Knowing that Russ’ daughter Julia had (mostly) omitted red meat from her diet, we decided to create our version of the Christmas Eve dinner “Seven Fishes.” The three kids (young adults in their twenties) were joining us for the feast along with Russ’ mother Mary who was in from Western PA; further planning to have a standing prime rib roast for Christmas Day dinner — when the kids would not be with us.

Main course: Seafood Paella containing mussels, clams, squid, sea scallops and shrimp. Our best laid plans came to a screeching halt though when Mary informed us she can no longer do shellfish. But the crisis was averted when we told her we’d make a seared Ahi Tuna Steak for her and she could pick out some of the mollusks from the paella if she so desired.

Dan grating tomatoes for paella.

David hugging dad while Lynn prepares Crab Loius salads and Dan checks his mobile devices.

Our appetizer was a Tuna Canapé from our Tapas cookbook by Penelope Casas. It was made with a special canned tuna from Spain on whole wheat baguette slices and everyone loved them!

And to make sure we met the seven fishes quota, our first course was a scrumptious Crab Louis Salad (recipe follows.) Now of course this contained shellfish but Mary wanted a “little” of the lump crab instead of the mound on everyone else’s plate. The dressing required horseradish sauce, which we were inconveniently out of, so I used wasabi sauce instead, and the end result was two thumbs up!

David and Julia waiting patiently for dinner to be served.

I already blogged about our dessert, the Tiramisu Yule Log. Next up will be the Prime Rib Christmas Day dinner, followed by a night out with the family at Rosa Bianca’s in Yardley the day after Christmas.

Crab Louis Salad
from Epicurious.com