Christmas Eve Seafood
We invited all our single friends over to help us decorate our tree on Christmas Eve. Of course one has to give in order to receive, so we lured them over with promises of food. Our traditional Christmas Eve feast is seafood, and this year was no exception. We served boiled shrimp as an appetizer. The main course was clam chowder, a calamari salad with tomatoes and capers, and a rich and luscious seafood casserole with shrimp, halibut, lobster, and a Japanese panko bread crust.
Recipes? Sure!
Ditalini used Food Network recipes for her calamari salad and seafood casserole, so to ensure credit goes where it is due, I’ll just post the recipe links:
My clam chowder recipe comes from my father and has been a deMenthe family Christmas tradition for nearly 30 years. I posted the recipe last year, and here’s the link.
The boiled shrimp are so easy. Just buy a a pound of jumbo (21/25 count) shrimp in their shells, deveined & heads removed. If you buy the shrimp frozen, thaw them out in water first, then drain. Pour one or two beers into a pot, add two tablespoons of Old Bay Seasoning, and bring to a boil. Add the shrimp and boil them for two to three minutes, until nice and pink. Serve with cocktail sauce and lemon slices. There’s nothing to it, and it’s a great appetizer.
Seafood and Christmas Eve . . . it’s a match made in heaven!
