Christmas Fish - Why Not?

I have found that fish and shellfish make fine Christmas gifts. Who wouldn’t enjoy receiving a side of smoked salmon or a couple dozen oysters, or a 4 or 5-pound lobster as a holiday gift?

I have requested and received jumbo shrimp, $12 a pound, on holidays. Many fish markets provide gift certificates. Many fish that were once considered poor man’s food have now become luxury fare. No one would have paid $15 a pound for swordfish 20 years ago, or $8 a pound for salt cod. Who would have imagined?

By the way, a whole salt cod, split and dried, makes a very amusing gift. A split cod, stiff as a board, giftwrapped and laid under the tree, would be loved by any serious fish cook. These “Portuguese tennis rackets” can be found in ethnic grocery stores in New Bedford and Fall River. Even Yankees love salt cod but prefer to get theirs in little wooden boxes.

Oysters or littleneck clams are good gift choices. They will keep for many days in the vegetable drawer of your refrigerator, ready to be served as a treat for holiday guests.

A big jar of pickled herring is not a bad idea, nor is a small jar, or even high-quality sardines. These are good gifts for children to give adults as they are cheap and something they might not buy for themselves. I hope my grandchildren read this. If you guys do remember, jarred caviar is not really very expensive – lumpfish is especially good.

Things can get pretty hectic for cooks during the holidays. There are the traditional feasts on top of the everyday meals that must be prepared. I will give you some quick and easy seafood dishes to serve this joyous season.

SWORDFISH AND CLAMS, PORTUGUESE STYLE

2 to 3 lbs. swordfish, cut into 18 pieces about 1/4-inch thick
6 TBS. olive oil
2 lbs. onion, finely chopped
24 littleneck clams or 2 lbs. mussels, or a combination
1/2 cup dry white wine
2 large cloves garlic, chopped and mashed
2 cups canned tomatoes, crushed up
1/2 cup of the juice from the canned tomatoes
1 bay leaf
2 tsps. mild paprika
Dash of cayenne
Coarse salt
Black pepper
Flour for dredging
1 TBS parsley, chopped

Advance work: Heat 4 tablespoons olive oil in a heavy skillet; add the onions and stir. Cover the pan and cook over low heat for 15 minutes, stirring once or twice. Uncover the pan, raise the heat, and reduce the liquid produced by the onions. Lower the heat, return the cover, and cook another 15 minutes. Repeat this process until the onions are a light caramel color. Four 15-minute periods should do it. Do not scorch.

While the onions are reducing, steam the shellfish open, and reserve it in the shells. Reserve the broth, about 1 cup.

Cook the garlic briefly in the reduced onions. Add the rest of the ingredients, except the parsley, flour and swordfish. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes, then uncover and reduce to a thick sauce. The recipe may be prepared in advance to this point.

At dinnertime, heat the sauce and shellfish together. Lightly flour the swordfish slices, and brown them briefly in olive oil on both sides. Put the fish pieces on a serving platter, top them with the sauce and shellfish, and serve sprinkled with parsley. This is magnificent and well worth the effort. I would serve this with rice barely warmed and tiny frozen peas. Have some crusty bread on hand and a couple of bottles of vinho verde, Portuguese wine, and you will be revered! This recipe serves six highly fortunate people.

Each year at this time as I prepare for the holiday season, I ask my friends and acquaintances for information about seafood that is traditional in their holiday feasts. Every culture has celebrations around the time of the winter solstice. This is true from the most primitive society to the modern world. We celebrate the return of the sun and the warmth and light it affords us, making all life possible. I have also searched my library and found little that I have not already written about, so let us start a tradition.

I have decided to attempt beginning a tradition by first advocating “Many Devils on Horseback.” Scallops wrapped in bacon, baked or broiled until crisp, were the first “Devils on Horseback,” the only ones in fact, I had ever heard of, and they are delicious! They are often served at catered events and disappear as fast as they come out of the kitchen, yet somehow are considered “de classé.” You do not find recipes for this marvelous treat in many cookbooks. By adding several more “devils” to the hors d’oeuvre tray, I egomaniacally hope to launch a new tradition. I have prepared and served each of these “devils” individually, but I have never presented them all at once in this festive and, I hope, soon-to-be traditional manner. How quickly can a tradition be established? This may be our only chance to find out, by preparing a platter or several platters of “Many Sorts of Devils on Horseback.”

GRILLED OR BAKED SEAFOOD AND BACON – “MANY DEVILS ON HORSEBACK”

Scallops
Cherrystones (2 for each guest, at least)
Shrimp
Oysters
Swordfish in 1-inch cubes (salmon or tuna will work, too)
2 pounds or more of bacon (not maple flavored)

Shell the shellfish, peel the shrimp, cut swordfish cubes. These will all be wrapped in partially cooked bacon and finished on a grill, or more easily, in a 425-degree oven.

Use ordinary sliced bacon (not thick sliced). Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Separate bacon slices, arrange on oven tray or trays, and put in oven. Bake until half done, most fat rendered but still flexible, not yet browned. One slice of bacon should wrap two pieces of seafood. Now wrap each piece of seafood with bacon, and secure with a toothpick. One toothpick will work for most, but oysters and clams may require two. Arrange on the tray that the bacon was cooked on, and bake in oven heated to 425 degrees, or grill (much more trouble), and serve.

I would serve these on platters with a rim of parsley (or English holly – poisonous, but who would eat it?), decorated with grape tomatoes or cranberries so the tray looks like a wreath. You may not believe how good these tidbits are even as you eat them. Your guests will be so impressed that you will never be forgotten. You cannot go wrong unless you burn these beauties to ashes. This must become a tradition.