Feast of the Seven Fishes Blog | Italian Christmas, Italian Food, Cooking, Recipes and Traditions

The Feast is on

We are anticipating a somewhat less raucous party this year - several family members cannot get into town for one reason or another - and we've already brought our A-game to the Festival a couple weeks ago.  So we're taking it somewhat easy - though that's a relative term when you're married to Shannon.  Tonight's menu:

• Anchovies sauteed in garlic and olive oil, then served on fresh bread with provolone layered on top.
• Tuna pasta
• Something Shannon found called Italian street pasta.  More on that later - although there will be grilled shrimp served over it - I believe.
• Whiting salad - although whiting is an ever-present tradition in my family this is a new dish.
• Smelt - rolled in flour, salt and pepper and then fried in oil and hot pepper seeds in a cast iron skillet.
• Deep fried baccala fritters.
• Raw oysters and clams.

Excuse me.  I can't type anymore.  I've got to go get something to eat.
PS - we're going to try and get more stuff up today - including the festival recipes which did not get posted for technical reasons.  In the event we don't get back - Buon Natale!

Fante's

This just in from my younger brother Galen - one of the usual suspects destroying our kitchen every December 24th in pursuit of the Feast. And when it comes to Fante's I second everything he says here!

Bob

"

It is almost Christmas and I am looking forward to my trip to Fante’s in the heart of south Philadelphia, PA. to do a little gift shopping for friends and relatives. Since arriving in the area 12 years ago, I have found it a great place to shop for all who enjoy cooking and I truly enjoy my interaction with the staff. Located in the famous Italian Market area of south Philadelphia, Fante’s is a treasure trove of cookware. If you are not fortunate enough to be in the area and still want to take advantage of Fante’s enormous inventory , visit their website at www.fantes.com . Since Feast of the Seven Fishes came out, Fante’s has regularly stocked the book and been one of our biggest supporters. So thanks Mariella and crew - we'll see you in a couple weeks!

"

The 2009 Feast of The Seven Fishes Festival is coming up

The 2009 Feast of the Seven Fishes Festival is coming up, and we have a new video to get everybody excited. What do you think? This has been a hectic year for all of us, but we're really looking forward to this day.

Feast of the Seven Fishes Stories in the New York Times

It really seems like this has been somewhat of a breakthrough year when it comes to the Feast of the Seven Fishes. Many of you sent us your stories about your Feast celebrations, we also read many blog entries about such and even the New York Times had to stories about the Feast.

Abbondanza
In 7 Fish (More or Less), a Holiday Tradition

And for those of you who remember, here's a 1987 article written by Craig Claiborne.
A Seven-Course Feast of Fish

After this 1987 story, it took the New York Times 21 years to write about the Feast of the Seven Fishes again. It's pretty cool they didn't just write one story, but two. Thank you all for sharing your memories.

The Big Day

In a perfect world I'd bombard you folks with pictures and video of today's preparations - but I'm not so sure that's going to happen.  We have been absolutely swamped getting ready for the Feast - and the fact I've been under the weather hasn't helped.  Last night I rallied enough to help Shannon make a ton of fresh pasta for the anchovy pasta dish.  And we seem to have pulled together everything we need otherwise.  This year's menu is a bit slimmed down - we've already done baccala twice for demos and decided to go easy on ourselves.  So we're having smelt and calamari and a variety of fried fish and the anchovy pasta and oysters and - I think - a grilled octopus.  We may not have seven separate fish but we'll for sure have seven dishes so I think we're safe.  I just hope we find a minute to upload some visuals - but if not during the day for sure in the days ahead.  Here's hoping your own Feast of the Seven Fishes is a memorable and delicious one.

Buon Natale!
Bob

How to cook the Feast of the Seven Fishes for under $80

Today the Early Show Saturday Edition challenged its "Chef on a Shoestring" Dave Pasternack to prepare the traditional Feast of the Seven Fishes dinner on a budget of only $80. Here are some of the dishes that Dave,  executive chef and owner of the New York restaurant Esca and co-author of  The Young Man and the Sea: Recipes and Crispy Fish Tales from Esca, cooked up:

Baccala Salad

Baked Clams

Sicilian-Style Swordfish

Collard Greens and Cannellini Beans

Seafood Linguine

Affogato

Click here to see the recipes behind Dave's work.  And for those of you more visually inclined, here's a video of the CBS segment.

Here is how Dave did, budgetwise.

Baccala Salad:
salt cod $9.99
yellow onion .28
leek $1.99
celery $1.99
white wine $4.95
apple .89
lemon .67
fingerling potatoes $2.99
scallion .79
parsley .79
TOTAL = $25.33

Baked Clams:
little neck clams $4.29
horseradish $2.00
bread crumbs $1.19
lemon .59
TOTAL = $8.07

Sicilian-Style Swordfish:
Swordfish $10.99
Lemons .59
TOTAL = $11.58

Collard Greens:
collard greens .99
cannellini Beans .79
ham hock $2.29
TOTAL = $4.07

Seafood Linguine:
linguine .99
pancetta $4.49
dried red chilies $2.25
shrimp $4.00
mussels $1.49
scallops $3.50
lobster $7.95
clam juice $1.29
garlic .39
TOTAL = $26.35

Affogato:
espresso powder $1.99
gelato or ice cream $1.99
TOTAL = $3.98

TOTAL COST = $79.38!

Feast of the Seven Fishes Reviews

Over the years, we have made a big effort to connect with our peers across the country (Feast of the Seven Fishes Festival, our road tour last year and on the web.) Since our story is a story about family, we believe that the best way to grow our brand and business is by building meaningful relationships with people who care about our efforts. We're always happy to give away a review copy of our book to bloggers, sign books in Italian Delis and grocery stores across the country and are always happy to participate in events and festivities. So in this blog post, we're going to list some of the reviews that we have gotten and say thank you to all of you who have supported us over the years. Thank you. 

"Through attitude, romance, laughter, sarcasm and drama, Robert Tinnell teases the reader with a brief, but much enjoyed, tale. In a text section, he describes the real small town where he grew up and the real family members who inspired the characters in this story. At the end there is a short collection of family recipes described in the book. "

"Robert Tinnell's Feast of the Seven Fishes has taken on a life of it's own.  It began as his family's story of Christmas Eve, preparing seven fish dishes.  It became a 'graphic novel', or strip, telling such an engaging story, appreciated by so many, that it is slated to be filmed."

"We've talked about cookbooks before on the blog, but this is the first one we haven't actually cooked out of yet. Then again, it isn't often that a cookbook gets a jacket endorsement from Stan Lee.

'

"It's a fun read, the characters in the book might remind you of some of your own relatives, it did me.

But more than that, I walked away with the thought of how certain foods and traditions connect us all with fond memories and feelings that stay with us throughout our entire lives, no matter what nationality or culture we're a part of."

More coming soon.

You can buy our book at Amazon.com.