Fish-based Christmas menu: delicious ideas for your Christmas menu
A fish-based Christmas menu is a classic of our gastronomic tradition. On Christmas Eve, in particular, the Christmas menu always includes courses that use fish as their main ingredient.
In this article you will find some refined and original ideas to decline fish in the most different ways in your menu, starting from the appetizer and then continuing with first, second and dessert.
The recipes we recommend can, of course, also be prepared on other occasions: fish is very good for our health, it is light, nutritious (it contains many Omega-3s) and tasty. What are you waiting for then? Get inspired by our suggestions right away! But first, browse our album: you will find many original and elegant ways to decorate the table during the holidays:
See also: Christmas table: many ideas to set your table
Fish-based Christmas menu: appetizers
Let's start right away with a nice appetizer, strictly based on fish. One of the most classic Christmas recipes is the one that uses scallops as the main ingredient. You could try a greedy and original appetizer by adding an extra touch to tradition, for example by experimenting with a version of it. au gratin and spicy. To prepare it, cut the scallops into thin slices and brown them for a few minutes, then knead them together with some julienned onions, some bread left to soak in milk and 6 tablespoons of bechamel. Add parsley, mustard and Tabasco, Fill the shells with the mixture and sprinkle everything with toasted breadcrumbs. Bake on the grill for five minutes and serve your appetizer hot!
Another alternative for a Christmas starter based on fish are stuffed squid, a real goodness! What to fill them with? Toast some rice with chopped onion, sprinkle it with wine and add some raisins softened in water, tentacles of chopped squid and pine nuts. Add some broth and let it absorb, then a little salt. When the filling is ready you can also add some parsley and fill 2/3 the squid from which you have removed the tentacles, closing the openings with toothpicks. At that point you can cook your stuffed squid Please note: this dish is also delicious as a main course!
A decidedly light appetizer, but very tasty and fragrant, could consist of a nice salad with pineapple, fennel, green apple and cod. Preparing it is very simple: clean the fennel keeping the scraps, which you will put to boil together with bay leaves and cod. Cut the fennel into sticks, the apple into small pieces and the pineapple into triangles: mix everything and season with a pinch of salt and a drizzle of oil.
The first Christmas fish-based
A fish-based first course perfect for your Christmas menu are salmon ravioli. To prepare them by hand you will need flour, eggs, oil and salt to work for a long time. The smoked salmon is minced and mixed together with the ricotta, parmesan and shredded dill. After having rolled out the dough into thin sheets, distribute the piles of filling and cover with another strip, then cut with a wheel and arrange a hand your ravioli. To serve, sprinkle them with melted butter along with poppy seeds and other flavors of your choice.
If you are looking for a starred recipe, try the spaghetti cacio e pepe with sea urchins created by chef Roberto Conti of the Trussardi alla Scala restaurant in Milan. Heat some sheep's milk (200 g) and add another 50 g in which you have dissolved the cornstarch, then insert some grated pecorino romano. Blend everything and keep it warm while you clean the sea urchins and lightly sear them in a pan with garlic, basil and tomato sauce. Cook the pasta and pour it into a saucepan with the chicken broth and pepper left to infuse. Add the pecorino fondue and sauté them well, then serve them with a spoonful of sea urchins, a grated pecorino cheese and black pepper.
Another idea for a very simple and at the same time refined first course is risotto with citrus fruits and shrimps. To prepare it, sauté butter and chopped shallot and toast the rice, then sprinkle it with martini. Add fish broth, juice of citrus fruits. Skip some peeled shrimp tails together with a little butter and add a little Marini and rice here too. Two tablespoons of Parmesan cheese and grated citrus peel, together with a little pepper complete the "Opera.
Fish main courses
Who said that cooking a second course of fish has to be super-complicated? Try, for example, preparing anchovy meatballs: it's a fast, tasty and certainly very tasty second course! mix with flour, cheese, eggs, breadcrumbs and oregano.Add salt and pepper to taste, then make meatballs about 5 cm in diameter and fry them in a pan with plenty of oil. You will feel that goodness!
A more complex dish, but ready to give you great satisfaction is the sea bream with lemon and coriander seeds. After cleaning the sea bream, cut the sides with three cuts on each side and place it in a pan, where you will wet it with the juice of zest of two lemons and juice of another lemon, three tablespoons of oil, pepper and brown sugar. Sprinkle everything with coriander seeds, let it rest and bake.
A typical course of the Christmas menu is the capitone: why not make it even more delicious with a nice frying? First, cut the capitons into pieces of about 6 cm, without peeling them, cutting only the tail and head. Rinse them well and flour them with white and yellow flour. Fry them slowly, remembering to turn them over frequently.
And finally the dessert!
To close a fish-based menu, a dessert that is not too sweet is recommended, which has fruity notes or acts by contrast. Not surprisingly, the sorbet is never missing in menus of this type. Why not prepare a more original variant then? Exquisite, for example, is that of the basil and sparkling sorbet. To prepare it, you just need to mix dry sparkling wine, basil leaves, sugar and lemon juice, and then add the egg whites whipped until stiff. Pour the mixture into a pan and place in the freezer for about an hour. Serve with a basil leaf on top.
If you really don't want to give up a nice sweet, focus on fruit-based pastries, like the banana, pistachio and raspberry ones that we offer in the video recipe that follows. To create the dough, simply mix butter and brown sugar, add a little vanilla, mashed banana, flour, salt, yeast, an egg, crumbled pistachios and raspberries. For proportions and procedure, look here:
One last suggestion of a perfect dessert for a fish-based menu: the coffee parfait. Prepare it like this: boil water and sugar until the mixture thickens. Meanwhile, whip up some egg yolks and then add the freshly prepared syrup and coffee. Mix everything so that it is well blended, let it cool and add some whipped cream. Pour into the ice cream cups and let it rest in the fridge for about two hours. Bon appetit and happy holidays!
