I feel rather in vogue during Christmas Eve as it is a meat-free day and we are all about the freetarianism here. One refrains from eating breakfast and lunch in order to stuff one's gob at an "early" dinner of 7pm, with no less than five fully fledged courses - yes the irony of abstinence vs indulgence is rather lost on this wonderful peninsula.
We started with five different types of fish starters; smoked salmon, white bait, sardines, marinated salmon and marinated swordfish, eloquently acceded by fat homemade "scialatielli" al zucchini e vongole (fat spaghetti like pasta with courgette and clams - no pasta for freetarians or course). This was followed by the arrival of some closely located relatives (whom must have a hidden camera overlooking the dining room as no meal is complete without an inter-course (now, now, it's a holy day after all) sharp rap on the door...) and a "first second plate" of sea bass baked in salt and herbs. It is of course important to stress that the fish was caught at sea and not farmed, which no matter how gently bred, would never quite live up to the status of being "free and wild", quite depressingly opposite to the lives of human beings. The bass was served with oven baked potatoes and a (un)healthy amount of noise and general confusion amidst the grand filleting, deboning and de-skinning of the fish by one's butler (the other half) and the exchange of presents with inter-course visitors, the obligatory oooohs and aaaaahs of wonder and fascination that such feats as cooking fish and buying gifts can be accomplished by mere mortals.
The "second, second plate" was squid cooked in tomato sauce and paprika. By then, the five of us were all in food and wine induced misery as the 1.7kg bass was completely devoured and the second, second plate was scandalously ignored. Then of course, there was the fruit and nut course, which was followed by dessert and dessert wine - try as I might I cannot remember what dessert was, perhaps this is better in order to preserve my sanity.
And so, the scene for the next few days is set - chatting, laughing, shouting, door and bells a ringing, and epic eating feats. My recovery is set back a couple of months as I've never had to fill the dish washer quite so many times in such a short period of time (five courses requires a minimum of five plates per person excluding serving dishes!). Most importantly, we forgot, or we might have run out of plates, to serve the "second, first plate" on Christmas Eve dinner - baby razor clams cooked in white wine, parsley, garlic and pepper - consumed with renewed vigour immediately pre-Christmas lunch:
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