 
- 6 Fillets of Sole about 6 ozs. each
- 1 can flaked crab meat*
- 1 small onion – finely chopped
- 4 celery sticks – finely chopped
- 4 tbsp. of butter
- 1/4 cup fresh Italian parsley
- 1/2 cup of breadcrumbs
- juice from 1/2 a lemon
- 1/4 tbsp. paprika
* For purist go for the flaked crab meat. Mom often times used imitation crab meat sold in frozen one pound packages. Very hard to tell the difference, but a lot cheaper.
Preparation:
Chop the onion and celery into fine pieces. Sauté the onion and celery with butter in a frying pan until the vegetables are soft and tender. Add parsley to the frying pan and stir in breadcrumbs and crab meat, together with lemon juice.
Grease the bottom of a good sized baking dish with butter. Spread the crab meat mixture over the sole fillets and roll them up, placing them in the baking dish seam facing down. Sprinkle with paprika and add a dab of butter atop each fillet roll. Bake in a 400 degree oven for 25 minutes.
Side Note:If you can’t get Sole, Tilapia was a good substitute.
So that pretty much wraps up my Christmas Eve. Of course there will be many side dishes, usually vegetables or salads and plenty of desserts. When it’s time to head on over to church, everyone is making excuses or faking a deep sleep.
I truly wish you the best wishes this Holiday season and whatever you are celebrating I hope it’s filled with Joy, Love and Peace!
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