Seared Tuna With Salmoriglio Sauce

Seared tuna is a delicious meal that takes only a couple of minutes to cook. Serve it with this salmoriglio sauce and you've got a real winner, for company or for any night. But first you need to be sure of getting really fresh tuna. We were fortunate to receive this gift of fresh tuna last week from our friend Lou, who had just returned from an overnight fishing trip, where he and friends travel 60 miles offshore in search of the prized catch. It doesn't get much fresher than this, unless you cook it onboard the boat.

These are the pieces I cooked. One is thicker than the other, so you need to factor the thickness into your cooking time. Cooking time depends on not just the thickness, but how rare you like your tuna. I don't like it raw, but I didn't want to overcook the fish where no pink was showing. I first smeared the fish with a little olive oil, then pressed some "everything seasoning" into the flesh. In the past I've used a combination of white and black sesame seeds and served it with an Asian-inspired sauce (see that recipe here), but I wanted to use some of my fresh herbs, so I decided to make salmoriglio, a commonly used sauce in Sicily and Calabria. We loved the combination of flavors.

One mistake I would caution you not to make is not to have the pan "screaming hot." It burned most of the seeds and I had to scrape them off. I would cook it at medium heat, and just flip it once, with about three to five minutes per side for a thick piece (1 inch or so), and just a minute per side on a thinner piece.

This will give you a pink interior, but a bit more cooked flesh near the surface. If you want it even more rare, then adjust and cook it less. I served it with baked eggplant fries (recipe coming soon).

Salmoriglio sauce is traditionally made with parsley and oregano, but my parsley seemed to have fizzled out mid-summer, so I grabbed a few other herbs, like marjoram, chives and oregano, that were still going strong. There are no rules, so use what makes your taste buds happy. This was definitely a happy marriage of flavors.

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Seared Tuna with Salmoriglio Sauce

about 1 pound of fresh tuna

a little olive oil to smear over the fish

1/4 cup of "everything seasoning" or a mixture of white and black sesame seeds

for the salmoriglio sauce:

zest of one lemon

3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1 tablespoon water

1/2 cup- 3/4 cup fresh herbs (use parsley, oregano, marjoram or chives or a combination of them)

2 cloves garlic

salt, pepper to taste

1/3 cup olive oil

Remove the fish from the refrigerator and let it sit at room temperature for 1/2 hour. 

Meanwhile make the sauce. Place all ingredients into a blender and whir until almost smooth. It's ok if there are tiny bits of herbs showing. Set it aside while you cook the fish. 

Pat the tuna dry and smear with a little olive oil on both sides, then press the everything seasoning or sesame seeds into the flesh. Sear the fish in skillet (I used cast iron) on medium heat, flipping it once after a couple of minutes. If you like your tuna cooked more, sear it longer. If you want it rare, cook it less. A lot depends on the thickness of the tuna.

Serve with the salmoriglio sauce.

Broiled Flounder with Romesco Sauce

We try to eat fish a couple of times a week, and flounder (or fluke here in New Jersey) is frequently in the rotation. Normally, I make it in a lemon/butter/caper sauce, but I wanted something different this time without fussing too much.

I love Romesco sauce, which is typically made with almonds, but if I have hazelnuts, I will substitute those instead. The sauce is delicious by itself with some crackers or pita bread, but I thought it would make a terrific base for a simple broiled fish. I was right. It was the perfect foil.

Make the Romesco just before you broil the fish since it only takes a few minutes for the fish to cook. While the Romesco sauce is fine eaten cold, it's more enjoyable (in my opinion) if you eat it either warm or at room temperature.

Prep the fish and have it read to pop in the broiler. Be careful to keep an eye on it. Mine was cooked in 5 minutes, but times vary, depending on thickness of the fish.

Swirl some of the Romesco sauce on the serving platter, place the fish on top, then sprinkle with some fresh herbs. Delicious enough for company, but easy enough for a mid-week family meal.

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Broiled Flounder with Romesco Sauce

Ingredients

For the broiled fish for two people:

3/4 to 1 pound of fresh flounder, fluke or sole

olive oil to smear on fish

salt, pepper

paprika

fresh thyme or parsley

For the Romesco sauce:

Adapted from Aliza Green’s Starting with Ingredients

(This will make enough for more than one meal for two people)

1 large roasted pepper (homemade or from a jar)

2 large cloves garlic

1/2 cup olive oil 
one half of a thick slice of Italian or French bread, crusts removed, and cut into cubes

1/2 cup hazelnuts, toasted and skins rubbed off (or use almonds if you prefer
1/2 teaspoon hot paprika

1/2 teaspoon sweet paprika

a dash of cayenne pepper

3 tablespoons sherry vinegar

salt to taste

Instructions:

For the fish:

Preheat broiler.

Place a sheet of parchment paper inside a pan. Be careful not to let any hang over the pan or it could burn and catch fire in the broiler.

Place the fish on the paper and smear with olive oil.

Sprinkle on the salt, pepper, and paprika.

Broil for a short time, depending on thickness of fish. Mine took only about 5 minutes.

For the Romesco sauce:

Puree the peppers and their juice in the bowl of a
food processor.  Without washing the bowl, transfer the paste to
a small pot and then cook slowly until it’s thick enough to hold its
shape, about 10 minutes.

Place the garlic and ½ cup of the olive oil
in a small pot and cook until the garlic is lightly browned, about 10
minutes. Add the cubed bread and cook 2 minutes longer or until lightly
browned.

Place the pepper paste, hazelnuts, and the garlic
and bread cubes and their cooking oil back into the food processor.
Process to a chunky paste, then add the Pimenton, sherry vinegar and
salt.

Process again, then drizzle the remaining olive oil
to make a thick sauce. Add a little water if it's too thick.

The second time I made it, I passed it through a sieve to make it even smoother, but that's not necessary if you want to make it easier on yourself.

Store in refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.

Fluke (or Flounder) Oreganata

 

How about a quick and easy seafood dinner that tastes great too? I've got you covered, with this fluke oreganata. Fluke is a type of flounder, also called summer flounder and is light, flakey and delicious. This particular fluke came from New Jersey waters and two pieces weighing almost a pound were plenty for our dinner for two.

Start by seasoning the fish with salt and pepper. Place in an ovenproof dish that's been smeared with olive oil. 

Then mix together Panko bread crumbs, parmesan cheese, seasonings, and a little olive oil. Spread on top of the fish, sprinkle with a little paprika and surround the fish with a little dry white wine.

Bake in a preheated 425 degree oven for 10 minutes and dinner is ready.

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Fluke (or flounder) Oreganata

Ingredients

2 pieces of fluke or flounder (approximately 1 lb. total)

1/3 cup panko crumbs

1/4 cup parmesan cheese

a few sprigs fresh parsley

a few sprigs fresh oregano

1/4 cup olive oil

salt, pepper to taste

1/4 cup dry white wine

lemon slices

paprika to sprinkle on top

Directions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees

Smear a couple of tablespoons of olive oil into an ovenproof casserole.

Lay the fish over the olive oil and season with salt and pepper.

Mix together the panko, parmesan cheese, oregano, and parsley. Add the olive oil and blend together with a fork.

Spread the panko mixture over the fish, then sprinkle lightly with paprika.

Pour the white wine around the fish.

Bake for 10 minutes. If your fish is thicker, it may need more time. Likewise, if it's thinner it may need less time.

Serve with lemon slices.

Codfish with Herbed Crumb Topping

Who among us isn't trying to eat healthier as the new year starts? I know I always start out with good intentions but seem to slip with all the cakes, cookies and candies that are still in my house from the holidays, looking to find their way into my mouth and down to my hips. Well, at least I can focus on low-calorie and healthy main courses, right? And this dish fits the bill perfectly. The second time I made this (in one week), I substituted olive oil for the butter in the bread crumbs and it was no less delicious. Aside from tasting great, it's easy to prepare and good enough to serve company, especially if you serve it with the pea pureé. It's good without it, but it certainly takes it up a notch and you can make the puree while the fish is cooking in the oven.

Serve it with some rice (brown in this case) and another vegetable to complete the meal.

Codfish with Herbed Crumb Topping and Pea Puree

printable recipe here

For Two People:

3/4 lb. -1 lb. cod or haddock

one lemon

1/2 cup white wine

1 pat of butter to put on fish

1/4 cup bread crumbs

2 tablespoons olive oil

finely minced thyme

finely minced parsley

salt, pepper to taste

Lightly butter the bottom of an oven-proof casserole that will fit the fish without too much extra room.

Place a few slices of lemon on the bottom.

Season the fish with salt and pepper.

Mix the bread crumbs well with the oil, thyme, parsley, salt and pepper.

Place the fish in the casserole over the lemon slices.

Divide a pat of butter and place on top of fish.

Spread the bread crumbs on the fish and pour the wine all around it, (but not on top of the fish).

With the remaining ends of the lemon, squeeze the juice into the casserole.

Drizzle a little more olive oil (about a tablespoon) on the bread crumb topping.

Bake in a 375 degree oven for 30 minutes.

While fish is cooking, make the pea puree.

Pea Puree

1 tablespoon butter

2 tablespoons minced shallots

1/2 cup frozen peas

1/4 cup white wine

2 tablespoons chicken broth

salt, pepper to taste

1 tablespoon minced fresh parsley

a few leaves of fresh mint

Melt the butter in a small saucepan and add the shallots. Cook until softened, then add the peas, the wine, chicken broth and salt and pepper. Cook for about five minutes until peas are soft, then add the parsley and mint and remove from heat. Place everything into a tall container into which a stick blender will fit. Puree everything and place on the plate, making a "swoosh," then serve the fish next to the swoosh of pea puree. The liquid remaining in the casserole is delicious spooned over the rice.

 

Easy Grilled Sea Bass

This summer’s heat wave has been unrelenting, with many places in our area reaching more than 100 degrees. Who feels like heating up the kitchen in this weather? Not I, but I still like to eat well, and can only eat out so often or get takeout before I crave a home cooked meal. This sea bass dish is so simple to make, when you use a disposable aluminum pan on your grill. It keeps the heat outdoors; it’s delicious and good for you too. I cooked the tomatoes in the pan for a few minutes first, before adding the fish, because the fish takes only five minutes on a hot grill, not enough time for the tomatoes to soften, especially since some of them aren’t on the bottom of the pan in direct contact with the hottest part of the pan. Just snuggle all the ingredients in the pan. It’s easy for us to get locally caught sea bass this time of year, but if you don’t have access to it, use another type of fileted fish, like flounder, branzino or snapper. Make sure to use abundant minced herbs. In this case, I used chives, thyme and parsley.

In addition to the capers and olives, I added a couple of small hot peppers to give it a bit more tang. It really wasn’t very hot since I didn’t split the peppers and expose the seeds, so give it a try. I also added some pickled green peppers and they gave it some zip too.

It took only five minutes to cook on the grill, resulting in this flavorful, easy-to-make meal fit for company. I’ll be making this many times before the summer is over, substituting whatever is the freshest catch in the fish market that day. If your fish is thicker, just leave it for a longer time on the grill.

I served it with some rice (and other vegetables not shown). I’ve even been known to plug in my rice cooker in an outlet outdoors, eliminating the need to turn on the indoor burners entirely.

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Easy Grilled Sea Bass

Author: Ciao Chow Linda

printable recipe here

Ingredients

• one pound sea bass (or any other filleted fish like flounder, branzino, etc.)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons butter
• about 6 to 8 cherry or grape tomatoes, cut in half or quartered if large
• about a dozen olives, pitted
• 2 tablespoons capers
• a couple of red hot peppers
• a few green pickled peppers
• minced fresh herbs (I used thyme, parsley and chives)
• half a lemon
• salt and pepper
• a disposable aluminum pan

Instructions

1. Place the olive oil and butter in the disposable pan.
2. Add the chopped tomatoes, a litlte salt and pepper and place the pan on top of a grill.
3. Cook the tomatoes for about five minutes to soften a little, because the fish will take only five minutes and in the tomatoes won’t soften enough if you wait to put them in when you put in the fish.
4. Meanwhile, season the fish with salt and pepper and the herbs.
5. After the tomatoes have cooked for five minutes, remove the pan from the grill and add the fish to the disposable pan, flipping them in the butter and olive oil once to moisten the fish.
6. More liquid will be released from the fish after a few minutes.
7. Add the rest of the ingredients, spreading them evenly around the pan.
8. Place the pan on the hot grill once again, and close the lid on the grill.
9. Cook for about 5 minutes, longer if the fish is thick.
10. Remove to a serving platter aand enjoy.

3.5.3251

 

Zucchini Crusted Haddock with Orange Salsa

Just in time for the January “let’s-eat low-cal-but-delicious” comes this recipe from Michele at “Our Italian Table.” As soon as I saw it, with its accompaniment of blood orange salsa, I knew what would be on our dinner table the next night. I made some adjustments, using haddock instead of cod, since my fish market has been selling really fresh wild haddock lately. Halibut would also be delicious here. I would have used the blood oranges called for in the recipe, but I had cara cara instead, and they worked just fine. But I’ll look for blood oranges next time, since they would add even more color. I added a little red onion and parsley, since I didn’t have the thyme the recipe called for, but other herbs would work great too, including chives or cilantro.

Use a mandoline to slice the zucchini very thinly and place the slices atop the fish, which has been seasoned with salt and pepper. Season the zucchini with salt and pepper too, then a drizzle of olive oil, and a sprinkling of cornmeal. Don’t try to tuck the slices under the fish or you’ll be asking for trouble.

When the fish comes out of the oven, the slices are then pliable enough to easily tuck them under. A lot of liquid was released from the fish and the zucchini, but cooking the fish over parchment paper makes for easy cleanup.

While the fish is cooking, make the salsa using either blood oranges, cara cara or any other orange you like. Peel the orange with a knife, then cut supremes (no, not the Motown group, but orange sections) in between each membrane.

I served it with some saffron rice and broccoli and it was not only a colorful meal, but a delicious one that was waistline-friendly too.

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Zucchini Crusted Haddock with Orange Salsa

Author: Ciao Chow Linda by way of Our Italian Table

printable recipe here

Ingredients

• FOR TWO PEOPLE:
• 3/4- 1 pound haddock, cod or halibut
• thin slices of zucchini
• salt, pepper
• olive oil
• cornmeal to sprinkle on top
• FOR THE SALSA:
• 2 oranges (cara cara or blood oranges)
• a slice of red onion, finely chopped
• minced parsley (or chives, thyme or cilantro)
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon white balsamic (or red wine) vinegar
• salt, pepper

Instructions

1. Season the fish with salt and pepper.
2. Lay the fish on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper.
3. Slice the zucchini paper thin, either with a mandoline or by hand.
4. Layer the slices over the fish, overlapping them like fish scales.
5. Season with salt and pepper, a drizzle of olive oil, and a sprinkling of cornmeal.
6. Cook in a 400 degree oven for 25-30 minutes, depending on the thickness of the fish.
7. While the fish is cooking, make the salsa by segmenting the oranges and mixing with the rest of the ingredients.

3.5.3251

 

Cioppino

In a recent episode of Stanley Tucci’s “Searching For Italy,” when he was on the Tuscan coast that borders Liguria, he ate a seafood stew called cacciucco, prepared by chef Fabbio Picchi, who owns the restaurant in Florence. Picchi followed the cacciucco with a pasta dish tossed in the leftover sauce after the seafood had been polished off. Here I am, chatting with Picchi on a trip to Florence when travel to Italy was relatively easy. 

The dishes he prepared and that show in general, had me dreaming about going back to Italy. Since that’s not possible in this pandemic, I had to do the next best thing — cook something like it at home that might transport me for a little while to la bell’Italia. Having just returned from a vacation in the Caribbean where I ate seafood every day, I felt driven to keep up the seafood vibe and decided to make cioppino – an Italian American seafood dish with origins in San Francisco that is similar to cacciucco. So many cultures have versions of seafood stews, and aside from cacciucco, Italy also lays claim to brodetto, a fish stew from the Abruzzo region,  that’s slightly less soupy and tomato-y than cacciucco or cioppino, and is cooked in a clay vessel. I helped prepare this brodetto several years ago while on a trabocco (small wooden fishing piers that jut into the Adriatic) along Abruzzo’s coastline. To read more about trabocchi, click here.

To make the cioppino, start by softening the vegetables in olive oil — onion, garlic, celery, carrots, green pepper and some fennel.

Next add the tomatoes, white wine and seasonings. Be very generous with the basil and parsley. You can make this in a Dutch oven, or in a more shallow pan, like this one. This recipe includes seafood amounts for two very generous servings, but intentionally makes enough sauce for a whole lot more. After we scarfed down all the seafood the night I made this, there was still plenty of leftover sauce to serve over pasta the next day.

After the sauce has simmered for about an hour, add the shellfish and the rest of the seafood. You don’t have to use the same amounts or types of seafood I did. It’s a very fluid recipe and you can substitute whatever you like and eliminate whatever seafood I’ve included that you don’t like. I used cod but haddock or halibut would be great too. The cost of all this seafood can get a little pricey, but it’s a delicious splurge and would be perfect for a Lenten Friday (or Christmas Eve).  Put the shellfish in after you’ve put the rest of the seafood in, to try to keep them from getting submerged too much and hinder their opening. Place the lid on the pot and keep it at a simmer for 15 minutes, without checking or removing the lid.

After 15 minutes, check to see if the fish is cooked through. If not, put the lid back on for a few more minutes until everything is cooked properly. Some of the clams and mussels might still be closed, so put those aside in a separate pan and place it over a low heat by itself, while you portion out the cioppino, either in the pan where you cooked it, or in a tureen, gently lifting the seafood. The cod will easily fall apart unless you use a large spoon to scoop it up whole.

Serve in bowls with crusty toasted bread, smeared with olive oil and salt, or over polenta.

I made some homemade pasta to toss with the leftover sauce. It was perfect for the next evening’s meal. If I can’t have Italy right now, at least I can have pasta and cioppino!

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Cioppino

Author: Ciao Chow Linda

printable recipe here

Ingredients

• The amounts for the seafood are for two very generous servings. If you add more seafood to serve more people, you don’t need to increase the amount of sauce. This recipe provides enough sauce for at least three or four more servings. In fact, after we had eaten all the seafood from the Cioppino one night, my husband and I used the leftover sauce the next day and served it over homemade pasta, and there was still plenty of sauce left in the pan that I didn’t use.
• 1/4 cup minced onion
• 1/4 cup green onion, chopped
• 1/4 cup green pepper, minced
• 1/4 cup celery, minced
• 1/2 of a large fennel bulb, sliced roughly
• 1/2 medium carrot, peeled and shredded
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 T. olive oil
• 1 26.46 oz. box of finely chopped tomatoes
• 1 26.46 oz. box of strained tomatoes
• (or use all strained tomatoes, or all finely chopped tomatoes if you prefer)
• 1 cup dry white wine
• 1/2 cup water (use it to swish out any remaining bits of tomato from the tomato box, jar or cans you use).
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• a sprinkle of red pepper flakes
• 1/4 cup fresh basil, minced
• 1/4 cup fresh parsley, minced
• 1/2 pound halibut, cod or similar fleshy white fish
• 1/2 pound fresh shrimp
• 1/2 pound fresh scallops
• 6 squid bodies, cut into “rings”
• a dozen mussels
• a dozen and a half clams

Instructions

1. Sauté onion, green onion, green pepper, celery, carrot, fennel and garlic in olive oil in a large Dutch oven or pan until limp.
2. Stir in the tomatoes, tomato sauce, basil, bay leaf, parsley, salt, black pepper and red pepper flakes.
3. Heat to boiling and add the white wine.
4. Reduce heat to a simmer.
5. Simmer one hour, then discard the bay leaf.
6. Cut the cod, or whatever white fish you’re using, into two large pieces.
7. Scrub the clams and mussels thoroughly, removing any “beard” from the mussels.
8. Cut the squid into rings, and shell and devein the shrimp.
9. Add the clams and the mussels to the pan, then add the rest of the seafood to the tomato sauce — the squid, the shrimp, the scallops and the cod.
10. Put the lid on and let everything cook together at a simmer for 15 minutes, WITHOUT STIRRING and WITHOUT LIFTING THE LID.
11. If you stir, you will break up the codfish, which flakes apart easily when cooked.
12. Check it after 15 minutes and if the fish is all cooked, serve the cioppino in the pan you cooked it, or remove it gently to a serving tureen.
13. If some of the shellfish haven’t opened, let them continue cooking in a separate pot, which should take only a few more minutes.
14. Sprinkle with parsley and serve in bowls with plenty of toasted crusty bread smeared with olive oil and salt, or over polenta.

3.5.3251

 

 

 

Halibut In Tomato Sauce with Beans

One of my favorite fish is halibut. It's got a delicate, sweet taste, firm white flesh, and marries well with all kinds of flavors. Even people who claim to hate fish may be won over once they try this largest of all the flat fish. 

Did you know that halibut can grow to more than 8 feet long and weigh as much as 700 pounds? Take a look at the largest Alaskan halibut ever caught by sport fishermen, weighing in at 459 pounds. Imagine cleaning that whopper. 

Most of the halibut we eat here in North America comes from the Gulf of Alaska. While on a trip there several years ago, I ate a lot of halibut, but here in New Jersey, the price keeps me from enjoying it as much as I'd like. If I see it on a restaurant menu, it's likely what I'll order, or if it's on sale at the market, I can't resist.

This recipe is a one-dish meal that's simple to make, tastes great and is low-cal too. If you can't find fresh halibut, or want something less expensive, codfish can easily be substituted. The recipe is for two portions, although the accompanying photo shows just one portion served in a small casserole.

Halibut with Cannellini Beans

printable recipe here

for two people:

halibut - between 3/4 and 1 lb., skin removed

6 scallions, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

3 T. olive oil

1 can cannellini beans (about 15 ounce can), drained and rinsed

1 can chopped tomatoes (about 15 ounce can)

1/4 cup dry white wine

salt, pepper to taste

fresh basil

Saute the scallions and onions in the olive oil until softened. Add the tomatoes and liquid from the can and cook for a few minutes, smashing the tomatoes a bit with a fork. Add the white wine, the cannellini beans, salt, pepper and shredded fresh basil. Simmer for about five minutes, then add the fish. Put a lid on the skillet, then let everything cook together for about five more minutes. That will be long enough to cook the fish. Garnish with more fresh basil and serve.

Fillet of Sole Stuffed With Shrimp

It's Spring, it's Spring. Finally, it's Spring. OK, it's drizzly and grey and ugly this morning here in central N.J., but a girl can dream, can't she?

Daffodils, warmer weather and lighter dinner fare are a few of the things that come to mind when I think of Spring. Not to mention bathing suit season will be here before you know it. So with that horrid thought in mind, it's time for me to start thinking lighter dinner fare, in particular seafood. While I was cruising the fish department at the supermarket the other day, the sole looked particularly fresh. I bought three pieces that weighed slightly less than 3/4 pound, more than enough for the two of us, especially considering they were stuffed with a shrimp and bread filling.

This would make a good recipe for company too, since it could easily be assembled ahead of time and placed in the refrigerator until ready to bake in the oven. Just adjust the amounts of ingredients according to the number of guests.

Fillet of Sole stuffed with shrimp

3 sole fillets - total weight about 3/4 pound
3 large shrimp

1 stalk of celery, minced
1 shallot
1 T. butter
3 T. roasted red, yellow or green pepper, chopped
a splash of dry white wine
1/2 cup fresh white bread crumbs
salt, pepper
2 T. chopped parsley

1/2 cup dry white wine

1 T. butter
1/4 cup panko bread crumbs
paprika


Pat dry the sole fillets and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Place the butter in a pan and saute the shallot and celery until limp. Add the chopped pepper and shrimp and saute a few more minutes over medium heat. Add the splash of white wine and cook for another minute or so. Take the pan off the heat and add the bread crumbs, parsley, salt and pepper. Mix everything together. It should hold together loosely in a ball. To make the bread crumbs, I trimmed the crusts from three slices of stale Italian bread and put them in the food processor for a couple of minutes. You can use purchased bread crumbs if you prefer, but the texture will be different.
Place a handful of stuffing over the center of the fish fillet.



Roll up both ends over the stuffing.

Place the folded side down in a buttered casserole. Pour the 1/2 cup wine around the rolled-up fillets.
Melt the 1 T. butter in a saucepan and add the panko crumbs. Divide the panko mixture over the fish and sprinkle with paprika. Bake in a 400 degree oven for 15 minutes.

Stuffed Squid

Everyone in my family looks forward to our Christmas eve dinner - a traditional meal of many fish in lots of Italian households. When I was younger, my mother would spend countless hours preparing and frying all manner of fish - from smelts to whitings to eel. One particular episode branded in my memory involves eels and my grandfather, who lived with my parents. He brought the eels home from the market on Christmas eve, still alive and squiggling, and set about to end their lives in my parents' kitchen sink -- right there beneath the pristine, lacy white curtains. The eels didn't give up without a struggle and splattered their blood all over those curtains as a result. Of course my mother wasn't happy, to put it mildly.
Since my mother died more than 20 years ago, and my mother-in-law only a year later, the mantle passed to me to maintain the tradition. I have shifted away from the fried fish that used to be the mainstay of the meal, but can't give up the squid. My mother used to prepare it as the centerpiece of her meal, delicately simmering the rings in tomato sauce and serving it over pasta. It was always a favorite. But my husband is partial to this stuffed squid recipe which his mother always made, and which my son now makes every year, as part of our multi-fish dinner. It's also a great complement to the seafood risotto I prepare, with the tomato sauce from the squid spilling onto the saffron-flavored rice in the risotto. I'll be sharing that recipe with you too shortly. Although it's too late to cook these dishes for this year's Christmas eve, maybe you can start your own tradition next year.

Stuffed Squid

15 - 20 squid, medium size - cleaned
6 cups of diced, sturdy white bread, trimmed of crusts
1/3 cup chopped parsley
1/2 cup white raisins, soaked in water for about 1/2 hour
1/2 cup toasted pine nuts
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1/4 cup milk, or more if needed
salt and pepper to taste

Buy the squid already cleaned, but rinse them under water and remove any cartilage that still might be left in the body. It will pull out easily and look like a strip of milky, translucent plastic. If you want, trim the wide end of the squid for a more even look.

Place all the filling ingredients in a bowl and mix until you have a moist consistency. Stuff the bodies of the squid, but don't fill them completely since the squid will shrink during cooking.

Place a layer of tomato sauce on the bottom of a casserole and lay the squid on the sauce. Cover squid with more sauce.

Bake at 350 for about 20-25 minutes. If you make this ahead of time and refrigerate, be sure to take out of the refrigerator and bring to room temperature before baking. If you bake these much longer than 1/2 hour, the squid will be tough and chewy.

Tomato sauce:
Use your own recipe, or follow mine, which is about double what you'll need for the squid recipe. Use the rest another time - for pasta, or pizza or whatever you like.

1 large can (28 oz) San Marzano tomatoes
1 large can (28 oz.) tomato puree
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 large onion, chopped
1 carrot, finely minced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup red or white wine
salt, pepper
1 T. dried basil
1 t. red pepper flakes (or more, if you like your sauce spicy)

Place the olive oil in a large pot, and add the onions and carrots. Saute until soft, then add the garlic and saute a couple more minutes. Break up the whole tomatoes with your fingers, or using a food processor, but leave some texture. Do not break them up so much that the sauce becomes smooth. We like it with some tomato lumps in it. Add the tomatoes and tomato puree to the pot, along with the wine, salt, pepper, basil and red pepper flakes. Simmer on low heat for about one hour.