In this week’s New York Times, Dan Pelosi (a.k.a. @grossypelosi) writes about the Feast of the Seven Fishes, that multicourse seafood dinner served in Italian American households on Christmas Eve. The classic menu serves up seven different fishes in seven different dishes, but Mr. Pelosi has recalculated the math to subtract the drama that making the feast can generate, as depicted so vividly in Season 2 of “The Bear.”
His formula? “Prepare seven fishes, but not seven dishes,” he writes. Ingenious. He delivers four glorious recipes, two of which combine multiple sea creatures. There’s a garlicky seafood salad, breadcrumb-topped clams oreganata, golden fried anchovy balls and, as the centerpiece, an ebullient entrée of mussels and cod bucatini with spicy tomato sauce. Any one of these could be an excellent addition to your holiday table, and the four of them together indeed total up to a fishy feast to remember.
Featured Recipe
Mussels and Cod Bucatini With Spicy Tomato Sauce
But perhaps you’d prefer turf over surf? In that case, my garlicky beef tenderloin with orange horseradish sauce is both deluxe and very simple to make. A good cut of beef like tenderloin doesn’t need much by way of fancy garnishes or involved technique. A quick sear to brown the surface and a brief stint in the oven will cook the meat to rosy perfection. Then, if you like, you can add a quick, rich sauce of crème fraîche spiked with pungent horseradish and some orange zest to heighten the juicy beef.
On the side you could offer Hetty Lui McKinnon’s new recipe for warm roasted carrot and barley salad, a colorful mix of roasted carrots seasoned with honey and lemon, then tossed with nubby barley and a spiced tahini dressing. This would also make a satisfying meatless meal during the week, either before or after the holiday.
Another excellent entry in the vegetable-forward weeknight canon is Kay Chun’s caramelized brussels sprouts pasta with toasted chickpeas. This 20-minute delight combines crispy, olive oil-toasted chickpeas with browned shreds of brussels sprouts, capers and Parmesan, all tossed with tagliatelle and enlivened with lemon.
During these long, cold and dark winter nights, you might find yourself gravitating toward something fragrant and slow-simmered. Sohui Kim and Rachel Wharton’s Korean spicy chicken stew (as adapted by Sara Bonisteel) seasons chicken parts and potatoes with tongue-tingling gochugaru, fish sauce, garlic and radish kimchi, all gently stewed. Serve it with a bowl of rice for a warming and very cozy meal.
For dessert, how about even more coziness in the form of a creamy, caramel-topped flan? Rick Martínez’s recipe, inspired by Mexican tres leches cake, combines three different milks — evaporated, sweetened condensed and whole — to give the creamy pudding an especially deep flavor. Because flan can (and must) be made at least a day in advance, it’s a perfect way to end any holiday feast without added day-of stress.
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That’s all for now, I’ll see you on Wednesday.
