Feast of the Seven Fishes (2025)!
I think from now on, each year, Iâll just copy notes from the year beforeâs post and add to/edit accordingly. Thatâll make it much easier to track and then look up for reference in the next year to come! :)
All of the courses were good enough that I just carried them over from last year. I did my big shop the Wednesday before, and did a full kitchen prep the evening before: all dishes cleaned and put away (including from the dishwasher), and a thorough review of the scribbled down guide I made a few years ago. I started prepping/cooking at 8:30 am morning ofâŠtook about 1.5 hours of breaks. It was a well-paced day, though it definitely accelerates at the end (as it always does).
All of my notes from last yearâs recipes + a few updates are included below, including how many multiples I recommend for each recipe based on number of guests (keeping in mind these portions are in the context of a 7-course dinner). General notes follow!!
COURSE 1: Drinks and appetizers - guest supplied! Leaving this to guests turns out great! All apps had some kind of fish ingredient, and it's good for guests have things to snack on while others are trickling in. Only future rec is if people ask which to bring, say appetizers: make sure you have at least one appetizer (for noshing guests - and to reach the magic 7!!) as well as one dessert. Sometimes we have almost everyone bringing desserts, this year we had literally everyone bring appetizers (so only a last minute dessert grabbed by a neighbor!). We had a few bottles of wine and a few craft beers we offered (both in the fridge), plus a big water dispenser on the island: best to have drinks out, though, or they just won't get noticed as much. It's also really important to have at least two nice bottles of water on the table (even with the water dispenser) so people don't have to get up during dinner!
COURSE 2: Seafood Chowder. This dish is an absolute crowd favorite (even though, TBH, it doesn't look super appetizing). Based on recipe comments, I modified the original recipe by substituting the evaporated milk for 1-2 can(s) of creamed corn + 1 cup of heavy cream, seasoned heavily with S&P (like, probably 1 tbsp of each - taste to confirm!), and 3 tbsp of Old Bay. (I like the way the chowder looks more when it's got some cream in it, but it tastes really great either way!)
Best to chop the potatoes unpeeled. Dicing them, they disappear by the time the soup is ready to eat - but chop them small, otherwise they're a bit of a mouthful. I think you can either chop up the fish, or just pop it straight into the slow cooker--I've done it both ways:
Keeping the filets whole, the fish will break up once you start mixing/transferring things, and this works great to get fish in every bite. Right before adding the potatoes and broth, I transferred everything to the crockpot, set it on high, then checked in on it once bubbling to see how the potatoes were doing. When they're soft (but still give some resistance to being cut with a fork), add the fish and cook, stirring occasionally, until it's no longer translucent. Add all ingredients (maybe go a smidge lighter on the pepper than I call for), and set to 'keep warm' until ready to serve! This was great to free up my big pot, as well as get it at perfect serving temp. Ultimately transferred it to my soup serving bowl and had my sous chef walk around the table with me for serving: people served themselves from the bowl, then I topped with crumbled thick cut bacon (prepped the morning of) and table-pass-around of Old Bay.
15 people or fewer = x1 recipe is plenty
COURSE 3: Caesar Kale Salad. Julienning the kale is a great task for early party arrivers :) I bought precut bagged kale and I'd say better to cut it fresh ourselves - another great early arriver (/introvert!) task. I also accidentally doubled the amount of garlic year 1 (half was supposed to be for the croutons) but it was just as fantastic as youâd expect - this is the only way to do it!
I just did a sheet pan of large-chopped garlic-Tuscan bread to make fresh croutons - sourdough works too. The large-chopped bites came out a little big, so a medium-small chop is better (and it's okay to squish the bread so it doesn't fall apart). Tossed them with XVOO in the very bag them came in, popped them in the oven, and removed when lightly golden brown. Maybe next year, sprinkle with the S&P and parm (which I forgot) before popping in the oven - instead of afterwards? One large loaf of bread and two big bags of precut kale from Wegmanâs was the perfect amount to match 16 people.
Also, donât bother trying to use tongs to mix the dressing with the kale and croutons. Just dig right in with your hands. Sooo much faster and more effective to coat the salad. I also used 100% of the dressing to dress the salad, not a spec leftover. This was perfect. If you change the proportions, just go generous on the dressing side of things and store anything thatâs leftover for another meal. (#worthit - though it starts tasting a little weird after 1-2 days.)
16 people = x4 recipe for dressing (use all garlic and parm called for); 2 LARGE bunches of kale (or two regular/one large bag of precut); 6-8 cups of oven-baked croutons (or one large loaf)
COURSE 3: Mediterranean stuffed, roasted red peppers with homemade ricotta. Always a win! I cooked these in the afternoon, then (unassembled) kept them warmed in the oven at 150 once they were done. Did a good job to keep them warm (and out of the way!) without drying them out, then I could easily transfer them to serving platters when it was time. These are easiest (and best?) served just on two large dinner plates!
16 people = x2 recipe; x1 recipe for ricotta
COURSE 4: Charred asparagus with citrus bagna cauda sauce. This is a fantastic dish! Best way is to make the sauce a few hours ahead of time (up to the point of removing from heat--THEN mixing in all the citrus juices), then just reheated it all right from the pan right before serving.
Donât bother trying to broil the asparagus - itâs not worth it if youâre making more than one batch. Just do it all directly on the grill in one fail swoop! Then throw the asparagus into the warming oven at 150 with the roasted red peppers to keep them warm prior to serving. Used my mini food processor to chop the almonds, and this worked really well for the right texture: a lot of little crumbles and just a few medium chunks. This is an AWESOME dish!
16 people = x4 recipe (truly 1 serving per person)
COURSE 5: Girelle and shrimp with sundried tomato cream sauce. Consistently a showstopper, no question!! For a double batch, I was able to just use the wok and the beer boil spoon to mix it all. For a single batch, I can just use my regular stock pot!
Key is to remove the shrimp when they are about half cooked (and no more), as to really get the sauce to the right glistening consistency before serving it requires ample time and patience stirring with the shrimp and pasta all together. Wegmen's didn't have oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes (that weren't seasoned), so I went with an airtight bag. I considered rehydrating them in some of the vermouth, but it really wasn't necessary--I think as long as you're using a fresh bag (not resealed from my pantry), either kind works!
Ÿ# pasta to 1# medium shrimp is also the ideal portion, or you can pull off 1.1# pasta to 1# large shrimp (based on the fact that I accidentally used a full bag this year, ha). The pasta bag sizes are unusual, so just remember to do math in advance! You could PROBABLY mod the pasta to just a single 1.1# bag for a double batch using medium shrimp, too...it's a somewhat forgiving recipe, as it turns out. (And you can always throw in some Romano if you need more body to the sauce.)
For a double batch, I used the wok for the shrimp, which worked perfectly, and basically cooked the shrimp as people were coming in (then tented the big beer pot I was mixing things into with foil). This year, I cooked the pasta around 4 pm and just tented it in the strainer with foil. I also par-cooked the shrimp and made the sauce in advance (in the stock pot), so it made putting it all together REALLY easy after the asparagus and pepper course.
16 people = x2 recipe (but maybe just use 1.1# of pasta?)
12 people or fewer = x1 recipe (by the time this course comes around, thereâs not a lot of room left!)
COURSE 6: Salmon with red pepper-walnut sauce. I might actually switch this one out next year: it's great, but not the easiest to scale, and I wasn't as overwhelmed with the outcome this year. But good notes from last year, still: Definite crowd pleaser (even to the non-salmon-lovers)! For 11 fillets this year, I bought FRESH salmon from Wegmanâs (never been frozen!) and I think it was worth it. We cut the fillets in half so they were square (a non-traditional cut from the traditional fillet shape) and this was great, both for cooking and serving (sauce on top). Came to 4-6 oz fillets per person. And you can definitely cook to the minimum times recommended for the fillets.
I prepped the fillets ahead of time (as people were arriving), and the sauce was whipped up in the blender, ready to be cooked down once the fillets were finished. This turned out great, as it meant minimal time away from the table for the final course prep. (Just tent the fillets as the sauce is cooking down.)
16 people = x4 recipe (just math it to max 1 piece of salmon per person - by the time we get to salmon, no one has room for anything more than that lol, so you can definitely go to one 6oz filet/every 2 people)
1) Prepping it all in advance is gold. Reusing my general schedule (reviewed the night before) of when Iâm prepping/cooking what day-of is gold. Having salad stuff for people to help with upon arrival is gold (don't give them utensils though--hands on is best!). Having all cooking ingredients portioned out for the final two courses to just throw on the stove while everyoneâs eating is gold.
2) 15 anchovies come to a little Cento pull-tab tin, FYI!
3) Over the years, we've had a few guests who can't eat one or two of the dishes for dietary or religious reasons. We always have plenty of leftovers for everything, so serving sizes don't need to be adjusted for this! (But one or two of the dishes--like the stuffed peppers and pasta--could pretty easily be adjusted to Kosher IF I remember while cooking. Something to try to keep in mind!)
4) Drinks at 5:30. Dinner at 6. Make sure this is included in the initial invitation (or day-of follow up) so everyone knows when to show up!
5) I served the courses in waves again this year: app as people arrived, then soup + salad, then peppers + asparagus, then pasta + salmon. (I like the waves concept rather than just everything on the table at one time.) This year, thanks to good advanced prepping (/extra time since people almost all arrived late, haha) and things warming in the oven, I got lots of table time - and the break before the main entrees was barely noticeable! (Though we had a party game planned just in case.) My sous chef and I also swapped seats halfway through, which was great, because we got to engage with every single party guest (and vice versa).
6) I used 46 cloves of garlic. Bought it peeled and ready to go. Worth it, lol. (Though, I haven't LOVE the quality of the pre-peeled garlic at Wegman's the last two years, so maybe source elsewhere?)
7) Best to do the big shop Wednesday or Thursday the week-of. Gives you enough time in case theyâre out of anything, yet ensures the integrity of some of the produce; if you do it Thursday, it also means you can buy the fish fresh instead of frozen (salmon and cod). The cod can be frozen no problem, but the fresh salmon was really excellent if a reasonable option. (If high quality frozenâs the only option - good option still! - just keep in mind itâs super annoying to tear apart individual wrappers.)
8) We are maxed out at a 16 person final guest list! We have the leaf in our table, borrowed our neighbor's table as a 6' extension (plus 10 of his chairs), and had two serving platters for every dish. Even if we did have room for more people (which: we absolutely do not, lol), proximity logistics (of food, hosts, or conversation) wouldn't work as well with any larger of a group. With 16, it's best to have us hosts offset towards the ends and then swap halfway through. With 11, us hosts can sit at the heads of the table (and still swap halfway through). It's easiest for me to be near the kitchen for the first half, though!
9) Double check all âstaplesâ being used: Old Bay, Worcheshire sauce, etc. Also, I consistently sleep in an extra few hours the next day: Plan for nothing the next morning and a generally very low-key Sunday.
10) We've had 16 people the last two years, and 11 people this year. We continued to do seat arrangements with little handwritten nameplates. Took a few minutes to work it out; it turned out great to balance the table! With 16 people, people on opposite ends didnât interact with each other at all (good place for the introverts!) but basically everyone else had a larger interaction-radius than I expected (2 people L&R, 3+ people across). With 11 people, basically everyone was able to interact and be a part of one big conversation.
11) I like to keep things interesting and people engaged! In the past, after all the main courses, we've been adding cute little trivia games and prizes (that, spoiler alert, everyone has!) under each guest's place setting/chair. (Trivia has included âguess how many pounds of fish,â âguess how many anchovies,â âguess how many cloves of garlic.â) We've also done little candy cane + pop-open-mini-cards; little (2"x3") photos of guests+us from sometime over the year; Christmas crackers with trinkets, jokes, and gold crowns. This year we customized the nameplates so they included a FUN FACT and JOB DESCRIPTION for each person...except we did a terrible job describing everyone's career, which was very fun ('builds solar panels for ants,' 'helps sick people born in June/July,' 'knows fun facts about cocaine'). It added a lot of structure to the table conversation--the conversation was good but the structure was probably not necessary? So that it might work better to send out in advance to all party comers rather than include on nameplates! Either way, I really like adding this touch each year, and the nameplates worked well to personalize everyoneâs.
A new evolution this year is this will be my last annual post that includes recipe notes! I have the recipes down pretty pat, at this point, and when I pull up this recurring post to review each year, the recipe notes end up slowing me down quite a bit. I also found some discrepancies between my in-person scribbled recipes and my notes here. So I've spent the last few days going through ALL of my notes in all forms and consolidating them (from ingredient notes to scaling notes to timing notes) into a new recipe booklet for myself for the Feast each year! I'm quite proud of the result, and I really think it's going to help keep things more organized from year to year :) I haven't decided if I'll continue to make my annual post about the Feast here, or if it will just look a little different henceforth, to keep it all more organized for myself. TBD! Though you'll DEFINITELY see this post again if I (ever, ha) add new recipes into the Feast!
Iâve hosted a LOT of potlucks in my time but really liked the sit-down-dining style of this dinner party with the multi-courses. Definitely a lot of work to do regularly but worth it once a year! Also one of the most interesting observations for me was being very full by the end of the night but not totally overstuffed and feeling grossly overeaten. I like to think thatâs a testament to the well designed menu and dishes that - save one or two with some cream - were really pretty healthy. All in all, a great success and I canât wait until Christmas next year!!
