Thursday, December 24, 2015

We Dish You A Merry Fishmas



For many years, when my kids were little, our family celebrated four Christmases a year, making the rounds to grandparents and friends, and it was a blast. Now, though, my kids are pretty much grown-up and I'm old and tired, and it feels right to dial it all back. To this end, we stopped doing Christmas at home.

In its place, we celebrate Fishmas.

For Fishmas we eat fish, that's the main thing. We also exchange a few presents, drink whiskey (some of us) and watch movies (or in the case of this year, lots of Groucho Marx videos). It's a new tradition and may evolve further, but so far Fishmas is working just fine.

This year, I made Kedgeree, a smoked fish and rice dish. I followed Delia Smith's recipe, poaching the fish lightly in milk seasoned with black pepper and bay leaf and then using the salty poaching milk to make a rich sauce. It's not health food. But Fishmas comes but once a year.



I forgot to take a pretty plated photo before tucking in and making a big mess...