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Monthly Cooking Thread - Christmas Edition 2019

Posted on 12/05/2019 4:41:20 PM PST by Jamestown1630

Not being a great meat-eater, I’ve always been intrigued by the Italian-American tradition of the ‘Feast of the Seven Fishes’ - the Christmas Eve dinner consisting of seven different fish dishes.

I like seafood very much, but have had a hard time coming up with my ‘dream meal of seven’. One thing I’ve always wanted to try are Portuguese Codfish Balls (Bolinhos de Bacalhau), which I believe I first saw in an episode of the ‘Two Fat Ladies’.

These seem to be usually made from rehydrated salt cod (the dried cod can be found in ethnic stores as well as many American supermarkets), but they can be made from fresh fish, as well. They are balls of the flaked fish, held together with mashed potatoes and egg, and deep fried.

Here, from 'Spruce Eats', is a recipe using fresh fish:

https://www.thespruceeats.com/portuguese-codfish-balls-2743408

And from ‘The Portuguese American Mom’, one using the dried fish:

http://www.theportugueseamericanmom.com/codfish-cakes-bolinhos-de-bacalhau/

Another fish dish is something that I’ve recently found at Lidl – they have several prepared/frozen ‘convenience’ items that I think are very good, and I really liked a salmon with a spinach stuffing, wrapped in puff pastry: I went looking for a from-scratch recipe, and found one at ‘Home Made Italian Cooking’:

https://www.homemadeitaliancooking.com/salmon-in-puff-pastry/

Please post your favorite family Christmas food traditions - or your favorite seafood recipe!

(The painting at the top is 'Adoration of the Shepherds', by the Spanish Baroque painter Bartolomé Esteban Murillo.)

-JT


TOPICS: Chit/Chat; Food; Hobbies
KEYWORDS: christmas; cod; salmon; sevenfishes
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To: leaning conservative

Thank You!

(This thread was going sort of downhill....:-)


21 posted on 12/05/2019 6:08:46 PM PST by Jamestown1630 ("A Republic, if you can keep it")
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To: Jamestown1630

I haven’t seen Crosse and Blackwell’s products in a long time. We used their mincemeat for tarts.


22 posted on 12/05/2019 6:08:56 PM PST by kalee
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To: MayflowerMadam

That is a GREAT story.


23 posted on 12/05/2019 6:09:01 PM PST by leaning conservative (snow coming, school cancelled, yayyyyyyyyy!!!!!!!!!!!)
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To: kalee

I’ve seen the mincemeat in the supermarket as recently as a couple of years ago. But I can’t even find the plum pudding on their website.


24 posted on 12/05/2019 6:10:56 PM PST by Jamestown1630 ("A Republic, if you can keep it")
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To: Liz

I’d be in Heaven!


25 posted on 12/05/2019 6:12:11 PM PST by Jamestown1630 ("A Republic, if you can keep it")
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To: Jamestown1630

One of my great aunts on my mother’s side was an Italian war bride. Sometimes after church we went to their house for Sunday dinner. She made Sunday sauce with sausage, meatballs, and roast beef in it. Occasionally it had srolled up steak stuffed with spinach, bread crumbs, and pinenuts. I have often joked I must have been Italian in another life, because Italian food is so comforting to me, but actually it was my auntie’s cooking. She put a wholeclotta love in the food she cooked.


26 posted on 12/05/2019 6:17:08 PM PST by kalee
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To: kalee

That Sunday Sauce sounds a lot like the one my husband’s mother has always made.

Italian food is very diverse, different regions having such different staples and specialties. It’s not all pasta or other stuff in tomato sauce.


27 posted on 12/05/2019 6:26:49 PM PST by Jamestown1630 ("A Republic, if you can keep it")
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To: Lurkina.n.Learnin

“Babette’s Feast”
A French chef learns the art of Scandinavian fish preservation and how to prepare them for cooking.
A GREAT movie, BTW.

About the same time “Like Water for Chocolate” (Mexican heritage) was made. Another good movie.


28 posted on 12/05/2019 6:42:08 PM PST by V K Lee ("VICTORY FOR THE RIGHTEOUS IS JUDGMENT FOR THE WICKED")
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To: Jamestown1630
This spicy seafood pasta features large pieces of sweet lobster tossed with bucatini and a fresh, flavorful tomato sauce.

Lobster Fra Diavolo (Lobster in Spicy Tomato Sauce) / serves 6-8

Ing 2 cup evo 2 (1 1/4-lb.) lobsters, tails in 6 pieces, claws cracked open, bodies reserved, 2 cup flour 2 tsp. crushed red chile flakes tsp. dried oregano 5 cloves garlic, finely chopped 2 tbsp. tomato paste 2 cup cognac or brandy, cup seafood or fish stock, 28-oz can whole peeled tomatoes in juice, crushed, bay leaf Ks/p 1 lb. bucatini pasta, cooked 1 tbsp. chopped parsley

Instructions Heat oil in an 8-qt. Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Toss lobster pieces (including reserved bodies) in flour, shake off excess, and add to pot; cook until shells turn red, about 6 minutes. Transfer lobster pieces to a plate; set aside. Add chile flakes, oregano, and garlic to pot; cook until lightly toasted, about 3 minutes. Add tomato paste; cook until lightly caramelized, about 2 minutes. Add cognac; cook until almost evaporated, about 2 minutes. Add stock, tomatoes, and bay leaf; boil.

FINAL Reduce heat to medium-low; cook, partially covered, until thickened, about 30 minutes. Return lobster to pot; cook until cooked through, about 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Add pasta; toss with sauce.

SERVE on lge platter w/ a shower of parsley.

29 posted on 12/05/2019 6:49:19 PM PST by Liz (Our side has 8 trillion bullets; the other side doesn't know which bathroom to use.)
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To: kalee

...rolled up steak stuffed with spinach, bread crumbs, and pinenuts....
___________________________________

Braciole. Never made it, but ate it once in Little Italy and it was wonderful.


30 posted on 12/05/2019 7:05:39 PM PST by reformedliberal
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To: Liz

Seven fishes must be a recurring theme across cultures.

The British Stargazy Pie (big sardines) came out of a tradition that a lone fishing boat from a starving village put out to sea in a storm around Christmas, and was able to haul in a catch large enough to feed the village, and that there were seven different types of fish in the catch.


31 posted on 12/05/2019 7:21:13 PM PST by Calvin Locke
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To: Calvin Locke

Your post caused me to wonder about the word/number ‘seven’; and I found this:

https://mysticalnumbers.com/number-7/

(For what it’s worth :-)


32 posted on 12/05/2019 7:40:29 PM PST by Jamestown1630 ("A Republic, if you can keep it")
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To: Jamestown1630

the ‘Two Fat Ladies’.

My Dream Team! I wish I could afford a set of their DVDs. The cheapest I can find it is like $50!

Love them so much! Whenever I grill Venison or Bear steaks, I use their Blackberry sauce and it’s terrific with either.


33 posted on 12/05/2019 8:10:10 PM PST by Diana in Wisconsin (I don't have 'hobbies.' I'm developing a robust post-Apocalyptic skill set.)
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To: V K Lee; Jamestown1630

Both of your movie recommendations as AWESOME!

We should do a whole thread on foodie movies!


34 posted on 12/05/2019 8:14:43 PM PST by Diana in Wisconsin (I don't have 'hobbies.' I'm developing a robust post-Apocalyptic skill set.)
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To: Diana in Wisconsin

I used to be able to see most of the videos on YouTube or elsewhere on the Web - maybe you still can.

They were quite something; I enjoyed the droll way through which they communicated with one another while they were cooking.


35 posted on 12/05/2019 8:18:21 PM PST by Jamestown1630 ("A Republic, if you can keep it")
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To: Diana in Wisconsin

Has anyone read ‘Chocolat’, or seen the movie?

I was kind of intrigued by the book, when it came up in my BookBub recommendations.


36 posted on 12/05/2019 8:27:47 PM PST by Jamestown1630 ("A Republic, if you can keep it")
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To: Jamestown1630

Interesting.

Some of it is a bit of a stretch, though.

Never knew it was bad luck to say “seven” at the craps table.

So Hollywood came up with “seven come eleven”?


37 posted on 12/05/2019 8:28:49 PM PST by Calvin Locke
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To: Calvin Locke

A classic!!


38 posted on 12/05/2019 8:50:44 PM PST by 4everontheRight (And the story began with..."Once there was a great nation......)
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To: Jamestown1630

Saw ‘Chocolat’ on the small screen. Must have been on one of the Direct TV channels several years ago. Good movie. A candy maker changed the attitudes of an entire town. Johnny Depp, rather than playing a pirate, played a gypsy.


39 posted on 12/05/2019 9:37:32 PM PST by V K Lee ("VICTORY FOR THE RIGHTEOUS IS JUDGMENT FOR THE WICKED")
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To: Diana in Wisconsin

Another great movie: “Under the Tuscan Sun” (2003) with Diane Lane. Relationships rather than food takes center stage. Food is more down stage :-)

“Tortilla Soup” has a Mexican flavor. This movie cast Raquel Welsh and Héctor Elizondo.

“Dinner Rush” (2000)cast Danny Aiello and Sandra Bernhard
The food perspective from a restaurant and chefs. A bit of gangster and comedy. Enjoyed and wouldn’t mind watching once again.

Babette’s Feast actually made it to dinner theater. The cast cooked the meal and then served. At the time, an article was written and shown online, then removed. Fortunately, via the Wayback Machine, was able to save it:
***************************************
“Babette’s Feast” A taste of Theater Oobleck’s
unique culinary tour de force

By LEAH A. ZELDESFood Editor of
In The Loop

Isak Dinesen did not provide the recipes for
the dishes named in ``Babette’s Feast,’’ her poignant tale of a French chef
forced to flee Paris to Norway in the late 19th century. The members of Theater
Oobleck, whose sold-out dinner-theater adaptation of the story is currently
playing at the Lunar Cabaret, 2827 N. Lincoln Ave., Chicago, were therefore
forced to create their own.

The cast of the play prepares all of the
food, which they serve to the audience in the course of the
performance.

``I was very passionate in terms of the food
being classic French food,’’ says Teria Gartelos, who plays Babette, and was the
primary researcher of the menu, which includes the troupe’s own versions of
blinis Demidof, cailles en sarcophages and turtle soup.

There is no classic French recipe called
blinis Demidof. Blinis are pancakes. Prince Anatole Demidof was the husband of
Napoleon’s niece Princess Mathilde. The dishes named for him are made with
chicken.

However, the fuss made over the dish in
Dinesen’s story, Gartelos says, ``means there’s got to be something spectacular
— I figured if it’s something special and it’s got a Russian name, it must be
caviar.’’

Real fish eggs were too costly for this
production, where tickets were $17 or pay what you can. A cast member recalled a
meal in a Russian restaurant. ``He said he’d eaten a mock caviar made with
beets. That’s all I need to hear,’’ says Gartelos, who is partial to beets, and
developed a topping of gingered carrots and beets for the yeast-risen
pancakes.

Cailles en sarcophages was the most difficult
dish to develop, despite its straightforward name: ``quails in coffins.’’ The
company considered that quail was too expensive and troublesome for their
purposes.

``I researched quails and everything I could
about quails and puff pastry,’’ Gartelos says. ``(Someone) had an idea about
chicken and mushrooms. I found out that in classic French cooking quails are
almost always served with truffles.’’ So they went with chicken and
mushrooms.

``That recipe was like childbirth, pulling
that out. We tried poaching the chicken, baking the chicken — `how do we do
this?’’’ They experimented with different fillings, different sauces.

Meredith Neuman, another cast member, learned
to make puff pastry from scratch. ``I think sometimes it’s good to go into
things without knowing what you’re getting into,’’ she says. ``I didn’t know I
was supposed to be afraid of puff pastry.

``I basically have all day to do it. The
first thing I do is to make all three batches. The idea for the folding of it I
saw in a book on Russian pastry. I just played around with it.’’

A layer of phyllo dough wraps the filling
before it goes into the pastry coffin. ``It keeps the puff pastry from getting
soggy,’’ Neuman says. ``I refer to the phyllo as a shroud.’’

The pastry is shaped like a coffin, and the
plate garnished with a black-rice tombstone and vegetables like a cemetery
bouquet. ``The whole idea is that the plate should look funereal,’’ says
Gartelos. ``We wanted it to look like a crypt.’’

Cailles en
sarcophages

``Quails’’ in
coffins

Theater Oobleck’s version of Isak Dinesen’s
ironically named dish is chicken in homemade puff pastry. The group adapted the
pastry from Nick Malgieri’s ``How to Bake.’’ Nonpurists or short-of-time cooks
may prefer to substitute frozen puff-pastry sheets. The recipe should be started
one day ahead. (Recipe by Meredith Neuman, Teria Gartelos and Lisa Pawlik- with
help from David Isaacson, Kate O’Reilly, Danny Thompson and Max
Greenberg.)

Puff pastry:

15 ounces (3 3/4 sticks) unsalted
butter, chilled and cut in 1/2-inch cubes

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

3/4 cups ice water

Filling:

3 small chickens, cut up

Herbes de Provence

1 3/4 cups dry white wine

1/2 cup orange juice

7 teaspoons minced garlic

Truffle oil

1 1/2 onions, peeled

4 or 5 carrots, peeled and cut
lengthwise

2 ribs celery, cut
lengthwise

1 bay leaf

1 small bunch parsley

1/2 teaspoon whole
peppercorns

Salt to taste

2 pounds white button
mushrooms

1/2 cup butter

3 shallots, minced

1/4 cup sherry

1/4 cup flour

To form the sarcophages:

3 egg whites, lightly
beaten

1/2 package phyllo dough, thawed if
frozen

Prepare the pastry: In a large bowl, cut 6
tablespoons (3/4 stick) of the butter into the flour with a pastry blender until
the butter is more or less incorporated. Now coarsely cut the remaining butter
into the flour mixture, leaving many visible pieces of butter (about 1/4 inch in
diameter should be fine).

Dissolve the salt into the ice water. Slowly
drizzle the salted water into the flour mixture while tossing gently with a
fork. When all the water has been evenly distributed, there will remain many dry
crumbs. Don’t worry.

Empty the dough out onto a large piece of
plastic wrap. By folding up the four sides of the wrap and pressing, form a
rectangle of dough. Roll the dough out just a bit and fold the sides over the
middle, forming a piece one third the former size. Repeat, this time folding the
top and bottom to the middle. The butter and flour will not yet be working in
harmony, so you will probably have to use the plastic wrap to aid you in the
first few folds.

Puff pastry requires a somewhat Calvinist
submission of the will and a confidence that layers will appear. Roll the dough
out again and repeat the folding, lightly dusting with flour between every
layer. Discard the plastic wrap as soon as the dough holds together on its
own.

The dough will become progressively softer as
you work on it, with an almost springy texture. After 6 or 10 repetitions of the
folding and rolling, cut the dough into 18 equal pieces. Wrap each well in
plastic wrap and let rest in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours.

Make the filling: Place the chicken legs and
thighs in one baking dish, the chicken breasts in another. Rub herbes de
Provence under the skin of these chicken parts. Combine 1 1/2 cups of the wine
with the orange juice, 4 teaspoons of the garlic and a liberal sprinkling of
truffle oil. Chop the onion half and add it. Pour over the chicken parts, cover
and refrigerate overnight.

Place the chicken wings, giblets (reserve the
liver for another use) and remaining parts of the chicken in a large stockpot,
cover with cold water and bring to a boil. Skim off the foam that rises to top.
When the liquid is relatively clear, add the carrots, celery, whole onion, bay
leaf, parsley, peppercorns and salt. Reduce the heat, cover and let simmer at
least 2 hours to make a hearty stock. Strain, discard the solids, and
refrigerate the stock.

The next day, preheat the oven to 350
degrees. Skim any fat off the stock and pour enough over the marinated chicken
to cover. Bake the chicken until it’s tender and the juices run clear, about 25
minutes for the breasts, a little longer for the legs and thighs.

Reserve the juices from one of the baking
dishes, skimming the fat off the top. Skin, bone and chill the
chicken.

In a large skillet, saute the mushrooms over
medium-high heat in 1/4 cup of the butter and the remaining wine with the
shallots and remaining garlic. Spoon out and reserve the mushrooms. Add to the
mushroom juices in the pan the chicken juices and sherry. Cook until reduced by
half.

In a medium saucepan, melt 1/4 cup butter
over low heat and sprinkle in the flour. Cook and stir until light brown. Add
the reduced juices and cook until very thick. (This should yield about 1 1/2
cups.) Combine the sauce with the chicken and mushrooms.

Assemble and bake: Cut the stack of phyllo
sheets in half and lay between two damp, clean towels. Lightly dust with flour
and roll each of the 18 pieces of dough to a diameter of 6 to 8 inches. Set
aside.Place about 1/2 cup of the chicken mixture into a half sheet of phyllo and
wrap like an egg roll into a neat, tight package. Place the phyllo-wrapped
chicken on the rolled dough, and brush the egg white around it.

Fold the bottom of the dough up onto the
phyllo to form the ``foot’’ of the coffin. Then fold up the sides and top of the
dough, pinching it together to make a cross shape on the top. Repeat for each
sarcophage. Cover and chill in the refrigerator for 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Brush the
pastry with egg white and bake for 15 minutes, or till golden brown. 18
servings

Blinis Demidof a
l’Oobleck

Yeasted pancakes with gingered
carrots and beets

Theater Oobleck adapted the blini recipe from
Sheila Lukins’ ``All Around the World Cookbook.’’ The topping is their
own.

1 teaspoons active dry yeast

2 3/4 cups all-purpose
flour

3 1/4 cups warm milk

4 eggs, separated

1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4-inch chunk fresh gingerroot,
grated

4 medium beets, tops
removed

6 to 7 teaspoons prepared
horseradish

1 tablespoon cider vinegar

2 tablespoons orange juice

1/2 teaspoon sugar

1 cup grated carrots

Clarified butter

Salt and pepper to taste

Sour cream

In a large bowl, stir together the yeast, 1/2
cup of the flour and 2 cups of the milk. Cover and set aside in a warm place for
30 minutes. Let the remaining milk cool to lukewarm.

Beat the egg yolks and stir into the yeast
mixture with the remaining milk and flour and the 1/4 teaspoon salt.

Beat the egg whites to stiff peaks and fold
into the batter. Cover and let rest in a warm place to rise for 1
hour.

Cook the beets till tender in a large pot of
boiling, salted water. Peel, then grate or chop the beets and combine them with
the horseradish, vinegar, orange juice and sugar. Set aside the
refrigerator.

Meanwhile, in a large skillet over low heat,
saute the ginger and carrots in clarified butter till just warmed through.
Season with salt and pepper. Let cool.

Fold 3/4 cup of the cooled carrot mixture
into the blini batter.

Heat a nonstick skillet, brush lightly with
clarified butter and cook a few blini at a time. Make them 3 to 4 inches in
diameter. Cook for 1 to 1 1/2 minutes, then flip and cook the other side about 1
minute, until puffed and golden.

Serve warm, topped with sour cream and the
carrot-beet mixture. Makes about 40 blini, 10 to 15 servings.

Soupe a la tortue a la
Louisianne

Turtle soup

Teria Gartelos’ recipe is modeled after that
served at restaurants such as Brennan’s in New Orleans.

Stock:

3 pounds turtle meat (available from
specialty butchers such as Wild Game Inc.)

3 1/2 quarts water

2 bay leaves

2 teaspoons cayenne pepper

2 tablespoons salt

2 ribs celery

4 cloves garlic

1 onion

Coriander seed, peppercorns and dried
herbs (basil, marjoram, rosemary and thyme) to taste

Soup:

1 1/2 cups butter

2 cups chopped leeks, white part
only

1 1/2 cups flour

1/2 cup tomato puree

1 cup sherry

1/2 cup worcestershire
sauce

3 eggs, hard boiled,
chopped

1/2 cup chopped parsley

Juice of 1/2 lemon

Prepare the stock: In a large stockpot, cover
the turtle with the water and bring to a boil. Skim the foam that rises to the
top until the liquid runs almost clear. Add the remaining stock ingredients,
reduce the heat, cover and simmer till you have a nice, hearty stock, at least 2
hours.

Strain and refrigerate the liquid. Remove the
turtle meat from the bones; cube and chill the meat. Discard the remaining
solids.

Make the soup: In a large pot, melt the
butter over low heat and add the leeks; cook slowly until the leeks are
transparent. Whisk in the flour until thick. Add the tomato and cook 5
minutes.

Skim any fat off the top of the turtle stock
and add 10 cups of it to the leek mixture, along with the sherry and
worcestershire. Cook 15 minutes. Add the turtle meat and the eggs and simmer 12
more minutes. Stir in the parsley and lemon juice and serve. 15
servings.

Theater Oobleck also makes a vegetarian
version without any cooking alcohol: substitute 2 pounds chopped button
mushrooms and 1 pound chopped portobella mushrooms for the turtle. Add a chopped
apple and pear to the stock, and substitute 1/2 cup cider vinegar for the
sherry.
******************************************
Some recommended on various “Best of” lists.
Bridesmaids (2011)
Chocolat (2000)
Diner (1982)
Dinner Rush (2000)
Eating Raul (1982)
Fatso (1980)
Frankie and Johnny (1991)
French Kiss (1995)
Fried Green Tomatoes (1991)
In Her Shoes (2005)
Julie and Julia (2009)
Like Water for Chocolate (1992)
Moonstruck (1987)
My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002)
A Private Function (1984)
Sabrina (1954)(*my own addition*)
Soul Food (1997)
Simply Irresistible (1999)
The Help (2011)
Tortilla Soup (2001)
Under the Tuscan Sun (2003)
Woman on Top (2000)

Bon Apetite.


40 posted on 12/05/2019 10:28:40 PM PST by V K Lee ("VICTORY FOR THE RIGHTEOUS IS JUDGMENT FOR THE WICKED")
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