Comments on: what’s cooking wednesday: fried baccalà and baccalà with tomatoes

By: Pat

Pat — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 02:38:38 +0000

Hi Michelle!

Thanks so much for your congratulations and best wishes on the birth of my grandson, Leo! We are so excited to be going to see him soon.:-)

I was introduced to baccala by my Calabrain husband’s family — on Christmas Eve my mother-in-law made cod “stoccafisso” cooked in tomato sauce and served over linguine, along with fried baccala, fried shrimp, stuffed lobster tails, stuffed and fried calamari, and anchovies inside the savory zeppoles. It was all wonderful! I’ve been making all the dishes the last 17 years, except for the stoccafisso because my children liked a calamari tomato sauce better. It’s such a wonderful tradition!

Buon Natale!

Hugs, Pat

Pat’s last blog post..Some Favorite Christmas Cookies

Mmmm sounds great to me…I *love* calamari What a feast you put on!

By: Marc

Marc — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 15:40:30 +0000

Man, that looks good – I haven’t had baccala for quite some time. I think I’ve been inspired!

Marc’s last blog post..Hubble Telescope Advent Calendar

Do it Marc! You’ll thank yourself later

By: Sparkle and Glitter » Sparkle Roundup!

Sparkle and Glitter » Sparkle Roundup! — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 08:04:02 +0000

[...] and Coop have both made delicious-sounding food posts with recipes I really must try soon – “What’s Cooking Wednesday” and “Easy Mint Chocolate [...]

By: Jeni Hill Ertmer

Jeni Hill Ertmer — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 07:17:34 +0000

Ah, Michelle, I love all your posts but this one, well it really came through in spades for me! Half of my ethnic heritage is Swedish and as such, one of our Christmas traditions was to have Lutfisk for our Christmas Eve supper. I remember so well coming home from school to the unmistakable aroma (and boy, it really was an “aroma” too) of the lutfisk soaking out on the back porch off our kitchen. My Grandma always boiled this fish and served it with plain boiled potatos, a white-cream gravy and peas because the tradition was that Christmas Eve dinner was to be bland -in color as well as taste. After we came home from the midnight Christmas Eve church services, the goodies -fancy breads, cheeses, sliced meats, another traditional dish of jellied veal and then, of course the cookies -all kinds of ‘em -were served too. I never learned the actual how-to of fixing lutfisk although unlike my cousins, I loved the stuff. I’d like to know how to actually fix it and have it for a Christmas Eve supper again some time but I’ve never seen dried salt codfish on sale any place here -not since the old general stores that used to exist in this little village went out of business back in the early-to-mid 60s. Great post with lots and lots of memory stuff in it for me.

Thanks so much for sharing these memories Jeni…sounds like you’ve had some great Christmas dinners. If you’re up for a road trip, I know some places around Scranton have baccalà, namely Sabatelle’s in Pittston

By: Austen

Austen — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 03:52:50 +0000

Yes: always seafood on Christmas Eve! (Since I married an Italian!)
Here in northern California we start with cracked Dunganess Crab!
From Wikipedia….
The Dungeness crab is a species of crab that inhabits eelgrass beds and water bottoms from the Aleutian Islands in Alaska to Santa Cruz, California.[1] Its binomial name, Cancer magister, simply means “master crab” in Latin.

But then we give up on the “n” fishes, and go to “Hay & Straw” pasta.

Sounds great to me Austen!

By: helena

helena — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 03:03:46 +0000

Battered, fried baccala is served in Greece at the start of Lent, and served with skordalia, the pungent garlic, mashed potato and olive oil dip. Can’t say it feels v Christmasy to me, as a dish, but that’s just the Greek in me speaking. Can’t say I ever liked it that much. Fresh fish always tastes best, I think.

Funny I prefer baccalà to fresh fish, for the most part, but that could be that’s because I don’t have to avoid eyes and tons of bones

By: City Girl

City Girl — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 23:14:31 +0000

Sounds lovely — I don’t think my parents and I had a set Christmas Eve tradition in terms of food — DH’s family always did roast beef and pastrami sandwiches on Christmas Eve and a roast on Christmas Day, so that’s how the last 3 Christmases have been. This is our first Christmas where it’s just the two of us, so we are still thinking up what traditions we want to start.

City Girl’s last blog post..What’s Cooking Wednesday – Shrimp Scampi Pasta with Feta

I think it’s so fun to start new traditions…hope you have a great Christmas Eve and Christmas eating whatever you decide

By: Marla

Marla — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 22:29:21 +0000

We eat baccala a fair amount, but have yet to fry it, but this looks very tempting indeed! You can’t go wrong with frying things for Italians and Americans for that matter.

Marla’s last blog post..Almost 6 Feet Under and Marmelatta di Zucca

Very true, Marla. Very true

By: susan

susan — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 20:04:36 +0000

Michelle your fish looks so good. I havent had fried baccala since my Grandmother was alive. I can almost taste it!

Oh you should make some Susan! It’s not difficult

By: Susan from Food Blogga

Susan from Food Blogga — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 17:39:19 +0000

Woo-hoo! I am SO excited about receiving this book, Michelle. Grazie to you and Robert! Christmas Eve dinner has always trumped Christmas Day at my house. Heck, we’d be more excited about the fish than we would about Santa. (Just don’t tell him I said that.)

Susan from Food Blogga’s last blog post..A Recipe for Special Christmas Chocolate Chip, Cherry, and Pistachio Cookies and the Winners of the Christmas Book Give-Away

Your secret is safe with me Susan! And enjoy the book