I See Food. Do You Seafood?

Serving seafood at the holidays is a tradition in many families. Italian-Americans seem to focus on this the heaviest, with the tradition of serving a huge seafood buffet on Christmas Eve. I tried to research this subject because I've heard so many times that serving seafood--especially on New Year's Eve--is good luck. Now I'm confused. The research I did kept saying you serve seafood up to and on Christmas Eve because of the Christian connection to fasting, but a good host would never serve seafood on Christmas Day! We're supposed to be finished with our fasting and seafood and dive into huge quantities of meats and sweets, according to my Internet data.

In my childhood household, none of this would have mattered. My mother served Spanish hamburgers to all of us kids on Christmas Day. Yep, "Manwiches." Why? Because she served her big dinner on the weekend after Christmas. There were so many kids in our family (and as they grew, there were so many boyfriends and girlfriends involved), my mother decided not to fight over which house they ate dinner at. This way she got to have her special meal on her special day and everyone was hungry. If you try to do meals at both places on Christmas Day, someone always loses out. My mother always won the hearts of those at her table this way. And since we "little kids" were only interested in playing with our toys (and probably had gorged on too many cookies and candies already), why serve up a big meal? Spanish hamburgers could be kept warm all day long, and people could eat when they wanted to. The Spanish hamburgers were a "treat" for us, so we thought we were very special.

I'm not going to bother to give you a recipe for Spanish hamburgers. The mix is ready available in a can nowadays. What I am going to give you is my latest seafood development.

I made a special dinner for our neighbors this week. Et and Max are moving back to England and we are going to miss them terribly, so I made a special meal to "celebrate" and to say farewell.

The first course was a shrimp scampi. As I sat eating mine and listening to electric conversation, I dreamed up a holiday version. One element that I added to the usual scampi was a small salad on the side. That's the cool thing these days with appetizers--little tiny salads on the side to round out the appetizer and make a colorful presentation. This way when you serve a rather small dish, you can put it on a large plate and make it look grand. This one will look grand too. I hope you enjoy it.

However you celebrate the holiday and whatever you eat, you have my very best wishes for a gorgeous event filled with family, friends and fun.

Cheers! and Happy Holidays!

Holiday Shrimp Scampi

Serves 4

This dish can be served anytime, but the red and green elements really play up a Christmas theme. It's simple and elegant and really FAST. You can make this in just a few minutes to really impress your guests.

12 jumbo shrimp (Peeled and deveined. Leave their tails on if you want to be fancy.)
1 bunch of green onions, diced thinly, with some of the green parts
1 tablespoon of garlic 1/2 green pepper, diced
1/2 red pepper, diced
1/2 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley
3/4 cup butter
1/2 cup dry white wine
2 Tbl lemon juice

Melt the butter in a large sauté pan. At the same time, add the green onions, the red and green pepper and the parsley. Sauté on Medium heat until the onions are tender and the green and red peppers have loosened up a bit but still have bite to them.

Add the shrimp. Cook the large shrimp until they are no longer opaque in the middle. This should take about 3 minutes. They will curl in the process.

Take the shrimp out of the pan with a tongs and set them on the serving plates 3 to a plate. Balance the third one up against the other two to give your presentation depth. Add the white wine to the skillet and turn it on Medium High so it boils. Boil down the mixture for 1 full minute and add the lemon juice.

Now spoon this sauce over the shrimp and Voilà!

If you are serving the side salad, you can have the salad all plated and ready to serve before you begin to cook the shrimp scampi. This will allow you to get the dish to table while the shrimp are hot.

Side salad for Holiday Shrimp Scampi

One cup (maximum) assorted baby greens per person
1 chopped red pepper to add color

Dressing:

1/4 cup walnut pieces
2 Tbl mustard (Dijon, preferably)
2 Tbl red wine vinegar
1 cup olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste (Optional; just a dash will do it.)

In your blender, grind up the walnuts, 2 tablespoons of mustard and a drizzle of the olive oil (just enough to get the blender moving). Grind until well chopped. Then, in a small stream, add the rest of the olive oil. This will make a thick dressing and more than you need to dress the 4 small salads. Save the rest to use in another salad or as a sandwich spread. Lightly dress your greens and toss. Put them on the plate and top with the red pepper bits. Grind a bit of salt and pepper on top (optional).

Enjoy!