My usual Christmas Eve feast, this year we did 8 fish (typical so everyone can get their 7 in without forcing something they don't like). This year I bought the A-Maze-N pellet smoker snake do-hicky-thingamabobber (the one that snakes like a maze), to cold smoke some salmon. I did a mini trial run to see if I could light it properly so I could let it burn overnight in the PBC. After a cure with sugar and salt, then allowed to air dry, and a 12 hour smoke overnight (after seeing Star Wars, which was awesome) the salmon turned out pretty awesome.
This year we were down to 9 people so I scaled back and barely had any leftovers. We had a smoked salmon display, crab and cheese stuffed mushrooms (on top of cucumber for those non mushroom people), oyster rockefeller (oysters topped with spinach, bacon, manchego cheese, and bread crumbs), Clam cakes in scallop shells, stuffed calamari (bread crumbs, garlic cooked in red sauce), shrimp cocktail, whole roasted branzino, and seared tuna. Dinner (not pictured) Was linguini with clam sauce (garlic, oil, clam juice, clams, and parsley).
Salmon display:
Crab mushrooms and cucumber:
Oysters:
Clam cakes:
Calamari:
Shrimp:
Branzino:
Tuna:
Table spread:
