Feast of Seven Fishes
My annual Everest steeped in an Italian American celebration on Christmas Eve.
My family’s annual celebrations come in the form of Thanksgiving and Lunar New Year. Even though my family enjoys exchanging Christmas gifts each year, the holiday season is up for grabs — some years we’ll do a nice family dinner, while other years may involve folks traveling elsewhere. This left a welcomed opportunity to make traditions and festivities of my very own.
One of my favorite days of the year is the one after Thanksgiving. It’s when we put up our Christmas tree, meticulously adorning it with multi-colored lights and treasured ornaments. There’s also my annual viewing of A Charlie Brown Christmas followed by Christmas morning scored to its festive soundtrack by Vince Guaraldi on vinyl. For holiday greeting cards, I enlist a new illustrator from Etsy each season to create a custom portrait of myself, my husband, and our two cats with a theme capturing something fun from the year (see above for our Barcelona/Gaudí one from 2023). What can I say? Andy Williams was onto something — it’s my most wonderful time of the year.
I had encountered the Feast of Seven Fishes at Italian specialty shops and in glimpses of Christmas Eve spreads from my Italian American friends on Instagram. Other than inferring said feasts occur on the day before Christmas, likely featuring seven fish-focused courses, I was unfamiliar with its origins and what more they had involved.
Author and chef Dan Pelosi best surmises1 the history of the Feast of Seven Fishes:
In Italy, the traditional Christmas Eve dinner is known as La Vigilia, or the eve. Rooted in Roman Catholicism, which calls for abstaining from meat on the eve of any holiday, La Vigilia tends to be a bounty of seafood. The Feast of Seven Fishes is uniquely American. Italian immigrants created their own traditions and identities, and likely used the number seven because of its biblical significance.
📬 Email: Friendly reminder this will likely be cut off in your inbox! This particular newsletter will be best viewed via Substack app or in your preferred browser. Happy reading 🙏
THE CONCEPT
Like many unexpected endeavors, my first Feast of Seven Fishes dinner was conceived during the pandemic, when social gatherings couldn’t take place in the way we had all become accustomed. While I was fortunate to have a comfortable bubble with immediate family, it definitely wasn’t the same without the whole gang. In an attempt to escape the circumstances of that bleak holiday season of 2020, I looked to this tradition created by Italian immigrants who had risked so much leaving their homeland in search of a better life across the Atlantic. They had brought a taste of “home” to their new reality in America, a spirit I embraced wholeheartedly, inspiring an appealing tradition within our new normal.
![plates on table\](https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1495578999932-3bdbc2d35028?crop=entropy&cs=tinysrgb&fit=max&fm=jpg&ixid=M3wzMDAzMzh8MHwxfHNlYXJjaHwxOXx8Y2hyaXN0bWFzJTIwZmVhc3R8ZW58MHx8fHwxNzI4NzYwMjk5fDA&ixlib=rb-4.0.3&q=80&w=1080 "plates on table\")
My interest and education in wine are best served when there’s an added challenge. After starting @TwoBottleStef, I spent the first year figuring out what it would entail. Among this work in progress have been the wine and food pairings at its heart, remaining unchanged since my handle’s inception. While it is fundamental to understand a given grape’s viticulture and winemaking approach, observing how a wine pairs best (and not so best) with food introduces us to a deeper understanding — unlocking an ability to tap into a wine’s full potential.
I may never run a marathon (doth not protest all at once, ha!), but this is the kind of marathon I can truly get behind — one for which I can much better train. The ingredient shopping, timeline planning, and mise en place preparation become an amusement park of organization for this “Type A” individual. The morning of Christmas Eve invites an adrenaline rush not unlike the “runner’s high” frequently experienced during long distance races. As I’ve eagerly climbed this Everest of culinary and vinous pursuits during the last four years, I’m thrilled to share how my menus and pairings have evolved in this time and what Year No. 5 has had in store.
THE FEASTS OF YORE
Included here is a visual breakdown of my Feast of Seven Fishes from 2020 through 2023, including the wines paired with each course. How fantastic to see the evolution of a once daunting tradition that has sparked much joy every holiday season since!
2020 Feast of Seven Fishes
J. L. VERGNON NV Champagne ‘Murmure’ Blanc de Blancs 1er Cru Brut Nature
🐟 Scottish-smoked & pastrami-cured salmon with Black Seed bagels & cream cheese
HERMANN J. WIEMER 2018 [Dry] Riesling Magdalena Vineyard
🐟 Asian tuna tartare with fancy potato chips
PEPIÈRE BRIORDS 2019 Muscadet Sèvre-et-Maine ‘Cuvée Vieilles Vignes’
🐟 moules marinères (sailor-style mussels) with Texas toast garlic bread
ARGYROS 2013 Assyrtiko ‘Atlantis’
🐟 hamachi kama (broiled yellowtail collar) with lemon & ponzu
NANBU BIJIN NV Junmai Daiginjo ‘Shinpaku’ [Sake]
🐟 Osakana ‘Tokyo Market’ premium sushi assortment box
PAGO DEL CIELO 2015 Ribero del Duero ‘Celeste’ Crianza
🐟 gambas al pil pil (Spanish spicy garlic shrimp) with Texas toast
WISTON ESTATE 2009 ‘Cuvée’ Brut [Sparkling Wine] Sussex
🐟 beer-battered fish & chips
JEAN-PAUL BRUN / DOMAIN DES TERRES DORÉES NV Gamay 'FRV 100’ Sparkling Rosé
BONUS 🐟 assorted Swedish Fish candy
❧
2021 Feast of Seven Fishes
HURÉ FRÈRES 2014 Champagne ‘Instantanée’ Blanc de Noirs Extra Brut
🐟 imperial kaluga & Russian golden ossetra caviar with yeasted blini & crème fraîche
DOMAINE ROLET PÈRE ET FILS 2018 Arbois Trousseau
JORGE ORDOÑEZ & CO. 2009 Sierras de Málaga ‘Botani’ Moscatelo Seco
🐟 foie gras torchon on toasted baguette draped with yellowfin tuna carpaccio
BISSON 2020 Colline del Genovesato ‘Pigato’ Bianco
🐟 grilled Galician octopus with fagioli marinati & spicy limoncello vinaigrette
DAY 2017 Zinfandel Sonoma County
🐟 stir-fried little neck clams in fermented black bean sauce
MARINE LAYER 2018 Chardonnay ‘Gap’s Crown’ Sonoma Coast
🐟 Hawaiian-style garlic butter shrimp
PIETRACUPA 2018 Greco di Tufo
🐟 calamari fritti with marinara sauce & Calabrian chili aioli
AGRICOLA BRANDINI 2020 Moscato d’Asti
🐟 sfogliatelle ricci americani à la ‘lobster tail’
❧
2022 Feast of Seven Fishes
UNDER THE WIRE 2013 Chardonnay Brosseau Vineyard [Sparkling Wine] Chalone
🐟 ‘oysters & pearls’: pearl tapioca sabayon with Malpeque oysters & Regiis Ova ossetra caviar
BEDROCK WINE CO. 2020 Zinfandel ‘Teldeschi Ranch’ Dry Creek Valley
🐟 charred octopus with sauce of salty fermented black beans & sweet pear
NANCLARES Y PRIETO 2021 Rías-Baixas ‘Tempus Vivendi’
🐟 Nantucket scallop ceviche with blood orange sauce
JOLIE-LAIDE 2021 Sauvignon Gris San Benito
🐟 sautéed cod with potatoes in chorizo-mussel broth
VEYDER-MALBERG 2021 Grüner Veltliner ‘Liebedich’ Wachau
🐟 Osakana toro donburi with housemade pickles, ikura, uni, & ponzu
MARABINO 2016 Terre Siciliane ‘Archimede’ Nero d’Avola
🐟 stuffed calamari in tomato sauce
SWANSON VINEYARDS 2002 [Late Harvest] Sémillon ‘Crepuscule’ Oakville
🐟 assorted homemade taiyaki filled with custard & Nutella
❧
2023 Feast of Seven Fishes
FERGHETTINA 2013 Franciacorta ‘Millesimato’ Satèn
FREDI TORRES 2016 Rías-Baixas ‘Finca Maruxa’
GOODFELLOW FAMILY CELLARS 2021 Pinot Gris Whistling Ridge Vineyard
🐟 herb-crusted ahi tuna with herbs de Provence & ginger-soy sauce
BEDROCK WINE CO. 2017 Gewürztraminer Alta Vista Vineyard
🐟 broiled oysters with smoky uni butter
CIMS DE PORRERA 2013 Priorat ‘Classic’
🐟 fideùa paella with shrimp, squid, & fish
SANFORD 2016 Chardonnay ‘Long Rows Block’
🐟 roasted soy-citrus halibut over jasmine rice
JORGE ORDÓÑEZ & CO. 2019 Málaga ‘Victoria 2’ Moscatel Dulce
❧
THE MENU
2024 Feast of Seven Fishes
/ December 24, 2024 @ Paulus Hook, Jersey City /
1ST COURSE
🐟 tartaleta de txangurro: Basque crab tartlets with uni
📝 During our final night in San Sebastián last year, I was fortunate to have dinner at Ganbara, a beloved spot in Old Town which had appeared on Anthony Bourdain’s Parts Unknown (9x02). While a must-go destination for mushroom lovers because of their signature boletes (grilled wild mushrooms with a free range egg yolk), their spider crab tartlets were absolute fire. I was excited to meet author Marti Buckley earlier this year during a launch party for her latest cookbook The Book of Pintxos, which features the recipe for tartaletas de txangurro. Inspired by a similar bite served at Bangkok Supper Club, I added a little twist to it: topping them with Santa Barbara uni.
🍷 Blanc de Blancs Brut Nature Champagne
🪄 This Champagne is fresh, steely, and vinous with an elegant zing, a combination that stands up to the brininess of uni, the richness of buttery pastry shell, and the punchiness of crab filling.
2ND COURSE
🐟 pimetade de lambi: spicy Haitian conch salad with watermelon
📝 I’ve never cooked with conch before. As I initially searched for a scungilli salad recipe (pretty apropos for an Italian American holiday focused on seafood), I stumbled upon this Caribbean conch salad recipe that packs some decent heat and spice.
🍷 Riesling Trocken from Rheingau
🪄 With petrol aromas at the onset, this wine was honeyed and rich on the palate, opening up with more air and showing more depth once paired with this spicy conch salad as the wine tempered its habanero heat.
3RD COURSE
🐟 nai yóu xiā: ‘milk oil’ walnut shrimp
📝 There are few dishes that remind me of my childhood, and this is undoubtedly one of them — a Cantonese-style banquet dish featuring large, cornstarch-dredged shrimp tossed in sweet-and-savory mayonnaise and served alongside candied walnuts and crunchy broccoli. I was pumped to find this recipe in The Woks of Life cookbook, just in time to relive those weekly get-togethers with family at our favorite neighborhood Chinese restaurant.
🍷 Pinot Blanc from the Finger Lakes
🪄 The sweet tang and creaminess of the mayonnaise sauce drew out the richness of the wine, while the sweet-and-salty candied walnuts complemented the note of raw almond in this Pinot Blanc.
4TH COURSE
🐟 tuna tonnato with yuzu kosho & smoked dulse
📝 I still have yet to make it to The Four Horsemen in Brooklyn, but when I discovered this dish while looking for recipes that called for yuzu kosho, I knew I wanted to attempt to make it on my own. Luckily, chef Nick Curtola divulges just how to do just that in his inaugural tome, The Four Horsemen Cookbook. For each feast to date, I usually impose on myself a nearly impossible culinary feat, and this might be 2024’s, as it involved my first time using a whipping siphon.
The late Justin Chearno (RIP) included “Wine Notes” in The Four Horsemen Cookbook — in “Trust the Wine”, he provided general pairing guidelines chapter by chapter. For “Seafood”, he remarks2 the citrus elements in wines from the Savoie, like those made from Jacquère and Altesse, have become a favorite pairing at the restaurant, especially with freshwater fish.
🍷 Altesse / Jacquère blend from Savoie
🍷 Palo Cortado from Jerez🪄 I thought it’d be interesting to include Justin’s pairing suggestion along with the Palo Cortado pairing on which I had preemptively decided before reading through the cookbook. Needless to say, the Altesse-Jacquère blend had the edge over the Palo Cortado — the Four Horsemen team would know best, of course, after having served this dish many times over! Either way, both still had slam dunk elements to their pairings: the former interacted beautifully with the yuzu zest and kosho, as those ingredients made the wine taste fruitier, while the latter worked decently as tinned fish goes swimmingly with dry sherry wines like a Palo Cortado.
5TH COURSE
🐟 crisp paupiettes of sea bass in Barolo sauce
📝 You know I love a good story, so after seeing this featured on The Bear (Episode 3x02: “Next”) as one of chef Daniel Boulud’s signature dishes, I was intrigued. Perhaps the grandest challenge of this year’s feast, the crisp paupiette was the course about which I was most anxious, as the “creation” of the paupiette itself required both technique and finesse. The recipe takes care in its detailed steps, especially when you arrive at the paupiette assembly, with helpful tips calling for a mandoline and wax paper.
🍷 Nebbiolo / Croatina / Vespolina / Bonarda blend from Alto Piemonte
🪄 What better wine to pair with a dish that has a Barolo sauce than with a Nebbiolo from the same region (a key corollary to the notion of “what grows together goes together”)!
6TH COURSE
🐟 sea scallops in Hong Kong-style black pepper sauce
📝 As with the walnut shrimp, this striking combination of pepper and spice graced many-a-lazy-susan at those treasured family dinners, alongside a docket of weekly gossip, relived inside jokes, and warmth from our satisfied bellies.
🍷 Syrah from Mendocino County, California
🪄 This Syrah had the requisite “meaty” quality to hold against the black pepper, while its cooler climate allows for a delicate, not-at-all overpowering pairing with sea scallops. While you can’t really bungle choosing white wine for seafood, I always find the red wine pairings much more fascinating, as they’re off the beaten path, leading to some really great discoveries (like it had here).
7TH COURSE
🐟 vanlla panna cotta with salted caramel sauce
📝 Ordering dessert is always a lovely treat, both literally and figuratively, especially when one makes a lasting impression, because the symphony of flavors is playing loud and clear at the most delicious frequency. It becomes your Roman Empire, as you wonder when you’ll get to have it again. The vanilla panna cotta at Razza is one such dessert. A marathon of a feast calls for certain recipes that “don’t reinvent the wheel” — easy-to-access ingredients, lower active times, and just as satisfying — and whipping up some ramekins of panna cotta fits the bill.
🍷 Commandaría fortified dessert wine from Cyprus
🪄 This fortified dessert wine is luscious, nutty, and spiced, fully capturing the spirit of the holiday season in a bottle. Its toffee-like finish complements the salty caramel sauce, as the vanilla panna cotta provides a billowy palette for these rich flavors and textures. You can never go wrong with the pairing adage of sweet with sweet. It was my first time having dessert wine from Cyprus, characterizing it as a softer and gentler Madeira with the richness of Port.
THE WINEUP
Domaine Léon 2020 Champagne ‘La Grand Côte’ Blanc de Blancs Brut Nature
$100 @ Leon & Son
Corkhoarder (New York) | 🇫🇷 sparkling white (dég. 2/2023)
Chardonnay
elegant zing ・ acing L’Aube ・ carte blanche
Eva Fricke 2021 Riesling ‘Mélange’ Rheingau
$70 @ Astor Wines
Grand Cru Selections (New York) | 🇩🇪 still white
Riesling
scoville sidekick ・ honeyed petrol ・ decant & decompress
Nathan Kendall 2023 Pinot Blanc Finger Lakes
$36 @ Leon Son & Wine
Nathan Kendall Wines (New York) | 🇺🇸 still white
Pinot Blanc
fruity tang ・ mixed nuts ・ creamy texture
Domaine Les Aricoques 2022 Roussette de Savoie ‘Pan! Le Blanc’
$40 @ Jersey Wine & Spirits
Corkhoarder (New York) | 🇫🇷 still white
Altesse / Jacquère
Savoie faire ・ alpine blend ・ bright & fruity
Luis Pérez 2018 [Palo] Cortado ‘La Barajuela’
$90 @ Astor Wines
Polaner Selections (New York) | 🇪🇸 fortified white
Palomino
cortado calling card ・ unfortified Carrascal Alto ・ sherry is wine
Antoniotti Odilio 2019 Bramaterra
$50 @ Jersey Wine & Spirits
Louis/Dressner Selections (New York) | 🇮🇹 still red
Nebbiolo / Croatina / Vespolina / Bonarda
rosy bouquet ・ Alto Piemonte ・ cherry leather
Edaphos 2022 Syrah ‘Poor Ranch’ Mendocino County
$42 @ Ernest Vineyards
Ernest Vineyards (California) | 🇺🇸 still red
Syrah
graceful & dignified ・ cooler climate ・ au poivre
Keo NV Commandaría ‘St. John’
$29 @ Astor Wines (500mL)
Athenée Importers (New York) | 🇨🇾 fortified red
Mavro / Xynisteri
sweet & fortified ・ Cyprian delight ・ caramel confidante
THE CODA
Another Feast of Seven Fishes success down! The lessons I re-learn every year:
How important recipe writing is — steps should be specific, detailed, and easy to follow.
How you should read through every recipe ahead of time AND at least twice.
How you should start prepping as early as possible so as to not scramble on the day of.
How you can never go wrong with picking great producers for the wine pairings.
How you should wear comfortable footwear in the kitchen as you’ll be on your feet most of the day.
How you should have a “photo station” ready to quickly snap pictures before the food gets cold.
How you should start the morning off with an empty dishwasher, as you’ll be running it multiple times through the course of the day.
How you should soak in the challenge and enjoy it all, as the hours and courses will fly by.
Maybe it’s having had four of these feasts in my muscle memory, but I felt the most prepared and least stressed for this year’s menu. There was much less active time for these recipes (with the exception of the crab filling, Barolo sauce, and salted caramel), with many parts able to be tackled a day or two ahead of time.
Although my favorite pairing would be a tie between the Pinot Blanc with walnut shrimp and the Savoie white blend with tuna tonnato, the pairings on the whole were pretty cohesive and well executed. Two notable discoveries of the night included not to stir sugar while making caramel (it will certainly crystallize into rock candy otherwise) and the wonders of Cyprian fortified dessert wine.
Biggest thanks to Scale Fish Market for sourcing the best fish: this epic meal wouldn’t have been possible without you. So until next year — wishing you all a very merry Christmas and happy holiday season!
If you enjoyed this Substack post, please consider:
tapping ❤️ below
tapping 💬 and share your thoughts
subscribing to The Decanterbury Tales
Cheers,
Stefie aka ‘Two Bottle Stef’ 💁🏻♀️✌️🍾
“Seven Fishes (Not Seven Dishes) for Christmas Eve” by Dan Pelosi from The New York Times
from The Four Horsemen Cookbook: Food & Wine for Good Times by Nick Curtola with Gabe Ulla & James Murphy