The 2009 Feast of the Seven Fishes Festival is coming up, and we have a new video to get everybody excited. What do you think? This has been a hectic year for all of us, but we're really looking forward to this day.

Ingredients

• 1 pound ground beef
• 1 pound ground sausage
• 1 large can tomato sauce
• ¼ cup water
• 5 par boiled potatoes, peeled and sliced (if using red potatoes, I leave the skin on)
• 1 large onion
• 2 cloves garlic
• 3 medium zucchini, sliced same size as potatoes
• 2 cups bread crumbs
• 1-2 cups grated cheese
• 3 tablespoons fresh basil and parsley chopped
• Salt /pepper to taste
• Olive oil

Instructions

Brown the meat in a skillet. Pour tomato sauce and water over meat mixture and let simmer about 15-20 min. Parboil potatoes. In another pan sauté the onions and garlic in olive oil and set aside. In a separate bowl combine the fresh bread crumbs with the grated cheese, parsley, basil, salt and ground black pepper. In a pan or Dutch oven (I use my Le Creuset dutch oven) cover the bottom of the pan with the meat sauce, and then add a layer of potatoes, zucchini, onions and top w/ bread crumb mixture. Just like making lasagna repeat another layer and pour any extra sauce over the top, sprinkle the top w/ bread crumb mixture. Drizzle w/ olive oil and bake at 350 for 45 minuets or until veggies are tender!

Photo Credit

With all that cold weather all over the place, here's a yummy recipe to warm you up. Shannon's favorite mussles recipe.

Ingredients
3 pounds of mussels-scrubbed, bearded and rinsed

2 cups dry white wine

1/4 cup olive oil

2-4 cloves garlic-crushed

4  anchovy fillets
 ½ or more teaspoon hot pepper flakes

1 teaspoon vinegar

2 tablespoons of parsley-chopped

Instructions
In a large pot, bring the wine to a simmer. Garlic lovers may choose to add a couple minced cloves of garlic at this time. Add the mussels, cover and cook until all mussels have opened, up to around 5 minutes. Remove mussels and increase the heat until the liquid reduces about 5 minutes. In a large sauté pan, over medium heat the olive oil and add the garlic cook until soften but not burn. Add the anchovies and hot pepper flakes (more than a ½ teaspoon if you dare) and stir. Add the mussels, and the reduced liquid they were cooked in along with vinegar and simmer 1 to 2 minutes. Remove from heat and place in a large serving bowl – mussels may taste even better if you attempt to keep them warm. Garnish with fresh parsley. The mussels can be served immediately with a few hunks of good Italian bread or chilled for a few hours and served later.

Photo Credit

Now that the Holiday season has passed, it's time to start posting some of Shannon's favorite recipes again. Let's start with a great Italian dessert - Tiramisu. Enjoy.

Ingredients

• 1 Pound of Mascarpone Cheese
• 1/2 Cup of Sugar
• 4-5 Tablespoons of Kahlua
• 1 ½ Cups of Heavy Whipping Cream
• 1 Large Pack of Lady Fingers
• 1 -2 Cups Strong Brewed Coffee
• 1 Tablespoon of Vanilla
• 2 Egg Whites
• 1 Dark Chocolate Bar

Instructions

In a large bowl mix together the mascarpone, ¼ cup sugar, and egg whites until a smooth consistency is achieved. In a chilled bowl add the heavy whipping cream, vanilla and remaining ¼ cup of sugar. Beat until soft peaks form and it becomes whipped cream. Fold the cheese mixture into the whipped cream mixture. In another bowl add the Kahlua to the coffee. Dip the ladyfingers quickly in the coffee mixture (do not soak as they will become soggy), and the place the cookies in rows in a cake pan. Spread a layer of mascarpone/cream mixture across the ladyfingers. Shave chocolate mixture over that layer and repeat steps (sort of like making lasagna) until all the ingredients have been used. Shave chocolate over the top layer and make some curls. Cover and chill over night.

Please comment if there any recipes that you'd like to see on our blog. Also, if you have a favorite Tiramisu (or any recipe for that matter), send it along and we'll share it with our community.

Photo Credit goes to: http://flickr.com/photos/avlxyz/2145110663/

HeraldNet made an interesting point in one of their online stories. Why buy Focaccia in a supermarket when you can easily make it yourself at home. Here's the recipe for what is called Easy Italian Herb Focaccia.

• 31/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 envelope Fleischmann's RapidRise Yeast
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, divided
• 12/3 cups warm (120-130 degrees) water
• 2 tablespoons shredded fresh Parmesan cheese
• 1 tablespoon Italian herb seasoning

Mix flour, undissolved yeast, sugar and salt in a large bowl. Add 2 tablespoons of the olive oil and water, stirring until well mixed. Spread dough into a greased 9-by-13-inch baking pan. Cover.

Let dough rise until doubled, about 30 minutes. Poke multiple holes into the dough, using the handle of a wooden spoon. Drizzle remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil over dough, then sprinkle with the Parmesan cheese and Italian herb seasoning. Cover.

Let dough rise again for an additional 15 minutes while the oven preheats to 375 degrees.

Uncover and bake 30 to 35 minutes, until lightly browned. Cool slightly and cut into slices; serve warm. If desired, serve with additional olive oil for dipping.

It really seems like this has been somewhat of a breakthrough year when it comes to the Feast of the Seven Fishes. Many of you sent us your stories about your Feast celebrations, we also read many blog entries about such and even the New York Times had to stories about the Feast.

Abbondanza
In 7 Fish (More or Less), a Holiday Tradition

And for those of you who remember, here's a 1987 article written by Craig Claiborne.
A Seven-Course Feast of Fish

After this 1987 story, it took the New York Times 21 years to write about the Feast of the Seven Fishes again. It's pretty cool they didn't just write one story, but two. Thank you all for sharing your memories.

We wish all of our readers and members of our little community a happy new year. Thank you for coming to our site, buying our book, eating fish at the Feast of the Seven Fishes Festival and caring for observing existing traditions and creating new ones. We wish you all the best luck, health and good spirits in 2009.

With the Feast of the Seven Fishes behind us, it's time to start looking forward to New Year's Eve. One of our readers sent us this story about New Year's Eve in Venice. Apparently Venetians get to look forward to a massive "kiss-in" with more than 60,000 people locking lips as they enter 2009. Apparently that's how many people showed up last year. The party begins at 10pm to allow for various rounds of practice kisses. Here's a link to the press release.

In a perfect world I'd bombard you folks with pictures and video of today's preparations - but I'm not so sure that's going to happen.  We have been absolutely swamped getting ready for the Feast - and the fact I've been under the weather hasn't helped.  Last night I rallied enough to help Shannon make a ton of fresh pasta for the anchovy pasta dish.  And we seem to have pulled together everything we need otherwise.  This year's menu is a bit slimmed down - we've already done baccala twice for demos and decided to go easy on ourselves.  So we're having smelt and calamari and a variety of fried fish and the anchovy pasta and oysters and - I think - a grilled octopus.  We may not have seven separate fish but we'll for sure have seven dishes so I think we're safe.  I just hope we find a minute to upload some visuals - but if not during the day for sure in the days ahead.  Here's hoping your own Feast of the Seven Fishes is a memorable and delicious one.

Buon Natale!
Bob