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
Artichoke and Potato au Gratin
CHEESES 2 cups grated Parm / 3 cups grated Gruyere
POTATOES 3 pounds thin-sliced (about 1/8-inch), Yukon Gold
ASSEMBLY Layer in greased oblong baker 1/2 sliced potatoes rows overlapping; s/p; 2 minced gar/cl.
Add single layer 6 c drained marinated arti/hearts; 1/3 cheeses; drizzle w/ 1/2 QT h/cream; rest potatoes overlapping; s/p.
Drizzle w/ 1/2 qt h/cream; then rest cheese. Cover w/ buttered foil. Bake almost done 350 deg 45-60 min
(potatoes easily pierced w/ knife). Uncover; bake/melt cheese golden, 15-20 min. Cool slightly on rack before serving.
Thanks! :)
“My husband considers ‘Die Hard’ a Christmas movie”.
So do I!!
Although ‘It’s A Wonderful Life’ is the best.
I prefer ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’.
(But, ‘live and let live’ is a good policy when it comes to positively navigating a marriage :-)
I was always intrigued by this very strange movie, but my husband wasn’t interested at all (Warning: NOT a ‘Christmas Movie’):
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091647/
Ha! Saw “Die Hard” for the 1st time a few months ago & I agree with your husband. Great Christmas movie!
Fantastical & magical is why GG Marquez leaves me lost & cold. My mother cannot understand that as she loves him. Different strokes & all that.
There are lots of different ways of thinking, and different ways of seeing ‘the world’.
We believe that we’re all here in the same ‘reality’; but every one of us observes and experiences a slightly different ‘world’.
Excellently stated.
You have obviously never tasted lutefisk and lefse made by an older Norwegian cook! It was very mild. With mashed potatoes spread on lefse, melted butter POURED ALLL OVER and lutefisk wrapped in the warm, homemade lefse , it was marvelous!! Everybody loved it. Since then, I have prepared any white fish the same way. Spread the lefse with the mashed potatoes, place the fish on top and roll it up. Dip the carb heavy creation in melted butter and commence moaning as the butter drips down your hands. In the local churches, they have lutefisk, lefse and meatball dinners all season long. Big fund raiser.
I have had lefse. It was a rolled pastry as I remember it. It was good. I would try the lutefisk now that I’m older but I will reserve judgment until then.
I was a regular at the Sons Of Norway Viking Hall in Anchorage when I was married to a Norwegian. My husband’s aunt made amazing potato lefse and it’s one of my favorite things in the world — smothered with butter. Krumkake, too. Never could do the lutefisk, though.
Remembering back in the 70s, there was a Lobster Bisque dry soup mix (Lipton’s?) that was pretty good. They didn’t make it very long. Guess we were the only ones who bought it.
Kassem’s copy cat recipes:
https://www.villagevoice.com/2010/11/01/make-the-original-soupmans-seafood-bisque-sort-of/
Excellently stated.
This looks wonderful & delicious! Could it be frozen, go on a 10 hour road trip & the refrigerated? Probably would be baked the next day.
Then
Never tried it frozen.....so I cant speak with authority.
This is just a guess.
One possibility.......maybe freeze it unbaked well-wrapped.
Transport it....fridge....then bake next day.
Something for those who need respite from the Christmas rush.
A site to browse for cooking blogs:
https://blog.feedspot.com/home_cooking_blogs/
Great; Thanks!
(I’m almost certain that tarragon is part of the ‘more or less’ not divulged :-)
Speaking of ‘Christmas Rush’, I’ve been shopping today, and tonight I’m wrapping.
If you’re at a loss for a gift for your Freeper or like-minded Friend, here’s an idea - (I see now that this has been posted before, but today on OAN I saw it for the first time) -
Trumpy Bear!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9qv8RSreIM
It is about the triumph of a marriage over the forces that would pull them apart.
It is about the victory of the family over the forces of greed.
It is about a man who made a mistake learning to forgive himself.
It is about a small child getting her Christmas wish.
It is about a media personality getting socked in the face.
You really can not get more Christmasy then the warm glow that spreads through you when you see a journalist getting popped in the nose.
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