By Chef Joseph Massaglia
I believe traditions are the fabric of our lives. As our children grow and marry, we add some of their spouses’ traditions to ours. A few things may change slightly but one thing that remains constant to all Italian families is the Feast of the Seven Fishes, or as we say in Italian, Festa dei sette pesci. It is a very special part of my family’s Christmas Eve celebration, and it would not be Christmas Eve without it.
The ancient tradition of eating fish on Christmas Eve goes back to the Roman Catholic custom of not eating meat on Fridays and certain holidays. According to multiple sources, the number seven for the seven fishes goes way back to ancient times and possibly relates to the number of days it took for the Creation, the number of deadly sins, and/or the seven sacraments to name a few. However, some people celebrate with up to 13 fishes to represent the 12 apostles and Jesus.
Christmas Eve day is a day of fasting and vigil. Back in Italy my family would gather after Midnight Mass to break our fast and enjoy the Feast of the Seven Fishes as we came home to celebrate the birth of Jesus with family and friends. Today, most italian American families go to an earlier Mass, and then have their meal before midnight.
The feast can be seven courses, each with one fish represented, it can be several courses with more than one fish in each course, or there are even some people who do one big stew with seven or more fishes in it – but that is not done very often. However, no matter how you prepare the meal, you must have at least seven fishes represented.
Every region in Italy has its own way of preparing the Feast of Seven Fishes, and with 20 regions you can imagine the diversity. The people of the Southern region, which is known for its great variety and abundance of fish and seafood available to it, prepare the fish in many ways.
Traditionally they serve a first course of fried appetizers such as scallops, the famous smelts – those little fishes that are fried and eaten whole – calamari, shrimp and conch, also known as sea snail fritters.
For the second course, many people serve shellfish with pasta, preferably linguine, and include clams, mussels and sometimes conch with marinara sauce (marinara means “of the sea”). People in the south also use scarfano (or scorpionfish) and escraves (very large shrimp in their shells), both of which are abundant in the south.
The third course is usually salted cod (also known as baccalà) mainly done Livornaise style (from the city of Livorno), with garlic, capers, some black olives, scallions, plum tomatoes, parsley, anchovies and wine simmered in a seafood stock. This is a famous and a very popular dish.
If you’ve never had salted cod you’re missing a great treat. However, it is time-consuming to prepare. You have to soak it many times to get rid of all the salt, which in ancient times was used to preserve the fish before refrigeration. If you don’t want to use salted cod in your recipe, you can substitute fresh Alaskan cod.
I grew up in Northern Italy, and we pretty much followed the southern style for our family feast, but we added carp (or river trout) to our dinner.
In Italy, gifts are not open on Christmas morning, but traditionally are opened on the Epiphany, January 6. So, if the kids have been good during the holidays they are going to get their gifts brought to them by the La Befana – the witch riding the broom. She comes down the chimney covered in soot, leaves the gifts, and then sweeps up the soot with her broom before she leaves. In America we leave Santa Claus milk and cookies; in Italy we leave La Befana wine and a few bites of food.
If you don’t want to cook your own Feast of Seven Fishes, I again will be serving a traditional Feast of Seven Fishes dinner on Christmas Eve at Mama Mia’s, from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. We will have two limited seatings, reservations only, with appropriate safety guidelines in place.
My Feast of Seven Fishes dinner also will be available for take-out. You will get each course, prepared with care, so that you can gently reheat the items at home at your leisure. Our standard menu and pizzas also will be available.
On New Year’s Eve I will be offering a celebratory ten course dinner to ring in 2023. There will be two seatings and reservations are required. Take-out will be available for dinner as well as our standard menu and pizzas.
My family, my staff and I wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a 2024 filled with good health, hope and much joy for the new year to come.
Buon Natale!
Joe’s Table for Two radio show airs Saturday mornings from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on WOND 1400 AM. Website: joestablefortwo.com. Facebook: Joe’s Table for 2. Contact Joe: joestablefortwo@gmail.com.
