For a new angle on the traditional Feast of the Seven Fishes dinner on Christmas Eve, a Southern Italian custom, consider serving an assortment of tinned seafood. Island Creek Oyster Farm in Duxbury, Mass., now imports high-quality tinned seafood from Conservas Mariscadora in Galicia, Spain. The varieties include clams, razor clams, scallops and mussels, all of which can accompany the company’s own oysters and other seafood items for a quick, seven fishes first course. Follow that with anything from linguine with clams to lobsters.
Island Creek Oyster Farm, Conservas Marisacdora tinned seafood, $12 to $38, shop.islandcreekoysters.com.
Seven Fishes From Maine
Another new source for the seven fishes feast is the SoPo Seafood market in South Portland, Maine, which has assembled a dinner kit fresh from Maine consisting of 12 oysters, a pound each of lobster meat and sea scallops, two pounds each of hake and monkfish, plus smoked salmon and seaweed salad. The seafood comes with recipes from Maine restaurants and farms, like Primo, for monkfish livornese; the Clam Shack, for lobster rolls; and Atlantic Sea Farms, for seaweed salad focaccia. The kit will serve six to eight.
Maine Seafood Feast of the Seven Fishes Kit, $227.50; overnight shipping to New England, New York and New Jersey is free; elsewhere $65 to $80; soposeafood.com.
Champagne With a Brooklyn Accent
Marvina Robinson, who worked in front office and risk management for over 20 years, is now an entrepreneur with her own Champagne brand and a tasting room in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. The story? She followed her dream. Not one for shortcuts, she visited the Champagne region of France and found a producer in Épernay that wound up making her line, labeled B. Stuyvesant Champagne for her home territory. She said that she worked closely with the producer she found, and did not dictate a particular style. The iterations are reserve, premier cru, blanc de blancs and rosé, all of which share an alluring floral quality, most notably in the rosé, which, like the premier cru, is full-bodied enough to accompany a meal. The blanc de blancs is refreshingly tart to contrast the more mellow reserve.
B. Stuyvesant Champagne, reserve $57.95, blanc de blancs $69.95, rosé $67.95, premier cru $94.95, stuyvesantchampagne.com.
Enhance Your Salads, Mocktails and More
The richness of fruit pulp sets these new vinegars from Greece apart. Using a base of dry white wine vinegar with added grape must, raw fruit purées are added to contribute a moderately sweet flavor and texture. The varieties are not material for your everyday vinaigrette, but a little can enhance things. They’re also excellent as a finisher on seafood, poultry and salads. Add some to sparkling water, and you’re ready to say mocktail. There are four flavors: tangerine, mango, blueberry and strawberry.
Laconiko Puréevino Fruit Vinegars, $25.95 for 375 milliliters, four for $90, laconiko.com.
Chocolates for Stockings
Casa Bosques, an inventive chocolate company based in Mexico City with an office in TriBeCa, has introduced three substantial chocolate bars, each formed in antique soap molds. All are made with 74-percent dark chocolate. There’s one stuffed with hazelnuts, another with sunflower seed butter and cacao nibs, and a third with tahini and preserved lemon, which shows how well lemon and chocolate can complement each other. With stocking-stuffer potential, they’re sold individually, as a set of three and also three with a ceramic “soap” dish.
Casa Bosques “soaps,” collection, $75 for three; Sunflower seed butter and cacao nibs; Savon de Marseilles, hazelnut and hazelnut butter; Tahini and preserved lemon, $28 each; $140 for three with a ceramic dish, casabosques.co.
Classes From Immigrant Cooks
The League of Kitchens, a New York City company that employs immigrant cooks from 13 countries to give cooking classes in their homes, has resumed in-person sessions for the first time since 2020, while continuing a full roster of virtual events. Private events, like workshops and dinners, can also be arranged again. There are slots available for hands-on classes in Uzbek, Indonesian, Afghan, Nepali cooking, and more, all of which include a dinner. Virtual classes are also available.
League of Kitchens, $60 online, $150 to $195 in person, leagueofkitchens.com.
