Pescatarians rejoice! This Three Fish Roast is the most magnificent Pescatarian Christmas centrepiece you’ll come across! Looking for a Thanksgiving Fish Recipe? Look no further!
Estimated reading time: 8 minutes
Table of contents
- What is a Three Fish Roast?
- Three Fish Roast Recipe
- Stuffed Fish Recipe for Christmas, Thanksgiving or Easter
- Don’t want a large Salmon Roast?
- Pescatarian Roast – Different Ways
- Change the flavour of this Christmas Salmon
- How to serve this Stuffed Salmon Roast?
- Are you having a Pescatarian Christmas? Or Pescatarian Thanksgiving?
- Images by LinsFoodies
- More Christmas Recipes
What is a Three Fish Roast?
You know how a 3 bird roast is a bird in a bird, in a bird? So a three fish roast uses the same principle, just assembled slightly differently. It’s more of a top and bottom thing.
So I’ve got 2 large salmon sides filled with smoked haddock and prawns (shrimps), tied together.
This will make a wonderful alternative to your traditional Thanksgiving dinner. Or Christmas. Or Easter. So if you’re planning a Pescatarian Thanksgiving, I’ve got your back!
My late husband was a huge fan of Flipboard. Every now and then, he’d come across a food photo that he liked and would show it to me.
I must admit many of them were a little out there, and not really something that appealed to me. He loved the wow factor, like milkshakes with mini burgers, bacon, olives, etc on a stick. Yeah.
But the two-fish fish roast that he showed me sometime in 2013 or ’14 was definitely one of the best ideas he came across. As soon as I saw the image for that two-fish roast, I knew exactly how I was going to do it and that it was going to be a three fish roast instead!
So cooking Thanksgiving dinner this year or Cristmas dinner? This is perfect for your holiday feast!
Three Fish Roast Recipe
For a start, I wasn’t going to stop at 2. I mean why do 2 when you can do 3? Right?
When I saw the image on Flipboard, I immediately thought about coulibiac and our traditional fish pie and how I could work those two to create our Christmas dinner fish recipe.
Coulibiac is a fish pie too but encased in puff pastry – perfect for Christmas. Click here for the recipe or on the image below.
It only took minutes for me to settle on the filling for our pescatarian roast. This is what my very first three-fish roast contained, and what I’m doing today:
- salmon (top and bottom)
- smoked haddock (from the traditional fish pie we make)
- prawns (to get a 3rd “fish” in)
- boiled eggs (from coulibiac)
- with a creme fraiche and Dijon mustard spread on the salmon sides
Then it’s just a case of assembling and roasting it.
The result is a richly flavoured Thanksgiving or Christmas baked fish that is full of contrasting flavours and textures. Meaty, smoky, creamy, tart and herby, and so deliciously fishy, of course! Good fishy!
And it’s going to be perfect in your Christmas or Thanksgiving menu. You can stop your search for Christmas dinner ideas for pescatarians!
Stuffed Fish Recipe for Christmas, Thanksgiving or Easter
This fish roast will be the star of your Thanksgiving table or Christmas table. And most certainly your Easter table!
Your guests are going to be speechless when you bring it out to the table. Mine certainly are, without fail.
When I make this Christmas fish roast, I always ensure that everyone is sitting at the table before I go ta-da as I bring it to the table.
Before my kids went vegetarian, they loved salmon. But because my girls are allergic to eggs, I’ve made this three fish roast often without eggs too. I must admit, the eggs add a lovely dimension to this Pescatarian festive recipe, so use them if you can.
Edit: Sapphire went pescatarian last year, so she certainly enjoyed this last Christmas, as did the extended family that came over.
You can use any fish you like, and any seafood. Again, the smoked fish plays a part in the final flavour. But if you don’t like smoked fish, leave it out, by all means.
Don’t want a large Salmon Roast?
If you don’t want to cook a huge salmon roast for your Thanksgiving feast or Christmas feast, use half a salmon side, for the top and bottom. You could also just use salmon fillets, as many of my readers have done.
The fillets won’t be able to take as much filling, but you will still be able to do it, just remember you must still tie the fillets together.
Another alternative is to use boneless whole fish fillets. Bass is a great option, and you can just fill them as here, reducing the amount of filling. This way, you can still have a whole roasted fish dish.
Pescatarian Roast – Different Ways
You can change up our stuffed salmon recipe in different ways:
- use any kind of fish you like, as mentioned above.
- you can change the herbs from what I’ve got today. Dill is a common herb with fish, but I don’t really like the stuff.
- you could also turn this into a spinach stuffed salmon roast. Drop me a comment if you need help.
- size of the fish can definitely be changed – use fillets or even whole, smaller fish.
- rather obviously, you can turn this into a two-fish roast. Four-fish roast? Why not, but just go easy on the filling as the more you fill, the higher the risk of it spilling out.
- change the flavour of this pescatarian roast, see below.
Change the flavour of this Christmas Salmon
Over the years, I’ve given many flavour variations to this three-fish roast, and have also made it spicy on a few occasions. So you can also change it to your taste, if you like. Here are some suggestions:
- Indian Style is one of my favourites. All you need to do is use some Indian spices and yoghurt instead of the crème fraîche I’m using here. So think turmeric, coriander and cumin, and a touch of garam masala. Shall I do a post on that?
- Make it spicy! For all of you who love your Scoville scale, and must have spice in your Thanksgiving meal or Christmas meal, you’re going to like it spicy. Add any form of chilli (pepper) to the recipe, whether you are spicing up that crème fraîche base with chilli pastes, or adding sliced chillies to the recipe itself.
I’ve used the following very successfully for a few Christmas salmon recipes and the chipotle was a huge favourite for a Thanksgiving salmon recipe I did.
Change the Stuffing
- Love shrimp cocktail during the holiday season? Stuff your salmon roast with it! All those tangy flavours will be perfect.
- If you like Thanksgiving seafood dishes, feel free to swap the prawns (shrimp) with mussels or oysters. An oyster stuffing (or oyster dressing) is very popular with many, after all.
- Want to splurge? Think lobster tails instead of the prawns (shrimp)
How to serve this Stuffed Salmon Roast?
This Christmas and Thanksgiving fish recipe will fit right in your festive menu, along with the usual side dishes.
I have it with the usual classics:
- roast potatoes (any potato recipe would be good)
- regular or sweet potato mash
- brussels sprouts
- carrots
- cranberry sauce (the bitter and sweet flavours are amazing with the meaty and creamy salmon)
- want to keep it simple? Just serve it with a side salad
You could serve it with a standard gravy, whether that’s the thinner, Bristish gravy or American gravy. But I make a lemon-butter sauce to go with it. I’ve given you an easy one in the recipe card below.
If it’s for Easter, I’ll keep the butter sauce and swap the sprouts for in-season asparagus and some green beans.
You can also have a few different dips to go with this non traditional Thanksgiving dish. That can be tartare sauce, mayonaisse or even chilli sauce.
Are you having a Pescatarian Christmas? Or Pescatarian Thanksgiving?
Let me know with a comment below. I would love to know what your favourite Pescatarian festive recipes are, and what you are planning to do this Christmas. Or Thanksgiving, if you celebrate.
What do you think of today’s Three-Fish Roast? Fancy trying it? Well then, let’s go get our aprons on!
Looking for more pescatarian Thanksgiving ideas or just more seafood recipes? Click here.
Images by LinsFoodies
More Christmas Recipes
If you like the recipe, don’t forget to leave me a comment and that all important, 5-star rating! Thank you!
And if you make the recipe, share it on any platform and tag me @azlinbloor, and hashtag it #linsfood
Lin xx
Three-Fish Roast (a Pescatarian Recipe for Easter and Christmas)
Equipment
- Large oven proof dish
- Oven
- deep frying pan or a wide, shallow heat proof pan x 2
- saucepan
- Knife
- chopping boards
- bowl and plate as needed
- kitchen string and scissors
Ingredients
Smoked Haddock
Prawns (Shrimp)
- 200 g raw prawns (shrimp) small-medium
- ½ Tbsp EV olive oil
- 1 Tbsp lemon juice
Everything Else
- 2 salmon sides tail end, weighing about 600g (1.3 lb) each
- 3 Tbsp crème fraîche or soured cream
- 1 Tbsp mustard
- 3 boiled eggs
- 10 g chives
- 10 g fresh parsley (small handful)
- salt
- freshly ground black pepper
- 1 lemon
Lemon-Butter Sauce (bonus!)
- 200 g unsalted butter
- pinch salt
- 3 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
- freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
Poach the haddock
- Place the milk, water and bay leaf into a shallow pan and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Lower the heat down and poach the haddock for 5 minutes.
- Take the haddock out, place on a plate and flake with 2 forks. Set aside.
Fry the Prawns
- Heat the olive oil in a frying pan on high heat. Add the prawns, season with salt and pepper, and fry on this high heat for 2 minutes, tossing the prawns.
- Add the lemon juice, toss and tip out onto a plate.
Prepping the Salmon, Herbs, Boiled Eggs and Lemons
- Turn the oven on to 200°C (390°F/180°C Fan).
- Cut 4 lengths of the kitchen string, about 45cm (17 inches) long. We'll cut the excess later.
- Get the baking dish of your choice and lay the string down, along the width and at even intervals. Place one salmon side on the string, skin side down. Move the strings along so they are evenly spaced.
- Place the other salmon side on a large plate or chopping board, and season both skinless sides well with salt and pepper.
- Chop most of the chives and all the parsley separately, and set aside. Keep about 12 chives for the finish.
- Slice the boiled eggs into flat rounds.
- Slice the lemons into rounds.
Let's fill the Salmon
- Mix the crème fraîche and mustard together, adding a pinch of salt and some pepper, then spread it on both salmon sides, on the skinless side.
- Get the flaked smoked haddock, and evenly spread it out along the salmon side that's lying on the strings (I forgot the strings here, ignore that). Season with salt and pepper.
- Sprinkle the chopped parsley all over, then top with the boiled egg slices. Season with salt and pepper. Top with half the chives. Season with salt and pepper.
- Top with the cooked prawns, and drizzle the small amount of liquid (if any) that's in the frying pan all over. Top with the rest of the chives. Season with only a little salt and generously with pepper.
- Now, we top all this with the second side of salmon. Lay it over, tip to tip. Don't press down. Tie the ends of the kitchen string together securely. Make it tight but don't squash the salmon.
- Tuck the lemon slices under the string and some chives (or parsley). If your salmon is super fresh and your eggs were freshly boiled, you can place this prepared salmon roast in the fridge, covered, to cook next day. Take it out of the fridge an hour before cooking.
- Roast in the preheated oven for 35 minutes for a lightly done salmon. If you like your fish well done, roast it for 45 minutes. Serve it with the lemon-butter sauce that follows.
Lemon-Butter Sauce
- Melt the butter in a frying pan over medium heat, stirring every so often.
- When it gets to be a light golden brown (about 3 minutes), take if off the heat and pour into your gravy boat. Stir in the salt and lemon juice, and whip with a fork to mix.You could turn this into brown butter, just heat it up a little longer, about 1 minute. Take it off when it's a mid brown.
- Finish with the pepper and serve with our fish. It will remain pourable for about 20 minutes, but can be heated up easily in the microwave oven.
I made this today for Christmas Eve dinner (Italians in the family so we eat fish on Christmas Eve). Smashing recipe, lots of steps but all easy, and it looks so impressive as well as tasting delicious!
I am so pleased to hear that, Lucy! Wishing you and your family a wonderful Christmas and the very best of years ahead. xx