Fish pie for a nontraditional Feast of Seven Fishes

Up until a week ago, when a coworker friend of mine mentioned wanting to hold one, I didn't know anything about the Feast of the Seven Fishes; now, I still don't know anything about it, besides what I just read on Wikipedia. (Isn't it strange to think that there are now generations growing up who will probably never have to learn how to do research in a library because of the ready availability of information on the Internet? Am I showing my age, or what?) But anyhow, it is apparently a mostly Italian-American tradition to celebrate Christmas Eve. I couldn't find anything too concrete about whether there are specific dishes that are supposed to be eaten, but the general idea is that they should be fish-themed, and there should be seven of them. And, anyway, a cocktail party consisting of fish-themed nibbles?? Sign me up!


Of course, I offered to bring dessert. I had initially kicked around the idea of bringing a stargazy pie but I didn't have enough time to buy fish (thanks to all you can eat/drink happy hour in Koreatown) and didn't feel like lugging a fish pie around all day! So I made apple pie instead, and shaped it like a fish. Cheating? Perhaps! Tasty? Naturally! I went with the less filling more crust version because it lent itself to shaping much more readily than a traditional pie, and because I love this recipe so. I think this is the 4th or 5th time I've made it now, incidentally.


Okay, so I didn't pack the apples down enough, and so the eyesocket looks a bit frightening, but aren't the scales neat? I cut them with just a regular old round biscuit cutter from the scraps and stuck them on with milk. I wish I had gotten photos of the other fish food (taramasalata, latkes with salmon, salmon pinwheels, crab dip, shrimp & pesto on endive, pissaladiere with anchovies...) but frankly, I was too busy stuffing my face. And the pie, though not fish flavored, seemed to go down well.

Hope you all had a Merry Christmas! It is pouring down rain here, perfect for a day of going through photos and drafting recipe posts for my Christmas Cookie Boxes this year!