Whether you observe the rule of only eating fish on Friday or not – Good Friday is a great day for a seafood feast. In March and April, there are a number of varieties of seafood in season, choosing one can help you plan your Good Friday meal and go from Good to Great.
Salmon is in season all year round and is a seafood that is enjoyed by most people as it doesn’t have an overly strong ‘fish’ flavour. Barramundi is in season and is another crowd pleaser. Best cooked grilled or smoked, Barra has a mild flavour. In the Illawarra, you can find a great selection of seafood at Hawthorne’s Meats.
If you’re a prawn lover, go for King Prawns, which are fished from late summer through to winter, they will be at their peak flavour at Easter.
Crab is another variety that’s available all year. Blue crabs are best from November – April and the QLD variety are thought to be the best.
So you’ve got your seafood covered? What else can you serve to take your Friday to go from Good to Great?
Bright, citrusy salads with lots of green add a lovely light balance to your seafood. Combine watercress, grapefruit, oranges, endive, radicchio, a good bleu cheese and walnuts and top with a zesty, lemony dressing. This salad is bright and playful and will bring out the lemony flavours of your fish.
Red roasted potatoes roasted till they’re crispy in butter and a fresh squeeze of lemon will add some warmth and carbs to the table. This side dish is perfect for salmon. Toss in a few seasoned asparagus cooked on the BBQ for added crunch and colour. Mashed potato is also a winner with seafood – check out my perfect mash recipe here.
I also love serving stuffed capsicums as a seafood side. You can use whatever you like to stuff them – try onion fried with garlic and chilli, add some eggplant, tomatoes, chicken stock, balsamic vinegar and a sprinkle of sugar. Cook on low and put on a boiled pot of water to also boil some risoni rice. Once everything is done, half the capsicums and scoop out the insides (including the bitter seeds) top with mixed ricotta and mozzarella cheese and bake until brown. This dish is filling so if you have some non-seafood eaters at your lunch, they will love this as their main.
When it comes to decorating your Good Friday table, you can stick to the traditional Easter theme of colour to make it fun and festive. Use a white tablecloth as your base and fill small vases with a variety of flowers in pinks, purples and yellows. Add greenery for depth. Scatter the table with tiny easter eggs – colour match with the flowers if you’re feeling particularly OCD!
Bunting on the ceiling always brings a festive touch and you can colour match with your table decor. Don’t forget the bunnies. You’re gunna need bunnies somewhere. Find some quirky bunny shaped serving platters or serving spoons (like these from Provincial Home Living) or find a cute decorative bunny or wind-up chick to place on each place setting.
Some simple Easter Hat craft will keep the kids occupied at their table. Purchase a few cheap hats from the Dollar Shop and fill re-used ice-cream buckets with feathers, paddle pop sticks, tiny chicks, felt shapes, and shredded tissue paper. Pop down some glue and sticky tape and tell the children to let their imaginations run wild. They’ll love coming up with their creations and it will give you some time to sit back, relax and enjoy a bubbly or two as you move into the long weekend.
