Feast of the Seven Fishes

if you lived in Boston Massachusetts the last place you'd expect to find Mayor Tom Menino would be here cooking shrimp except Christmas Eve when he like millions of Italians all over the world take time out to celebrate La Vie Julia one of their favorite Christmas Eve traditions the Feast of the Seven Fishes our celebration began with a quick trip to the mayor's favorite Italian market to pick up the baccala yeah Holly fell oh no no Mary yet of course I am you know good to see you where's your dad in the back of Michael ah he's that back with the bus go come on back a lot Michael um I'm fine then easily wall see benissimo Graham's here good to see you I'm your angel off to go to me how are you busy very busy very busy this is about time of the year you know it's never love for people being this counter and do what we do oh this is a drive baccala which what I do I put in water 48 hours before I start to sound and people they take home and they still put them in water and this will be nice and ready for that yeah beautiful fresh fish but that's not how it starts out well it's a dry comes dry some of this buckle uh comes either from Canada or from other place where the cold weather is yeah so and we bring it in every year and it's a big seller right very sorry for Libya he yes and this can be done in different ways yeah you know you can do fry you could do salad I think we should take a couple pounds and say compounds where this one sack okay okay I can wrap it up for you right now okay now you can take effect thank you and then once we have it made you know maybe we'll save you a little sample how's that I'll appreciate that so mayor I hope you have some ideas on how you want this done I do I have very specific ideas okay my mother used to make this all the time for sure on Christmas Eve the best meal - yeah this looks a lot different than that doesn't it once rehydrate look up beautiful you got to get all the salt off though is that otherwise a to solid consult be alright yeah about enough hey if that's not for me yeah more than up we're gonna put it with other things there you go I'm Jane joy bonus after donkey ollie thank you in your place doesn't it look tender looks very tender looks very good I mean the bike allows a traditional Christmas Eve if you know it says buckle is a salt cod that you know my mother used to have 24 hours 48 hours take soak it and then I Christmas Eve she used to make a buckle a salad it's just wonderful no we're gonna make a salad today mayor what were you at home as well and you can see now how that is just a toast it's easy to flake see we eat it like that now we could but we're gonna do a nice salad with it so we're gonna let that cool down a little bit okay we're going to use our hands if you're Italian and you're a cook you've got a uz lemony Dan's not just a cook to talk too talkative okay so what we need with this salad is some celery so I'm going to have them cut that up just dice it up and while we're doing that we should tell people that you know this is for the la vigilia which is the the feast that happens on Christmas Eve and in Italy especially southern Italy you have the Feast of the Seven Fishes now I have to tell you I was just in Italy a couple weeks ago and I was asking some friends in northern Italy about what they cook for la vie Julie I said you do the Feast of the Seven Fishes they all looked at me like I had horns they really had never heard of the Feast of the Seven Fishes in northern Italy which that kind of makes sense don't you think yeah I mean some regions have different conditions and I came over just growing up as a little boy and tight back my grandmother grandfather talking about 7 fishes very special it was a black fast for the Roman Catholics and we could eat fish but what the Seven Fishes me y7 well mayor that is a loaded question you know that's almost a political question because well the Seven Fishes could mean a number of things to a variety of people depending on who you talk to there's always the last full week of Advent seven days before Christmas that could mean why we have the Feast of the Seven Fishes there is also the seven deadly sins that's another reason why we could have the Feast of the Seven Fishes and you have your reason which is the seven sacraments the seven Sacher capricious told me that recently that that's why we have the Seven Fishes on Christmas Eve when you think about it most of the immigrants who came to this country came from southern Italy and they brought those traditions with them so obviously they brought a fish culture with them because if you are from the south fish is a big part of the diet big part of the Mediterranean diet and this would make sense so I think that this was something that travelled with immigrants to this country they embellished it however they wanted to and it became the fish of the Feast of the Seven Fishes so here are our potatoes so I'm going to put them right in there how you doing on that all right my peppers are my okay celery you kept em you don't need you all of it just I mean I probably need about 1/2 a cup of that 1/2 a cup so while you're doing that I'm going to do garlic so what are some of the other types of fish dishes you like to do for Christmas Eve well I do what Allah the shrimp yeah shrimp scampi fried shrimp lobster salad smelt now that was that's my mother's favorite smell oh not to me ma'am people like smell I think speltzer a wonderful dish I always enjoyed especially on Christmas Eve okay that's good I love that knife you're using it's a wonderful knife I've Morna many years ago okay so now that we have that why don't we flake up this fish while you're doing that I'm going to really I'm going to work with El Diablo Diablo on me okay oh go so all you want to do is you gotta use your hands for this oh my god take it apart leave it at big pieces like that this is from my garden oh yeah yeah how hot do you like it not till my hell you want off one leg at two hat okay I'm not gonna put too much in just a little bit of heat it's nice you believe this out if you didn't want the red pepper in this you could just leave it out I sometimes I put a red pepper paste in this that I don't get real hot so yeah my list a few little dips here and then we're going to put in some parsley some extra virgin olive oil a little bit of vinegar or lemon juice which is good which do you prefer mom juice lemon juice me too okay that goes in there and then let's get some parsley I think it's this is this has got a lot of flavor going on now whenever I use parsley and this always think of my mother because my mother always used the stems to to use the stems now sometimes we do she says all the flavors in this oh you say it's a little God in my yard and fresh vegetables so what makes this dish is using really fresh ingredients so so nice of Emilio to give us the baccala and Angelo that was such a great store wasn't it right no Italian no well really you're going to toe italiano that's for sure I'm going to add some extra virgin olive oil to this beautiful I'm gonna have the first taste of this mayor and then I like with this keepers in brine that just adds a nice spray details little salad how colorful are you pretty about a tablespoon you don't measure anything do yes I can remember my aunt as the Aunt Rose she realizes why do you write a cookbook about how you make all these diets is there any Tommy it's a pinch of that a pinch of that we make that decision as we cook we don't write cancer coupler there's a half a cup of that that's the way they the Italians cook it smells so sweet and fresh and if you start with good baccala to begin with so there it is the first of the Seven Fishes vacations Oh see okay so are we gonna put anything in this flower yeah we uh please put some salt pepper salt and pepper a little flavoring a piacere they say it's a charity okay to taste now word it so this is very simple this is just you know very simple and this is something you had every Christmas eat every Christmas me we have this dish is what we cook about 10 15 pounds of it mm-hmm because of the folks that come I stand in front of the stove about three hours doing it yeah I enjoy it you know yeah you know maybe a Christmas Eves a very special night of the year all right we're gonna fry this in olive oil olive oil okay the best and then what are you gonna season it with anything else no that's all just salt pepper no fresh lemon juice first after we eat it yeah go put the lemon juice on it okay - cocktail sauce love you universe a cocktail sauce insurance not Italian mayor oh whoa no we got a sheet somewhere we have to watch a while we have some of those other folks yeah lemon to see how good we eat I mean what part of Italy's your family come from we came from Avellino and the villager got the monarda which are exactly I was the least of a Naples and my family came from Avellino close all right yeah so we must be cousins Mary's cousin cousin kissing cousins yeah oh boy we've got a lot of shrimp here this is going to be quite a feast no O'Mara now how did you know that oil was hot enough I saw a little bubbles on them and I knew that the oil is right for the shrimp to be frying as quickly as possible well you're very shrewd because they're starting to get a little pink and brown on the edges but really for those of you who are neophytes are doing this the temperature should really be at 375 degrees Fahrenheit and how you measured that well in the old days they used to just take a pinch of breadcrumbs or flour and put it in and as it bubbles up right away they knew the oil was that enough but really whenever you're frying anything use a thermometer that way you'll be sure Christmas even our family as much bailing Christmas Day oh really yeah because the credit kids on Christmas Day they open their toys in Santa Claus but you know but Santa Claus is disappearing from our family these days because I kids again my shoulder and so yeah but I still believe Ida Joey don't believe my buon natale you don't get anything you know please take them out onto paper towels all right oh yeah and you eat those immediately right so somebody would have to be at the stove on Christmas Eve getting all of this ready and you don't want to eat cold fried shrimp do you well sometimes just wait well at my house we kick to what cook about 10 to 15 pounds oh you're not going to have like this you know a small amount but then 15 pounds you know takes a long while to cook those and right come on join us well I like things either hot or cold I'm not an in-between person so if I was going to have this I would want to eat those right now I would love to taste one of those great now oh we're gonna give me one I thought you might want to ask okay they're hot yes right wait a couple seconds we all set woof look good how they taste mmm the more flavoring mmm-hmm no perfect good so I got a good driver flavor Maryann mm-hmm that's that mother's touch now just very well pinch enough salt there's a little pinch of this a little pinch of that America mr. mayor we have now the baccala salad right Troy baccala we have the shrimp we have now a good tuna dish right now this is for people who really don't want to work with fresh tuna this is the answer you start with good canned tuna and I don't mean that generic stuff in the grocery store I mean a really good Italian imported tuna and you want to buy it like this you see how this comes in nice big chunks or if you couldn't find this you could look for this this is another good option here but make sure you're using good tuna in olive oil I don't want this dish to have tuna that's to fine maile some texture so what I would like you to do mr. mayor is to take this tuna and chunk it in there you're gonna leave the oil that the tuna came in with the tuna okay then Fletcher well don't get it too flaky I want it to be have some chunk to it so just coarsely chunk it up now while he's doing that I'm going to start making a sauce this is actually going to be a tuna with a rigatoni dish because I don't know about you but I'm Christmas Eve we always said some form of pasta with fish I told you earlier it used to be the calamari with the tentacles and the broccoli today it's Aleman iana so I'm going to make a sauce with just some onion garlic a little bit of hot red pepper and some parsley but we want to take a nice bunch of parsley this is from my head in there Great God I had my husband get that out of the garden these onions are also from the third you see how they sound so nice and fresh and all I'm really gonna do is chop all this together I want to get this into just kind of a fine mix okay well that's looking good you're just cutting up those tomatoes now just coarsely don't have to be too thin and I want I like this to have a little bit of texture this whole dish because we're going to do this with rigatoni I like this with a nice shortcut really so this is remember that's our battuto this is our onion our garlic our red pepper our parsley a little bit of salt and pepper so I think we should add a little gritty to Pho don't you because that's a region that you and I are right all right No so we're going to add some and I'm going to let them gonna race the heat now and let this cook down a little bit just gonna let that reduce somewhat and while that is cooking down we are going to cook the pasta so we're using whole-wheat rigatoni do you like to leave love holy hell okay good three healthy so put a half pound in there and of course some salt of the water and now how long does it take the cooked pasta this is rigatoni so this is a pasta sake shortcut sot chuck every 12 months 12 months maybe 12 minutes well how are we gonna know for sure well you know we'll pick it out and taste it exactly that's I don't why he's the mayor that's why we're going to take it out and we're going to taste it because now what we're going to do is we're going to add some capers I love capers in brine for this although capers and salt are very good too but I like the little spray D flavor that the Brian gives that so we've got the capers in and then here come those tomatoes that you cut up those sun-dried today's now you begin to see we're building lots of flavor your male sure that's a flavor this is like building a city budget you got to start with the little things and just build up now we're going to add that tuna that you flaked up here it goes so that is the tuna get that in and we want to add a little bit more oregano put the wine back here for a second add a little bit more oregano tip I like oregano on this don't you love to good taste yeah you can use peas for this green beans whatever happens to be fresh and local I found these snow peas all I did was blanch them just for about a minute or so because I didn't want them to be mushy they should have a little bit of a crunch to them they go in to give this a lot of nice color so this dish is perfect for a la vigilia or any day of the week that you want to have it what do you think my god alright so maybe we should check the pasta now that's a Marion Esposito special I got it so now we have these beautiful holy rigatoni with the tuna the funder eyed tomatoes the hot pepper the wine the parsley the garlic the onions and the snow peas how bad can this be it can't be bad Alma Tyler mr. mayor are you ready for the final unveiling of the next dish I'm ready to end up a little salt da da have a little seasoning look at that the smells milk you know smell so something I get on Christmas Eve every at 5:00 o'clock of March I grow a fish market by the smell so it's just so this was perfect because this is one of my mother's favorite dishes we always always had to have smelts alright Christmas even it really that's the season for them I suppose so we're gonna put the smells in here just like we did the shrimp and these are already clean but if you look into a smelt you can still feel a few of those little bones in fact let me pull that out for you see that yeah we're cooking these with that bone in you know why that's protein and it bones are so small that you won't even you just chew them and eat them but if you wanted to take them out then you could do just that and then they would lie flat like that but hey a little bone of a balloon that is tiny like that is not going to hurt you so let's get those all floured up and the best way to have these is just fried fried and then at the end you want to put some coarse salt on them maybe of just a squirt of lemon juice if you'd like a little bit of pepper and then just get them really tossed well sometimes we'd make those in tomato sauce - I don't know if you ever did them that way but just in a very simple tomato sauce and that's all there is to it so now we're ready to fire up that pan again and go Brown up these smells your every Christmas the smelts are going in and they are only going to take you see how small they are a couple minutes if that to cook I'm going to turn that down there - a little bit yeah very effectively so it seems very quickly small one just yeah right and the important thing when you're frying like this is use a big enough pan and don't put don't crowd don't put a lot in at one time otherwise you're going to steam everything instead of allowing it to Brown so be patient a little bit at a time turn them over where they look good they look so delicate because they're fresh Russian refresh now if you couldn't get fresh sardines I mean fresh smells you could use sardines some people like to use anchovy for this on Christmas Eve white trollin trollin white in all these which will be delicious too so you would do the same process of flowering and just frying flour and frying once they start to turn little Oh pink and brown looking they're done well they need a little salt mayor I'm gonna get some salt while you're all right get some shot look let me talk down to the lutely the best thing to serve those with is a little drizzle of salt over all right Oh wine we a little wine to go with this later on but that's about all there is to it so now we have all of our dishes plus a few more right try a few more dishes at the for the Feast of the Seven Fishes thank God we didn't do the twelve fishes whatever it is Alexi finally mr. mayor after all that work we are ready for lobby Julia lava Gina what am i none Julia what a great meal we have is seven different dishes seven fish dishes the Feast of the Seven Fishes and there's a lot of variety of different types of dishes you could do but we started out right there with that baccala salad you were a little skeptical because that has potatoes and peppers and capers olive oil vinegar and it's a cold room temperature salad so the very first time I had my colada that way it's delicious I'm so glad she was like a new taste to it and then what did you do I did the easy ones a shrimp the fried shrimp the fried smelts they're the easy ones and that's when I do every Christmas Eve and then you know you did some of these you're creative but the rigatoni here very creative dish Angela did the column call it a stuffed calamari with sea food viral your wife Angela provided that beautiful dish and that's stuffed with mussels and scallops and everything delicious but this is a very interesting one your own creation absolutely this is the dish that we did with tuna really good canned tuna capers white wine hot red pepper and some sugar snap peas and it's perfect for Christmas Eve or for any time of the year and then who made this beautiful dish this beautiful dish was made by Torinos IATI he works for me and the great cook besides does a great job for the city bossing a fabulous job at the swordfish and a little tomato a little onion loom parsley he's got raisins in there a little a little Dulce sweet and sour taste going on it because that's all asitv on nah that's right yes in this delicious I mean now you have these no small clams beautiful looking little clams vongole that Akshay Tony made that too he showed it I mean I think he's a better cook than a worker myself but just look at that just delicious and um well this is just a small part of what you could do for the Feast of the Seven Fishes so mr. mayor thank you so much for inviting me to your home Thank You Marian thanks for being here that's my job okay and until I see you Nelly Cucina again I'm Mary Anne Esposito got a little olive oil I would like to go for that right now we make them own olive oil we make a lot of line now because I think you're breaking that home that's the best best way to sue oh god don't wake up give me a piece get the other video I'm gonna put it Oh little soggy salad

Channel: Mary Ann Esposito

Views: 25,130

Rating: 4.8995814 out of 5

Keywords: Web, Welcome, 2011, version, Ciao, Italia, YouTube, 001

Id: 1FgLHNyzkyA

Length: 23min 51sec (1431 seconds)

Published: Sat Dec 10 2011