Friday Fish Salad

As a child, I never ate meat on Fridays. This was surely due to my parents’ Catholic upbringing when in their youth, the Catholic Church forbade meat consumption on Fridays. The reasons for this are somewhat muddled. It was most likely due to the belief that Jesus died on Good Friday, and Catholics were to forego flesh on Fridays to commemorate Jesus’s death. Some argue the tradition stems back as far as the Middle Ages when the Church enacted this “rule” to aid the Italian fishing industry. Truth rarely stems from one single thing but a conglomerate of many, so who knows? When it was no longer considered “sinful” to consume meat on Fridays, many still abstained because what was born from the restriction was not the notion of penance, but rather tradition. I recall fish frys in the church basement followed by hours of Bingo. After a rigorous week of school and work, Friday dinners demanded ease, hence the perpetual phone call to the local pizza place. This no-fuss meal allowed families to gather at each other’s homes, devour slice after slice, crack open a beer or a bottle of wine and welcome the weekend. When I was a girl, Fridays meant peanut better and jelly or tuna fish sandwiches in my lunch box. If we forgot it was Friday, and found ourselves at McDonalds, we had to order Filet-o-Fish. Such a disappointment! But my favorite Friday dinner was cold fish salad. It was always accompanied by a big loaf of crusty Italian bread to sop us the delicious dressing and glasses of Chianti for my parents. I’ve eaten fish salads at many Italian and Portuguese restaurants, but none have come close to our family’s recipe. The secret? Vinegar peppers. They add punch with their acidity and a ton of flavor to the dish. When I was a little girl, my mother always used hot and sweet vinegar peppers in her fish salad. I’d ask which was which, being careful to choose only the sweet ones, as the hot peppers would surely burn my mouth. Once time, I accidentally bit into a hot vinegar pepper and sat at the table with tears streaming down my cheeks—my mouth on fire. My father said the only real cure for my dilemma was to go for ice cream. It’s funny what one remembers from a long time ago…but I think the sweetest memories are those steeped in kindness and tradition. 

FRIDAY FISH SALAD

1 pound calamari tubes with tentacles

1 pound large cooked shrimp

1 cup chopped celery

2 1/2 cups whole sweet vinegar peppers with the juice

1/2 cup small green olives with pimento

1/2 cup small pitted black olives

1/3 cup chopped parsley

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

Slice calamari tubes horizontally to create rings. Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil and cook calamari and tentacles for 7-9 minutes until tender. Drain. In a large bowl, mix shrimp, calamari, celery, vinegar peppers, olives and parsley. Add lemon juice, garlic powder, salt, pepper and olive oil. Mix well. Place bowl in refrigerator to marinate overnight. Before serving, mix well and let stand at room temperature for one hour.