MY KITCHEN IN SPAIN: December 2021

Sunday, December 26, 2021

FEASTING WITH FAMILY

What a joy to be part of this big family gathering for Christmas this year. I'm visiting with my son, Daniel, his wife Eli, and my two grandsons, Lucas and Nico, in Atlanta, Ga. Eli's extended family is from Venezuela, so we feasted on specialties from that country on Noche Buena.

Gathered for Christmas Eve. The theme this year, Christmas pajamas. My son Daniel and wife Eli are on the right with their two boys, Lucas and Nico.

The main dish was pernil, a bone-in, skin on pork shoulder. Juana, my consuegra (fellow mother-in-law) put it in a citric and herb marinade 24 hours before. It roasted at low temperature for nearly five hours, the scored skin turning a deep brown.

Roast shoulder of pork. The meat was marinated in orange juice with many herbs, lots of garlic and capers, then slow-roasted until browned and fork-tender. The skin, scored and studded with cloves, crisps beautifully--chicharrones--is a real treat.

The previous week, Juana and Eli had made hallacas, which consist of a rich meat and chicken filling with olives and raisins enclosed in corn meal, rolled in banana leaves and cooked. They are very labor intensive, so are a once-a-year treat.

Juana serves hallacas, a beloved Venezuelan Christmas specialty.

Jorge serves the chicken salad. He likes it with onions, but there's a second bowl with no onions.

Daniel enjoys dinner of just a few of the many dishes brought by all the family.

Good food, family, fun.

Sunday, December 19, 2021

SPANISH IN AMERICA

I'm away from My Kitchen in Spain, visiting family in Atlanta, Georgia. But even here I'm finding glimpses and tastes of Spain all over the place. Here are a few photos of Spain in the States.

We bought a whole crate of sunny clementinas imported from Spain.
The kids eat them like candy. And the snowmen love them, too!

Is Spanish moss actually Spanish?
In Savannah, Georgia, the December sun is as warm as the Costa del Sol.

Olives from Spain--a perfect Christmas gift.

Family Christmas tree.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ALL!

Saturday, December 11, 2021

THE HOLIDAY TABLE—ON THE SIDE

Salmon fillet in the center of the plate, on the side are broccoli with alioli gratin and double-mashed potatoes with pimentón. (Recipe for the double-mashed potatoes is below.)

Are you planning holiday menus? Here are some ideas—with Spanish flavors—for side dishes to accompany the suckling pig or baby lamb, roast duck or haunch of ham, standing rib or side of salmon, brace of partridge or lobster amoricaine. If it’s to be a vegetarian feast, serve a collection of sides as the main attraction.

Beans

Green Bean and Ham Sauté

Habichuelas Salteadas con Jamón

Chopped serrano ham adds a flavor punch to green beans. Use smoked cooked ham, instead, or omit for a vegetarian dish. The beans can be par-boiled in advance, then quickly sautéed right before serving. Beans go great with roast turkey. Recipe link: Hasta la Vista, Beans.

Broccoli

Broccoli with Alioli Gratin

Broccoli Gratinado con Alioli

This broccoli dish would go nicely next to grilled steak, pork chops or salmon fillet. Cook the broccoli crisp-tender, spread it with alioli (garlic mayonnaise) and pop it under the broiler to brown. (I topped the salmon fillet with alioli too for a gratin finish under the broiler.) Recipe link: Broccoli Is Trending.

Red Cabbage

Red Cabbage, Castillian Style

Lombarda a la Castellana

Red cabbage is a very traditional vegetable for Spanish Christmas feasts. Its vibrant color adds to a festive table. This easy to prepare version is cooked in white wine with prunes. Red cabbage goes especially well with roast pork, venison or goose. Recipe link: Christmas Dinner.

Carrots

Sweet and Sour Carrots

Zanahorias con Miel y Vinagre

Based on an 18th Century recipe, these carrots are spiced with caraway and topped with pistachios. Honey and wine vinegar give a sweet and sour flavor. Serve the carrots with roast goose or pork.

Recipe link: 18th Century Recipes for Today.

Cardoons

Cardoons in Almond Sauce

Cardos en Salsa de Almendras

Cardoons is a vegetable that turns up at the festive Christmas Eve meal in Aragón, Navarra and La Rioja. The unwieldy stalks take some work to prepare, but they can be found precooked in jars in Spanish supermarkets. Cardoons taste a lot like artichokes, to which they are related, so use this recipe for frozen artichoke hearts as well. Cardoons would go nicely with a fish or chicken dish. Recipe link: With a Side of Cardoons.

Cauliflower

Cauliflower with Almond Sauce and Black Garlic

Coliflor con Salsa de Almendras y Ajo Negro

Truffled cauliflower? No, the cauliflower is studded with pieces of black garlic, a mild, slightly sweet condiment that makes this vegetable dish special. Sure, you could use truffles instead! Cauliflower with almond sauce is a very traditional side dish for the Christmas Eve meal. Serve it with turkey roulade, pork tenderloins or baby lamb. Made with vegetable stock in place of chicken stock, the almond sauce makes a good vegan gravy. Recipe link: El Toque Final.

Chard

Rainbow Chard with Apricots and Pine Nuts

Acelga Roja con Orejones y Piñones

This recipe derives from a classic—espinacas con pasas y piñones, spinach (or chard leaves) with raisins and pine nuts. Using rainbow chard and beet greens turns it into a colorful side dish. This would be especially good with roast lamb, chicken or shrimp. For a vegetarian version, omit the bacon. Recipe link: Seasonal Color.

Mushrooms

Pickled Mushrooms

Setas en Escabeche

These pickled mushrooms, prepared in advance, are ready to serve at the holiday table. With thyme, peppercorns and a bit of chile, they would add zest to any meal. Maybe with a thick grilled steak or poached turbot. Recipe link: Relish the Season.

Onions

Scarlet-Pickled Onions

Cebolletas Escarlatas

Aren’t these pretty? Not red onions, but onions tinted scarlet with beet juice, a recipe from La Mancha, where it is served with partridge pâté. Serve the onions alongside any sort of pâté, on a cheese board, with salads or with burgers. Recipe link: Relish the Season.

Potatoes

Double-Mashed Potatoes

Patatas Revolconas

This is a rustic dish from Extremadura that has become a popular tapa in Madrid tascas. It’s an incredibly versatile version of mashed potatoes that will go with almost any main. No gravy needed! The potatoes are flavored with smoked pimentón and kept moist with plenty of olive oil. Bacon is optional; the potatoes make a perfectly delicious vegetarian dish without it. They’re also good cooked and mashed with vegetables such as sweet potatoes, parsnips or cauliflower. Recipe link: below.

Sweet Potatoes

Sweet Potatoes with Fennel and Clementines

Batatas con Hinojo y Clementinas

This side dish can be prepared in advance and served room temperature. Serve it as a starter or present it on a big platter for a buffet meal. The contrast of flavors and texture—sweet potatoes, crisp fennel and tangy citrus—make it a good side with baked ham or roast duck. Recipe link: Seasonal Color on the Table.

Double-Mashed Potatoes

Patatas Revolconas

Pimentón is the Spanish word for paprika. In this case it is Pimentón de la Vera, smoked pimentón from La Vera in Extremadura, both sweet and hot (picante). If hot pimentón is not available, use cayenne, to taste.

Use more or less garlic, depending on what you plan to accompany the potatoes with. Chopped or sliced, the garlic is a noticeable presence. If preferred, crush it so it mixes with the oil and pimentón.

The potatoes can be cooked peeled or unpeeled. Drain the cooking water, saving about 1 cup of it to use in mashing the potatoes. If unpeeled, skin the potatoes once they are cool enough to handle. Use a fork or potato masher to crush the potatoes, leaving the potatoes somewhat lumpy.

The potatoes can be served immediately after mixing them with the pimentón in the skillet. Or they can be prepared in advance. Cover the potatoes and refrigerate. Bring them to room temperature and spoon them into an oven dish. Drizzle with a little additional oil and reheat in a medium oven.

Serves 4.

1 ½ pounds mature potatoes

Salt

1 bay leaf

1 ounce diced bacon (optional)

3 tablespoons olive oil

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1 ½ teaspoon smoked sweet pimentón

¼ teaspoon smoked hot pimentón

½ teaspoon cumin

Cook the potatoes in boiling salted water with the bay leaf until they are fork-tender, about 25 minutes. Drain them, saving 1 cup of the cooking water.

Peel the potatoes. Use a fork or potato masher to crush them, adding a little of the reserved cooking water as needed (about ¼ cup). Reserve the potatoes.

Heat the oil and bacon, if using, in a heavy skillet. When the bacon is browned, tip the skillet so the oil runs to one side and use a slotted spoon to lift out the bacon. Reserve it.

Add the garlic to the skillet and cook just until it begins to turn golden. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the two kinds of pimentón and the cumin. Begin adding the potatoes, mashing them into the oil and garlic. Once all the potatoes have been incorporated, add enough of the reserved cooking water to make the potatoes the desired consistency. Heat thoroughly.

Serve the potatoes hot, topped with the fried bacon, if desired. If serving at a later time, reheat the potatoes in a medium oven.

More ideas for holiday menus:

The Christmas Menu.

Gastronome´s Advent Calendar.

The Final Touch.

A Perfect Holiday Wine.

Saturday, December 4, 2021

AN OLD-FASHIONED HOLIDAY DESSERT

An old-fashioned walnut pudding gets updated--a luscious holiday dessert.

On the caseríos (farmsteads) of Euskadi (the Basque Country), a traditional finale for the family feast of Noche Buena (Christmas Eve) once was intxaursaltsa, or, in Spanish, crema de nueces—walnut cream. Originally it was a simple pudding of crushed walnuts cooked with milk, sugar and cinnamon.

The original: walnuts, milk, sugar and cinnamon.

As described by María José Sevilla in her book Life and Food in the Basque Country (Weidenfeld & Nicolson; 1989), Intxaursaltsa is a very old recipe from the caserío where there are always one or two walnut trees which give an excellent crop each year. Traditionally the shelled walnuts are wrapped in a thick, white cloth and crushed with a wooden mallet until they form a smooth paste. The paste is cooked in boiling water with cinnamon until the water has nearly evaporated. Then milk and sugar are added and the mixture is cooked until it thickens to form a light cream, which is served, sprinkled with ground cinnamon, in individual dishes.

With more sophisticated sweets available, intxaursaltsa gradually disappeared from holiday tables. More recently, chefs have updated the original, using cream as well as milk, finishing the cream with toppings of burnt sugar brulée or shaved chocolate.

With just a few tweaks, walnut cream makes a delightful holiday dessert. It serves as either a sauce or a pudding, depending how thick it is cooked. As a sauce, pair it with baked apples, fruit compote or Christmas cake. The cream can be prepared in advance and kept chilled up to five days. It also can be frozen. Thaw the cream and whisk it before serving into individual dessert cups. Alternatively, serve it as a frozen dessert; freeze the cream in dessert cups and allow to soften 20 minutes before serving.

Here’s my version of an old-fashioned holiday dessert. I've cooked the ground walnuts in milk and ladled the pudding over a bittersweet chocolate sauce. There's no cream in the pudding, but it's topped with whipped cream for a luxurious finish.

From rustic to elegant--walnut cream with chocolate sauce and a topping of whipped cream. The walnut cream can also be served as a frozen dessert.

Spoon the chocolate sauce into dessert cups before adding the walnut cream.

Walnut Cream

Intxaursaltsa (Crema de Nueces)

Walnut cream thickens as it cools. To use it as a sauce—the consistency of cream—cook it for the shorter length of time. For a thick pudding, cook it longer.

Grind or crush the walnuts as finely as you wish.

Serves 6.

8 ounces (2 ½ cups) shelled walnuts

½ cup sugar

4 cups whole milk

1 (5-inch) cinnamon stick

Pinch of salt

Chocolate sauce (recipe below)

Unsweetened whipped cream to serve

Place the walnuts and sugar in the bowl of a food processor and process until finely ground. Reserve.

Pour the milk into a heavy pan. Add the cinnamon stick and a pinch of salt. Bring to a boil. Watch the pan carefully, so the milk does not boil over. Remove the pan from the heat and allow to stand at least 5 minutes. Skim out the cinnamon stick.

Walnuts ground with sugar.

Place the walnuts and sugar in the bowl of a food processor and process until finely ground. Reserve.

Whisk the ground walnuts into the warm milk. Stir well. Place on moderately high heat and cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture comes to a boil. Lower heat and cook, stirring frequently so the milk doesn’t scorch on the bottom. Cook until thickened and slightly reduced, 20-40 minutes, depending how thick you want the cream. Let the walnut cream cool.

Spoon the chocolate sauce into 6 dessert cups. Carefully ladle the walnut cream on top.

Refrigerate the walnut cream until chilled. Serve topped with whipped cream.

Chocolate Sauce

Salsa de Chocolate

The chocolate for this sauce is combined with olive oil rather than cream. Dark (85%) chocolate makes a bittersweet contrast to the sweetened walnut cream. Add sugar if you prefer a sweeter sauce.

Chopped bittersweet chocolate.

4 ounces dark (85%) chocolate

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

½ cup water

1 tablespoon sugar (optional)

Chop the chocolate and place it in a heatproof bowl. Combine the oil, water and sugar, if using, in a saucepan. Bring it to a full boil and immediately pour over the chocolate. Whisk until the sauce is smooth. It will thicken as it cools.