I know that I have a few weeks to go before the big Christmas Eve dinner. In my house it seems like we just finished the last load of dishes from Thanksgiving. I used to always cook a very nice dinner on this night, but I haven’t done it in a few years. Im starting to get the itch and I think I am going to have to start-up the tradition again. (Maybe on a different night, I will be working at the hotel this year on X-mas Eve) I used to make a tasting menu of several fish and seafood courses. The guests would change from year to year. Maybe one year my sister would spend it with us the next year her husband’s family. There was always a constant though, Mom, Dad and great seafood. I think I enjoyed it more than anyone else at the table, except my cousin Jon who is a great guy and a huge foodie. It is so much fun cooking for people like this! I like to see their reactions when I serve them or when they are amazed about how beautiful a plate looks. It was a place were I could spread my wings and show off a little, there were no boundaries. I don’t tell them what I’m serving, they basically come to the table with the trust that I am going to make them happy. This was always tough for my mom, she is an amazing woman but not a very adventurous eater, but Mom was a champ and always took it in stride and ate everything. I’m still trying to figure out if she ate it cause I’m her son or she really loved it. I know the truth Mom, it will be our secret! I would call up my fish purveyors and gather up the freshest fish and grab my legal pad just like I was at work and start scratching down ideas. I would make a couple of very familiar courses and then a few ones where I got to be creative. Ok, now I know what I want to make. I bought some lobster bodies for a lobster cappuccino for a first course,(that won’t scare away mom). Second course a seared diver scallop with a butternut squash-sage hash with a brown butter vinaigrette. Third course I made a salt cod ravioli with shaved artichoke hearts and braised fennel. I also made a grilled octopus with a warm salad of frisee, lardons and Gaeta olives. Finally a dessert course and maybe some cheese. It was a fun night, a night where I could get away from the daily work scene and once again concentrate on why I became a cook. Which is making me think about doing it again this year. I will look into it in the next few days and see what I come up with. We are not an Italian family, it is their tradition to eat seven courses or more of fish on Christmas Eve night. I never really cook Italian food and I think most people only think of southern Italian red sauce, especially all of us Jersey guys. Don’t get me wrong, I love those classics. The day you see me turn my nose up at a Chicken parmesan sandwich, knock me out!
I hate food snobs, you know those foodies. The ones who blog and write about which restaurants don’t serve Normandy butter with their crusty fennel and golden raisin bread. Or when they aren’t happy because the restaurant doesn’t offer five different types of sparkling water. All they do all night is talk about if they were the chef, tonight’s striped bass would of been served with fiddlehead ferns and fava beans. I will in another blog go into more detail. This should definately get some noses out of joint, GOOD! Just keeping it real and honest. Please leave a comment below.
Bill
QUESTION OF THE DAY (QOTD) In your mind what’s the difference between a chef and a cook, my answer may surprise you. Trust me, your not going to guess where I take this one!!
Your past menu sounds delicious. I’m 50% Italian, all on my father’s side. We get close to 7 different fish dishes on Christmas eve, but they’re all very basic. I’d love to one day take the reins and serve up 7 stellar fish courses on a Christmas Eve. I’m drooling just thinking about it.
QOTD – To me, the term chef means a professional; someone that gets paid to develop a menu. Anyone that puts ingredients together to make a meal is a cook. Curious to know what your take is.
ummm, a chef works at MP and a cook at Mulligans?