The Feast of the Seven Fishes is an Italian-American, celebratory holiday meal that originated from the Catholic tradition of abstaining from meat on holy days. It’s become more well-known in popular culture due to its depictions on TV and in film, but when I was growing up I thought everyone spent hours at the table and in the kitchen, gorging themselves on various sea creatures.

My Italian grandmother made some of the classics: baked scallops, baccala, linguini with clams and fried calamari. My mother always served—and continues to serve—Spaghetti with Clams, which definitely falls on the traditional side. But as traditions have evolved, we’ve gotten more creative with these dishes of fishes. Every year I find myself searching for new ways to incorporate all seven.

Many people have asked me if there is a traditional set of fish you have to incorporate for it to be a proper Seven Fishes Feast, and the answer is, no! There isn’t any set amount of dishes you have to serve either, meaning dishes with multiple fishes are on the table.

Serve multiple fishes in one dish

I highly recommend making a checklist of the fish you might want to serve and checking off all seven as you choose your recipes. Calling it a feast of “fish” technically is a bit of a misnomer, since mollusks and shellfish are more than allowed to count toward the seven. If I were to serve this shellfish pasta with tomatoes, which contains calamari, scallops, mussels and clams, that would knock four fishes off the list with one bowl of pasta.

My family often will serve a simple shrimp cocktail as the starter dish, but a better alternative is our butterflied shrimp. This indoor-friendly recipe replicates the flavor and char of grilling with a screaming-hot cast iron skillet. If you are somewhere that you can grill, our Grilled Shrimp Salmoriglio has plenty of classic Italian flavor (they also can be cooked under a broiler if you don’t have access to an actual grill).

A brothy bowl of mussels is another great starter, and we have two to choose from: Mussels with Fennel, Crème Fraîche and Vermouth and these Mussels with Fregola, Tomatoes and Capers. Serve early in the meal, with crusty bread for soaking up the broth.

If you’re looking for main dishes that incorporate more than one fish, this Italian Seafood Stew has swordfish, which will get you one fish closer to seven, as well as clams and shrimp. Toasted Orzo with Shrimp and Mussels and Gnocchi with Saffron, Shrimp and Mussels also contain multiple types of seafood, but I don’t recommend a heavy pasta dish for every course.

I firmly believe you should serve at least one course of straight-forward whitefish. Baccala (salt cod) is traditional in many Italian-American homes, but we have several less traditional choices for mixing it up:

• Slow-Roasted Fish with Lemon Grass and Sambal, which can be made with either red snapper or haddock.
• Roasted swordfish with potatoes and capers—the swordfish steaks are browned in olive oil and finish cooking, along with the potatoes, in a garlicky tomato sauce.
• Basque-Style Fish in Parsley Sauce, which incorporates both a white fish of your choice (and clams as a bonus).
• The colors and flavors of this Braised Cod with Tomatoes and Fennel Seed are quite Italian and would make a fine choice.
• Baked cod with tomatoes and white wine requires very minimal prep. The tomatoes roast and break down and get all jammy, mixing with the cooking liquid to form a flavorful sauce that is excellent with crusty bread.

My Favorite part of the meal

Scallops are always my favorite part of The Seven Fishes. My nonna liked to bake them with a gooey, buttery breadcrumb topping, but this year I’m going to make our Sea Scallops with Browned Butter, Capers and Lemon. It’ll still have that richness, with a little more elegance. For an even more savory option, we have a recipe for Seared Scallops with Browned Butter–Miso Sauce.

Our Butter-Basted Scallops with Lemon, Capers and Fettuccine is another great choice— just be sure to balance the pasta with other, lighter dishes.

My ideal Feast of Seven Fishes menu

For a menu that does the most with the fewest dishes, I would start with our Grilled Shrimp Salmoriglio and follow it with our Pasta with Shellfish and Tomatoes to incorporate mussels, calamari and scallops. My next course would be Cod Baked with Tomatoes, Capers and White Wine, served with crusty bread. Finally, fish #6 and #7 would be the swordfish and clams in the Italian Seafood Stew. And while this doesn’t contain any fish, I would also serve our Antipasto-Style Zucchini and Cauliflower Salad between some of those courses, just to break things up.

Another possible menu (with few more dishes) would start with Seared Scallops with Browned Butter–Miso Sauce, followed by Gnocchi with Saffron, Shrimp and Mussels, then this roasted Swordfish with Potatoes, Tomatoes and Capers (pesce spada alla ghiotta). Next, I would serve the Spaghetti with Clams, followed by this Portuguese Cod Soup with Cilantro, Garlic and Croutons. I would end the meal with this Slow-Roasted Haddock.

Seven Fishes doesn’t have to be a seven-course meal that requires loads of mental stress. Through thoughtful planning and unique ways of incorporating each fish, you can pull off a feast of your own with ease this holiday season.

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Willow Montana

Willow Montana is the Production Manager of Digital Media at Milk Street. Willow spends their days coordinating and planning video shoots, managing schedules and overseeing the execution of digital projects. They studied Baking and Pastry Arts at Johnson and Wales University and worked in restaurants while putting themself through six more years of college. They hold a Bachelor’s of Fine Arts in English Literature and a Master’s of Fine Arts in Publishing and Writing. Willow is a firm believer in living a slow, quiet life and making things by hand. When they aren’t following the developers around with a camera at the Milk Street office, they may be found at home shaping loaves of sourdough, caring for dozens of houseplants and, occasionally, out in the wild at a punk rock show.