Winter HolidaysFish For La Vigilia, Or: by Kyle Phillips Ideas for the Seven FishesEvery year come December I get requests for the "Seven Fishes Dinner," from people who want menus and symbolisms. Alas, there isn't a single answer:
On the one hand, what's available varies, and therefore so do the dishes.
On the other, the wealth of the people preparing the meal also has an impact on what's served: The authors of Altamura Antichi Sapori note that in their town the well-to-do enjoy roast capitone (eel), while the less fortunate make do with baccalà.
And now to some ideas: Anchovies might strike you as an odd choice for starting out a Christmas Eve Dinner, but this is one of the standard Neapolitan Christmas Eve recipes, and you may find yourself making it fairly often thereafter, because it's both tasty and economical. Salt Cod might also strike you as an odd beginning for Christmas Eve, but again this pasta sauce is quite good, and is a perfect way to begin festivities. The recipe is Pugliese. To say this is a fish sauce is like saying Michelangelo's Davide is a sculpture. The statement is true, but doesn't come close to conveying the awed delight you'll feel when tasting one or admiring the other. If you're going to serve one fish in Naples on Christmas Eve, it had better be eel. The meal wouldn't be right without it. It wouldn't in some parts of Puglia either. They use a slightly simpler recipe. Along the Northeastern Adriatic Coast cooks prefer to fry their eel, and also fry other fish as well, to vary the flavors and enrich the platter. Though I have seen a couple of clawed lobsters in Italian markets, the vast majority are of the spiny variety, which, according to some aficionados, tastes better than the clawed variety. No matter; if you have to make due with clawed lobsters the results will still be wonderful, and this Neapolitan dish will be a star of your dinner. This is an extraordinarily rich, elegant Neapolitan fish salad, and will be a perfect interlude in a leisurely Christmas Eve Dinner. While roast fish is a delightful treat if properly cooked, on Christmas Eve you may want to do something slightly different, and this recipe is as tasty as it is unexpected. The Oranges really do add a delightful touch. The Cartoccio technique is extraordinarily versatile: You prepare your fish, adding whatever flavorings you like -- feel free to modify the recipe -- wrap it in a packet, and bake it. The wrapping keeps all the armoas inside, where they enrich the fish, and your guests open the fish at table. Great fun for all! Despite what one might think, fish roasted in salt doesn't come out overly salty. To the contrary, the salt barely penetrates the fish, while doing a beautiful job of sealing in the moisture. The end result is a perfectly cooked, beautifully textured fish, and this could well become a family favorite.
Buon Natale! | 
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