A MERRY LITTLE CHRISTMAS

 

Christmas morning. My grandson, Leo Searl, home from university, is spending a few days at my house. He makes breakfast on Christmas morning--smoked salmon on toast with cream cheese and scrambled eggs. What a pleasure to catch up with what's going on in his life.

What's in this strangely-shaped present under the tree for Ben?

Oh, wow! Look what's in my Christmas box! It's a sampler of ibérico ham, a selection of sliced ham, shoulder-ham, chorizo and cured fat from Dehesa Monteros, made from ibérico pigs of the Rubio Dorado breed. They start out eating chestnuts in the forests of Ronda and are finished on bellotas, wild acorns. 

Christmas lunch for three. On a sunny afternoon we started with sopa de galets, a rich chicken broth with giant pasta shells stuffed with pâté. Marinated "standing rib roast" of ibérico pork centered the main course, accompanied by potatoes and squash roasted with onions and apples. 

The pork loin has been boned to facilitate carving, but the rack of ribs tied back on for roasting to keep the meat moist. Ibérico pork with its marbling of fat is especially juicy. Ibérico pork is usually cooked medium-rare to medium--still pink in the center. (The recipe for the pork marinade is here.)

A side dish of chard sautéd with garlic, raisins and pine nuts was served in a colorful hand-made ceramic bowl by Tara Chapman, Leo's mum. 

I bought a kilo of locally-grown pecans, called nueces americanas, from a chica in my aerobics class. The pecans, which I adore, inspired me to make a nut torte just for me! It was sugar-free and gluten free as well. (I used this recipe for walnut torte, swapping King Arthur baking sugar substitute and gluten-free bread crumbs.) For the guys there were also fig brownies with real sugar, sweet figs and lots of nuts. Both desserts are good served with a dollop of rich Greek yogurt or whipped cream.

Pecan torte with a dollop of rich Greek yogurt.

From my kitchen to yours, MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL.

A HOLIDAY PUDDING FROM GALICIA

 

This bread pudding is chock full of fruits and nuts, a perfect holiday dessert.

Searching my favorite Galician cookbook (Cociña Galega by Álvaro Cunqueiro) for chestnut recipes (Galicia in northwest Spain is famed for its chestnut forests and dishes, both sweet and savory, with chestnuts), I came upon this recipe for a pudding with dried fruits and nuts. At first glance it seemed like bread pudding. At second reading, it rang the Christmas pudding bells. Now that I’ve made it, it seems almost as if you turned both the figgy Christmas pud and the brandy sauce into an eggy flan! 

Digging a little deeper (via Google) I found that the pudding, entitled mestura in the Cunqueiro book, meaning “mixture,” had several other names—vinchas, from vejiga (bladder); bandullos, meaning “belly,” and calleiras meaning “stomach” or “tripe.”  This seems to show that the pudding originally was stuffed into animal parts and steamed. In fact, one version, traditional during the winter hog butchering, has the bread crumbs soaked in pig’s blood rather than milk, making it not so different from English black pudding. 

The web site also mentioned a particular herb, nébola, that was incorporated in the pudding and also cooked with chestnuts. Which may or may not be Satureja Nepeta, related to the herbs summer and winter savory, or maybe it’s lesser calamint which possibly is the same as za’atar, the herb, not the blend. 

Not having a Galician avoa (abuela or grandma) to consult about the traditional kitchen, I used a pinch of summer savory (Satureja hortensis, ajedrea in Spanish). The herb has a fragrance reminiscent of thyme. It can be used in any recipe in which you might use thyme or sage—poultry, pork, stuffing, beans. I loved it in mushroom-barley soup and will definitely add it to the stuffing for the Christmas turkey. While savory—by its very name—may seem unusual in a dessert, I thought summer savory added a subtle forest counterpoint to the intense sweetness of figs and raisins. 

This dessert tastes as if you turned a Christmas pudding into a flan.

Serve the pudding with caramel syrup and whipped cream.

Galician Bread Pudding with Fruits and Nuts

Mestura Galega

You can substitute other dried fruits for the raisins and figs in this recipe. Try dried apricots, prunes, dates, cranberries. Málaga muscatel raisins are the sweetest, but must be seeded. Any seedless raisin could be used instead. Plump the dried fruits in sweet wine, brandy or aguardiente, anise liqueur.

Use day-old bread. Trim off any hard crusts as they will not soften when soaked in milk.

Bake the pudding in a baño maría, a water bath, so that it cooks evenly. Cool and then refrigerate it still in the baking pan before unmolding. The pudding keeps, refrigerated, up to a week. 

We enjoyed the pudding with caramel syrup and whipped cream. A traditional hard sauce or brandy butter would go nicely as well.

Bread, nuts, fruits, eggs, sugar, spices.

12 servings

4 cups diced day-old bread

4 cups whole milk

¾ cup seeded raisins 

1 cup chopped figs

3 tablespoons sweet wine, brandy or aguardiente

1/3 cup + 1 teaspoon sugar

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

¼ teaspoon ground cloves

Grating of fresh nutmeg

Pinch of summer savory (optional)

1 teaspoon grated lemon zest

3 tablespoons melted butter

6 eggs, beaten

1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts or almonds

¼ cup pine nuts

Caramel syrup or molasses to serve (optional)

Whipped cream to serve (optional)

Place the bread in a bowl and pour over the milk. Mix well and let the bread soak 30 minutes until softened. Mash it slightly with a wooden spoon.

Place the raisins and figs in a small bowl and add the wine. Let the fruit plump until ready to add to the batter.

Savory, cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon.

Stir 1/3 cup of sugar, the salt, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, savory, if using, and zest into the bread-milk mixture. Fold in the raisins and figs. Add the butter, then beat in the eggs. Stir in the walnuts and pine nuts, saving a few to stud the top of the pudding.

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Lightly butter a 6 to 8-cup loaf pan and line the bottom with baking parchment. Pour in the batter. Sprinkle the top with remaining 1 teaspoon of sugar and reserved pine nuts. Set the loaf pan in a larger pan and add boiling water to half its depth. Very carefully transfer to the oven.

Chill pudding before unmolding.

Bake the pudding until it is set when tested with a thin skewer, 50 to 60 minutes. Remove and cool the pudding on a rack. Do not unmold. When cool, cover the pudding with foil and refrigerate until chilled.

Loosen the sides of the pudding with a knife. Carefully unmold it onto a cutting board covered with baking parchment. Peel off parchment from the bottom of the pudding. Use a serrated knife to cut thick slices of the pudding. 

Serve accompanied by syrup and whipped cream, if desired. 

Use serrated knife to cut the pudding in thick slices.

More about the Galican herb néboda Hierbas Poco Conocidas.

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. 

A CATALAN CHRISTMAS FEAST

 

A Catalan Christmas feast--soup followed by platters of several kinds of meat and sausage, vegetables and chickpeas.

Escudella--rich broth with giant pasta shells.

Fiesta means “feast,” the opposite of “fasting.” And Christmas is the grandest feast of the year, when families might regale themselves with sumptuous meals with meat. In Catalonia, the family Christmas Day feast is usually escudella I carn d’olla.

Escudella is a rich broth with the concentrated flavors of several kinds of meat. Embellished with giant pasta shells, the soup is served as the first course. The boiled meats, along with chickpeas and vegetables are served as the second course. It is, of course, the Catalan rendition of Spain’s national cocido, or boiled dinner. 

This year’s pandemic restrictions limit family gatherings to 10 people, rather than a customary 20 or more! The escudella, cooked in an enormous stockpot, is the perfect meal for the occasion.  Once all the ingredients have been gathered, the pot needs minimal tending.

About the ingredients:

Beef shank and ribs and stewing hen for the soup pot.

The beef, stewing hen and porky bits give the soup substance and extraordinary depth of flavor. The beef shank needs long, slow cooking to become tender. Allow 2 to 2 ½ hours. Once having contributed its essence to the broth, the boiled beef is pretty tasteless! The ham and pork bones and aromatic vegetables—celery, leek and turnip---add flavor. Discard the bones after cooking.

Chickpeas, put to soak the night before, need two or more hours to cook. Cooking them in a net bag or wrapped in cheesecloth makes it easy to remove them from the pot. Put the chickpeas in the pot once the water is hot. If you’re using gallina, stewing hen or boiling fowl, it can cook the full 2 ½ hours. If you’re using ordinary chicken, don’t put it in the pot until meat and chickpeas are partially cooked, after 1 hour. 

Beef bone, espinazo and ham; ear and trotter behind.

The pig’s trotter and ear add consistency and flavor to the soup, but can be omitted, if preferred. If using, after cooking, cut the cooked ear into pieces to serve. Remove bones from the trotter and cut into pieces. (I ended up leaving the trotter out, as my soup pot wasn’t big enough for all the ingredients.) Pig’s ear has a cartilage “stiffener,” with a layer of skin/meat around it. The cartilage is edible, but crunchy. 

Chickpeas and vegetables for the pot.

Use large carrots and potatoes, so they don’t disintegrate with long cooking. Cut them into halves or quarters before serving.  Like the chickpeas, the cabbage and carrots can be put into cheesecloth parcels or net bags to facilitate lifting them out of the stockpot.

Butifarra, white and black, are Catalan cooked sausages. Add them to the pot towards the end of the total cooking time. (French boudin blanc or any blood sausage can be substituted for the Catalan versions.) 

The Catalan cocido, in all its glory, includes pilotas, football-shaped meatballs. Mix them while the soup is cooking and add to the pot about 20 minutes before it’s done. Serve the meatballs on the platter with the other meats.

Galets, pasta shells.

Once everything is cooked—about two and a half hours—you’re going to strain some of the broth into another pot and cook pasta in it. For ordinary Sunday escudella, fideo soup noodles or rice might be cooked in the broth. But for Christmas, galets, jumbo pasta shells, are traditional. Sometimes they are stuffed with the meatball mixture, then poached, or, for a very fancy alternative, foie gras. (I’m going to use what’s left of the package to make a gratin of pasta shells stuffed with spinach and mushrooms.)

Day after--serve the soup and pasta with bits of leftover meat, chicken and vegetables.

Traditionally, leftovers from the great pot are used to make canelones (cannellonis) for Boxing Day (St. Esteve, San Esteban, Dec. 26). That recipe is here..I simply served bowls of that fragrant broth with everything—chickpeas, meat and vegetables. I served the boiled beef another day with a sharp salsa verde of parsley, garlic, capers, olive oil and a splash of vinegar. 

Catalan Holiday Soup with Meats and Vegetables

Escudella i Carn d’Olla

You’ll need your largest stock pot (minimum 6 quart-capacity, preferably much larger) plus a smaller soup pot in which to cook the broth with pasta. Have ready a strainer. Ladle the soup into a tureen to serve at the table.  Place all the meats and sausages on one platter; the vegetables and chickpeas on a second platter.  

Serves 6.

Day before cooking the soup

1 ½ cups (10 ounces) dry chickpeas

For the soup pot

3 ounces ham bone

2 ounces salted espinazo (spine bone)

1 pig’s foot, split (optional)

1 pig’s ear (optional)

¼ stewing hen or chicken (preferably leg), about 20 ounces

20 ounces boneless beef shank or shin

8 ounces boneless beef rib 

12-20 cups water (3-5 quarts)

1 tablespoon salt

1 stalk celery

1 white turnip, split

1 leek

3 large carrots 

2 large potatoes (18-20 ounces)

¼ medium cabbage (16 ounces)

6-8 ounces white butifarra sausage

6-8 ounces black butifarra sausage

Ground veal and pork, pork fat for meatballs. 

For the pilotas (meatballs)

1 slice stale bread, crusts removed

Milk

1 egg, beaten

½ teaspoon salt

Freshly ground black pepper

1/8 teaspoon cinnamon

Grating of nutmeg

6 ounces ground pork

6 ounces ground veal

1 ounce chopped fresh pork fat (belly or fatback)

2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley

2 tablespoons pine nuts

Flour, for dusting meatballs

To finish the soup

3-5 galets (jumbo shell pasta) per person 

Olive oil

Chopped parsley to garnish

1. Day before. Place the chickpeas in a bowl and cover them with warm water. Allow the chickpeas to soak at least 8 hours. Before cooking, drain the chickpeas. If available, place them in a cloth bag so they’re easy to remove from the pot. (Leave a handful of chickpeas loose to make it possible to fish them out to test for doneness.) Set the chickpeas aside until the water in the soup pot is hot.

2. Blanch the salted pork bone and ham bone in boiling water, 2 minutes. Drain and leave them to soak in cold water while preparing the other ingredients.

3. Wash the pig’s ear and trotter, if using, under running water. Parboil them in salted water to cover with 2 tablespoons of vinegar for 5 minutes.  Drain and reserve them.

4. Place the blanched and drained pork bone, ham bone, ear and trotter in a large soup pot. Place the quarter-chicken, beef shank and rib meat on top. Add water so the pot is about ¾ full (at least 12 cups). Add salt. Put on high heat. Begin skimming off froth that rises to the surface.

5. Once the water is hot, add the drained chickpeas. Continue skimming the pot as it comes to a boil. Tuck the celery, turnip halves and leek in among the meats. 

Once the pot is boiling and all the froth has been skimmed off, reduce the heat so the soup bubbles gently. Partially cover the pot. Cook for 1 hour, skimming occasionally.

6. While the soup is cooking, prepare the meatball mixture. Break the bread into small pieces and soak it in milk to cover until softened. Squeeze out and discard the milk. Add the beaten egg to the bread and mash it until fairly smooth. Stir in the salt, pepper, cinnamon and nutmeg. Add the two kinds of ground meat and diced pork fat and mix well with a fork. Add the parsley and pine nuts. Shape the mixture into 6 football-shaped meatballs. Dust them lightly with flour.

Keep adding water to keep pot filled.

7. After the soup has cooked 1 hour, add the carrots and whole potatoes. (If using regular chicken, instead of stewing hen, add it at this time.) Add additional water, as needed, so the pot is nearly full. Bring to a boil and skim again. Cook 30 minutes.

8. Cut the cabbage in two wedges and cut away some of the core. Add cabbage to the pot. Prick the two kinds of butifarra sausages with a knife point and add to the pot. Cook 15 minutes.

9. Add the meatballs to the pot and cook 15 minutes. 

10. Use a skimmer or slotted spoon to remove meat, poultry, bones, trotter, chickpeas, vegetables, sausages and meatballs to platters. 

11.Strain 8-10 cups of the soup into a smaller pot. Taste for salt. Bring to a boil and cook the pasta shells according to package instructions (16-18 minutes).

12. Cut beef into chunks. Cut chicken off the bones and discard bones. Cut sausages into pieces. Discard ham and pork bones. Use scissors to cut pig’s ear into 6-8 pieces. Remove bones from trotter and cut the rest into pieces. Arrange all the meats on one platter and spoon a little of the broth over them. Cut the potatoes into quarters, the carrots in half. Place them on another platter with the drained chickpeas, cabbage, turnip and leek. Drizzle a little oil over the vegetables.

Serve the soup and pasta garnished with a sprinkling of parsley. Follow the soup with the platters of meats, vegetables and chickpeas.

Bon Nadal!! That’s Català-speak for Merry Christmas or Feliz Navidad in castellano Spanish. 

More recipes for regional Spanish cocidos:

Madrid Style Boiled Dinner.

Sephardic Meal-in-a-Pot, Toledo Style.

Everyday Soup Pot, Andalusian Style.

Canary Islands Vegetable Pot.

THE GASTRONOME’S ADVENT CALENDAR

Only 25 days till Christmas! As the holiday countdown begins, I’ve put together a sort of Advent calendar of Spanish foods--from ham to cheese, from olive oil to marzipan--to help you with shopping, gift lists and menu planning. 

Many of the foods listed rate right up with the world’s gastronomic treasures (ibérico ham and saffron, for example). Others are splendid, but everyday foods that, none the less, light up the holiday season (eg., Valencia oranges). Many of my selections have denominación de origen (DO); denominación específica (DE) or indicación geográfica protegida (IGP). These designations represent controls of geographical origin and guarantee of quality.

1. Ham, jamón.

The whole ham--good excuse for a party.  

(Photo of serrano ham by  ©Pilar Esteban-Ordorica from the book Slicing Spanish Ham.)

Get your ham today and, unless you will be doing a lot of entertaining, it should see you through the holiday season. Will it be ibérico or serrano?

Ibérico designates a breed of pig. The ibérico breed has the unique characteristic of storing fat infiltrated in the flesh, making for exceptional cured hams.

When buying ham and comparing prices, pay attention to the labels. Ibérico hams have four different categories (and corresponding prices). Black label designates “bellota 100% ibérico,” meaning it comes from thoroughbred (100 percent ibérico breed) pigs that have been fattened on acorns (bellotas). Red label is for “bellota ibérico,” meaning it’s from pigs that are cross-breeds (at least 50% ibérico) and finished on acorns. Green label is “cebo de campo ibérico.” These hams come from free-range pigs that can be thoroughbreds or cross-breeds, but are fattened on natural pasturage and pig feed. White label hams are “cebo ibérico,” from cross-breed pigs raised in feed lots and fed only on pig feed.

In ibérico hams, look for DOs Jabugo (Huelva), Los Pedroches (Córdoba), Guijuela (Salamanca) and Dehesa de Extremadura (Cáceres and Badajoz).

Serrano ham (pictured above) comes from non-ibérico pigs. Much is raised on an industrial scale and cured in big meat-processing plants. A few have designations: DO Teruel and IGP Trévelez (Granada) and Serón (Almería).


2. Raisins and dried fruits (pasas).

Christmas is not Christmas without the sweetness of dried fruits. Famous are the sun-dried muscatel raisins of Málaga (DO Pasas de Málaga). Look for them in handsome gift packages. Also typical are dried figs (higos) and apricots (orejones).

 3. Liqueurs (licores).

Aguardiente is anisette liqueur, both sweet and dry. It’s typically served, along with Brandy de Jerez, with a plate of holiday pastries and cookies.

 4. Saffron (azafrán).

Saffron is like gold--precious and expensive. It's expensive because it takes the tiny stigmas of 75,000 crocus sativus to make a half-kilo of the spice.  The finest saffron comes from La Mancha (DO Azafrán de La Mancha).






5. Oranges and clementines (naranjas y clementinas).

Winter sunshine. A splendid way to celebrate the winter solstice. (IGP Citricos Valencianos, Clementinas Tierra del Ebro).

 6. Olives (aceitunas).

To see you through every holiday occasion. Every olive-producing region in Spain has its distinctive varieties and methods of curing and flavoring olives. Try Andalusian aceitunas partidas, cracked, brine-cured and flavoried with garlic and thyme (DO Aceituna Aloreña de Málaga). Fancy, stuffed Sevilla olives. Empeltre olives from Aragón, Arbequina from Catalonia or Cuqillo from Murcia.

7. Piquillo red peppers (pimientos de piquillo).

Essential for holiday meals—for their inimitable bright color, sweet and piquant flavor. Stuff them with shrimp in sauce, toss them in salads, lay strips across the tops of canapés for vibrant garnish. (DO Pimiento del Piquillo de Lodosa).

8. Quince paste (membrillo).

 Serve sweet quince paste (sometimes called quince jelly) on a cheese board or as dessert. It’s an easy ingredient for making puddings and ice cream as well.

9, 10, 11. Cheese, cheese and cheese (queso).

With more than 100 different regional cheeses in Spain, you could conceivably have an “advent” calendar with a cheese a day! So, how about a cheese tasting party for your holiday festivities? Some cheeses are so distinctive that they have DO labels. Others are produced in such small scale that they are only available locally. 

A few to consider: DO Queso Manchego (sheep’s milk, La Mancha), Roncal (sheep’s milk, Navarra), Mahón (cow’s milk, Menorca), Idiazábal (latxa sheep’s milk, Basque), Zamorano (sheep’s milk, Castilla), Tetilla (cow’s milk, Galicia). Additionally, there are myriad goat’s  milk cheeses from many regions of Spain. Notably, are those of Málaga, fresh, white queso fresco and crumbly, aged cheese.

12. Nuts (frutos secos, nueces).

Almonds, walnuts and hazelnuts are all produced in Spain (as well as pecans, pistachios and more). A basket of them with a nutcracker next to the hearth is a jolly way to spend Christmas Eve. Use them in both sweet and savory dishes. (DO Avellana de Reus, hazelnuts of Reus, Catalonia.)

13. Pimentón de La Vera, smoked paprika (pimentón de La Vera).

Pimentón just means “paprika.” But that produced in La Vera, Extremadura, is smoke-dried over smoldering wild holm oak. Smoking produces an intensely red spice and adds an ineffable natural smokiness that complements many foods. It comes both sweet, dulce, and “hot,” picante. (DO Pimentón de La Vera.)

14. Andalusian Christmas cookies (mantecados, polvorones, roscos de Andalucía).

In southern Spain, these distinctive cookies, usually made with lard, are produced just for the holiday season. Shops stock boxes of them in all sizes, offering a selection of the crumbly mantecados and polvorones and the tiny roscos or ring cookies. Every household has a platter of them to offer visitors who might come to see the Belén, the family’s nativity figurines.

15. Cherimoya, custard apple (chirimoya).

Cherimoya is a gorgeous—and exotic—winter fruit. Stocking stuffer? (DO Costa Tropical Granada-Málaga).

 16, 17, 18. Wines, cava, Sherry (los vinos).

For every festive occasion there is a perfect Spanish wine. Take a tour of the regions and choose the ones to accompany your holiday parties.

Will it be Cava (Spanish sparkling wine) to start (DO Cava)? Or, perhaps a fino Sherry (DO Jerez-Xeres-Sherry y Manzanilla Sanlucar de Barrameda? With the seafood course, a fresh and fruity Verdejo white (DO Rueda) or a citric, minerally Albariño (DO Rias Baixas). A medium-bodied crianza red will pair very nicely with hearty winter stews (DO Jumilla or La Mancha). And big, impressive Tempranillo reds to go with beef or venison (DO Ribera del Duero, Rioja or Somontano). For dessert, one of the luscious sweet wines, Pedro Ximenez (DO Montilla-Moriles) or muscatel (DO Málaga).

19. Avocados (aguacates).

Grown in southern Spain, avocados are in season in winter. The perfect starter for a lavish holiday meal.

 20. Seafood in cans; air-dried tuna (pescados en conserva; mojama).

Anchovies in olive oil, mussels in escabeche, sardines in spicy sauce, squid in its own ink—canned fish and shellfish are convenient and delicious ingredients for turning into party canapés. .(D de calidad Anchoa de l’Escala). A luxury amongst the fish conserves is mojama, air-dried tuna (pictured). Slice it thinly and serve as an aperitif





21. Almond nougat (turrón).

In Spain, this is a classic Christmas sweet—almond nougat bars. Soft turrón, made of ground almonds, is like fudge in consistency. Hard turrón is a white nougat studded with almonds. Try the variations on the originals, with chocolate, hazelnuts, sesame. (DO Jijona y Turrón de Alicante.)

 22. Olive oil, extra virgin (aceite de olivo virgin extra).

You’ll need it for cooking; it also makes fabulous gifts. Look for single-varietal oils—Hojiblanca, Arbequina, Picual are some of them—and single-estate oils. Keep several on hand to change the flavors for fish, meat, vegetables, salads. (Currently 28 extra virgin olive oils with DO.)

23.  Shellfish (mariscos).

 In Spanish homes, shellfish is typically served as starter at a traditional cena for Noche Buena, the late Christmas Eve dinner. From the simplest cooked shrimp, for guests to peel themselves, to elaborate sauced lobster dishes. Prices for fresh shellfish skyrocket in the week before Christmas. For that reason, many shoppers buy early and freeze their seafood. Wild-caught shellfish won’t have denominación de origen (DO), although some varieties do have surnames. Such are the famed langostinos (jumbo shrimp) from Sanlucar de Barameda (Cádiz), pictured above, and from Vinarós (Castellón). Atlantic farmed mussels do (DO Mejillón de Galicia).

24. Lamb, baby kid, capon (cordero, cabrito, capón).

The Christmas Eve feast often features baby lamb, kid-goat or fat capon. (I.G.P. Cordero de Navarra and Pollo y Capón del Prat;  DO. Cordero Manchego, Lechazo de Castilla-León and  Ternasco de Aragón.) Chivo Lechal Malagueño, pictured above, is baby kid from Málaga.

25. Marzipan (mazapán).

Happy Christmas! Let’s have marzipan to celebrate.  Marzipan is a paste made by grinding and kneading sweet almonds with sugar. It is shaped into charming figures, glazed and decorated. While it is confected in various regions of Spain, Toledo (Castilla-La Mancha) it the capital for marzipan. (DO Mazapán de Toledo.)

Many of these Spanish food products are available in the US at grocery stores and from La Tienda,
The Spanish Table and de España.

Recipes using some of these foods:
Winter Salad with Oranges.
Saffron Ice Cream with Pine Nuts.
Piquillo Peppers Stuffed with Shrimp.
Olive-Cream Cheese Dip
Squash Salad with Raisins.
Quince Sorbet.
Carrot Cream Soup with Goat Cheese.
Fish in Pimentón Sauce.
Apricot-Nut Bars.
Andalusian Christmas Cookies (Mantecados).
Cherimoya Tart with Chocolate.
Shellfish Cocktail with Avocado.
Pasta with Mojama Tuna.
Almond Nougat Mousse.
Roasted Kid-Goat with Potatoes
Christmas Almond Soup.

To order the book, Slicing Spanish Ham by Pilar Esteban-Ordorica, go to http://slicingspanishham.com.