Christmas Eve 2015 marks the 25th “Festa dei Sette Pesci” (Feast of the Seven Fishes) that I will have hosted. Over the next few days, I’ll be posting pictures and recipes from years past, along with the menu for this year’s celebration.

With just 3 days to go, it’s time to start soaking that baccala–get to it!

Salt-cured codfish…pre-soak! If you’ve never worked with this stuff, be prepared–it’s very pungent!

Baccala Alla Vesuviana This is baccala in a spicy tomato sauce. I made it in 2014, and it was terrific. I used Mario Batili’s recipe, which you can find HERE.

Baccala Salad I made this in 2010. I don’t recall which recipe I used, but THIS ONE from the Food Network is pretty close. I enjoyed it, but it didn’t go over as well as the Vesuviana did a few years later.