Many Canadians of European origin celebrate Christmas Eve with a seafood meal – sometimes a simple dinner of salted cod fish and potatoes, sometimes an elaborate seafood presentation. Here is a menu for a real feast, one that's suitable for any special entertaining dinner. It is simple to prepare, as everything is thrown in the oven at a high heat and baked until just tender, then piled on a platter and served with dipping sauces.
First up are two flavourful and easy-to-make sauces to serve with the seafood platter. If you end up with leftovers, the anchovy-spiked butter sauce makes great hot herbed bread, while the diablo sauce could be the basis of a simple tomato sauce for pasta.
As for the platter, these are my favourite types of seafood, but in the end the choices are up to you. Add pieces of salmon, sea bass or mackerel if you like, or small fish such as white bait or sardines, dipped in flour before roasting. Serve steamed rice or roasted fingerlings on the side, as well as a salad. If you want a meat component, add chorizo sausages, which can be fried, grilled or oven-roasted for 15 minutes before the seafood goes on.
Related: Start your meal with this chestnut and mushroom soup
Servings: Sauces: 6-8; Seafood: 4-6
Ready Time: Sauces: 20 minutes; Seafood: 1 hour
Warm anchovy kale sauce
1/3 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
2 tbsp olive oil
4 anchovies
1 tbsp chopped garlic
1 tbsp chopped capers
2 cups baby kale
2 green onions, finely chopped
2 tsp lemon juice
1/4 cup water
Diablo sauce
1/2 cup white wine
1 cup puréed tomatoes (passata)
1 cup cherry tomatoes
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp hot sauce or more to taste
1 tbsp freshly grated horseradish
Seafood marinade
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tbsp chopped garlic
1 tbsp chopped fresh tarragon
1 tsp chopped thyme
2 tsp cracked fennel seeds
1 tbsp grated lemon zest
2 tbsp sherry vinegar
1/2 tsp espellette pepper or chili flakes
Seafood
4 squid bodies, cleaned
1 lb (500 g) halibut, sea bass or salmon cut in 2-inch cubes
8 jumbo scallops
1 lb extra large shrimp, peeled and cleaned (16 to 20 a lb)
Salt and freshly ground pepper
2 lbs (1 kg) mussels
Method
Warm anchovy kale sauce: Place all ingredients in a blender or food processor. Process until well combined. Reheat to warm when needed. Sauce will solidify if it is served cold.
Diablo sauce: Place all ingredients in a blender or food processor and purée. Place in saucepan over medium heat. Bring to boil, then simmer for 10 minutes or until thick and tasty. Serve warm or cold with seafood.
Seafood: Preheat oven to 450 F.
Combine marinade ingredients in a bowl. Slice 1/2-inch slits into squid, leaving the bodies intact, or cut into rings. Add fish, scallops, shrimp and squid to marinade. Toss together and leave for 30 minutes. Season seafood with salt and pepper.
Place two baking sheets in the oven for 5 minutes to get hot. Remove and add mussels and squid to one sheet, and shrimp, scallops and fish to the second. Return baking sheets to the oven and bake for 3 minutes. Flip scallops and shrimp and cook for 3 to 4 more minutes or until all of the seafood is cooked. Discard any mussels that don’t open. Pile on a tray and serve with the sauces.