THE CHRISTMAS MENU

While shopping the other day at El Corte Inglés, a big department store with its own supermarket, I picked up their brochure advertising take-out catering for Christmas dinner. What a great inspiration for menu planning!

In Spain, the family Christmas meal, often very elegant, with an abundance of food and many courses, takes place on Christmas Eve. On Christmas Day, the family eats leftovers. And, what great leftovers!



What’s on the menu? The Corte Inglés a la carte lists all the classics—shellfish to start, whether in soup, stuffed shells, salad or croquettes; besugo—sea bream—or another fish main course, as well as meat—baby lamb or kid, especially in Andalusia; roast suckling pig or beef tenderloin; stuffed chicken, turkey, pularde or capon.

There is also a fixed price menu, at €28 ($29) per person, that includes starter, main, side dish and dessert. Here are the choices, with links to recipes.  I’m making the turrón mousse for dessert!

Turrón--almond nougat candy-- is essential at the Spanish Christmas table. Here it is whipped into a foamy, creamy mousse.

Starters (Entrantes)

 Fish terrine (Pastel de cabracho).

Mille-feuille with boletus and truffle (Hojaldre de boletus y trufa).

Ham croquettes (Croquetas de jamón)

“Tigers” (stuffed mussels) (Mejillones tigres).

Main dishes (Principal)

Salt cod with garlickly pil pil sauce.

Salt cod in garlic pil pil sauce (Bacalao al pil pil).

Basque-style hake (Lomos de merluza a la vasca).

 Boneless roast leg of lamb (Pierna de cordero deshuesada)

Roast suckling pig (Cochinillo asado).

Side dishes (Guarnición)

Oven potato casserole (Patatas panaderas).

 Potato Gratin (Gratén de patata),

Vegetables sautéed with ham--a favorite side dish.

Vegetable sauté (Salteado de verduras).

Red cabbage is traditional for Christmas meals.

Red cabbage (Lombarda).

Dessert (Postre)

Chocolate pyramid (Pirámide de chocolate).

Mousse of almond nougat (Mousse de turrón).

Turrón is almond nougat candy, confected of almonds, honey and egg white. Soft turrón, made of ground almonds, is like fudge in consistency. Hard turrón is a white nougat studded with almonds.

Almond Nougat Mousse
Mousse de Turrón

Mousse of almond turrón.

 

Use one 250-gram (8.8-ounce) bar of soft turrón for this recipe. Crumbled and lightly packed, that equals about 1 1/3 cups. Chill the beaters and bowl before whipping the cream.

Serves 6 to 8.

1 tablespoon unflavored gelatin
3 tablespoons water
2 eggs, separated
1 tablespoon sugar
¾ cup + 1 ½ cups whipping cream
¾ cup milk
½ teaspoon grated orange zest
1 1/3 cups crumbled soft turrón
Pinch of salt
Grated chocolate to garnish

In a small bowl, sprinkle the gelatin over the water. Let soak 15 minutes.

Beat the egg yolks with sugar until pale and thickened.

Heat ¾ cup of cream and the milk. Whisk the hot cream into the beaten egg yolks. Return the mixture to the pan and cook, stirring, until slightly thickened. Do not boil.

Remove from heat and add the orange zest. Whisk in the soaked gelatin until it is completely dissolved. Beat in the turrón.

With clean beaters, beat the egg whites with a pinch of salt until stiff.

Beat the remaining 1 ½ cups of cream until it holds soft peaks.

Fold the cream into the turrón-custard mixture. Fold the egg whites into the mixture. Spoon the mousse into 6 to 8 dessert cups. Chill the mousse at least 8 hours.

Grate chocolate on top of the mousse before serving.

Traditional at the finale of the cena de Noche Buena--almond turrón candy. On the left is soft, fudgy turrón; on the right, hard nougat studded with almonds, encased in white wafer. More about turrón from Spain at http://www.foodswinesfromspain.com/spanishfoodwine/global/products-recipes/products/more-about-products/4541662.html.

PÂTÉ FOR ALL OCCASIONS

Pâté or terrine is a dish for all occasions. We associate it, especially the pricey duck liver kind, with sumptuous holiday meals, but it’s just as appropriate for snacks.

What I like about pâtés is that they’re not much more complicated to prepare than meatloaf, which they resemble. In classic cuisine, pâté means a forcemeat—a preparation of chopped meat or poultry—enclosed in a pastry case, while terrine is a similar mixture cooked in a loaf pan or earthenware terrine.   

In Spanish, all are called paté—without the cute circumflex accent—whether they are smooth duck liver or chunky country-style terrine.

Studded with pistachios, this chicken pâté is great party food or simple supper.

Ground dark meat, chopped white meat, coarsely chopped fat and livers give textural contrast.

My house pâté is based on a recipe from La Mancha, where it is made with partridge. The gourmet version, potted and canned, is made with duck fat, giving the pâté a smooth, creamy consistency. My version is more home style.

No partridge? No problem. Make this pâté with all chicken or substitute quail, veal, or pork for the partridge. Use both white and dark chicken in the mix. Add truffles, if available. If not, use chopped black olives or pistachios or green peppercorns.

Serve slices of the pâté at room temperature on salad greens accompanied by pickled onions (recipe is here ) and toasts. Or, reheat the pâté and call it meatloaf!

Sherry or red wine? I served fino Sherry with this chicken pâté.

Red wine or Sherry with pâté? If I were using partridge, I’d serve it with a fine reserva red wine from La Mancha. But today’s terrine is all chicken, so I’m pouring fino Sherry.

Partridge and Chicken Pâté
Paté de Perdiz y Pollo

Have the chicken thighs ground by the butcher, but, to provide some textural contrast, chop the breast meat by hand. Use a mini-processor to coarsely chop the pork fat and the chicken livers. The chicken livers are easier to chop if they are seared first.

I usually separate the eggs and fold the beaten whites in at the end to lighten the mixture. I’m not really sure it makes a lot of difference, though.

Vary the spicing and herbs to suit yourself. I like thyme. Nutmeg is good with chicken;  fennel seed with pork, tarragon with veal.

Let the forcemeat mixture season for a few hours before cooking it. Then test the seasoning: make a small patty of the mixture and gently fry or poach it in a small skillet. Taste and add more salt or seasoning if needed.

The pâté keeps, refrigerated, for one week.

Dice chicken by hand.

Serves 12-16.

1 ¼ pounds boned partridge or chicken thighs, ground
1 ¼ pounds boneless chicken breasts, chopped
8 ounces fresh pork back fat or pancetta, coarsely ground
8 ounces chicken livers
1 teaspoon olive oil
2 eggs, separated
¼ cup milk
¼ cup brandy
¼ cup dry or medium Sherry (fino or amontillado)
½ tablespoon salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
½ teaspoon dried thyme
¼ cup finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
½ cup grated onion
½ ounce black truffles, chopped, (or ¼ cup pistachios)
8 slices bacon

Combine the ground partridge or chicken, chopped chicken breast and ground pork fat in a large bowl.

Cut the chicken livers into pieces and sear them in the olive oil in a small skillet. Transfer to a mini-processor and chop coarsely. Add to the bowl with the chicken.

Combine the egg yolks with the milk in a small bowl. Add to the large bowl. Add the brandy, Sherry, salt, pepper, thyme, parsley and grated onion. Use hands or a sturdy wooden paddle to combine the ingredients very well.

Allow the mixture to stand, covered and refrigerated, for at least 1 hour or up to 8 hours.

Preheat oven to 350ºF.

Stir pistachios, if using, into the pâté mixture. 

Beat the egg whites until stiff. Stir 1/3 of the whites into the partridge paste. Fold remaining whites into the paste.

Line pan with bacon slices.

Line a 6-cup loaf pan (or two 3-cup terrine molds) with bacon slices. Place half the forcemeat mixture in the pan. If using truffles, scatter them on top. Spread the remaining pâté mixture over.

Place the mold in a pan and fill to half the depth with boiling water. Cover the top with foil. Bake until pâté is set, internal temperature of 160ºF, 60 to 90 minutes (50 minutes for the smaller terrines).

 Allow the pâté to cool, then refrigerate. Unmold the pâté, draining off excess liquid, and slice to serve.

Chill the pâté in the pan before unmolding it.

Use serranted knife to slice the pâté.

MY KITCHEN IN SPAIN GETS A REVAMP!

Part way through my kitchen renovations, I am panicking. We just set the new oven in its niche and I realize it’s almost at floor level. What to do now? Find another location? Raise the stovetop? How did I miscalculate so badly?

Luckily, I’ve got my revamper-in-chief, Peter Nielsen, to help me solve this and some other problems. Peter is an artist who earns a living by doing electrical work, plumbing, carpentry, masonry, and much more.

Peter placing new counter top in my kitchen.

My kitchen in Spain, 1972, with original small Spanish gas stove. (Yep, that's me in the mini-skirt, making a salad.)

When I built my house in 1972, I custom-designed my kitchen to the specifications of the times. I had a dinky little Spanish gas stove, so I built my counter tops to line up with it, only 34 inches high and 19 inches deep. That, I soon realized, was not enough counter space to roll out a pie crust. Peter built me a center island to house a dishwasher and extend the counter space.

My kitchen, with American range converted to run on butane gas and a center island with enough counter top for kneading bread, rolling out pie crust.

Ten years later, I acquired a big American stove, a MagicChef, purchased second-hand from an American military family leaving the US naval base at Rota (Cádiz, on the Atlantic coast of southern Spain). That necessitated knocking out some cabinet tops. The new stove stuck up much higher than my counters.

That stove has served me well through the years—family meals, dinner parties and recipe testing for eight cookbooks.  When the thermostat stopped functioning, I got an oven thermometer so I could regulate temperatures. Clogged gas valves can’t easily be cleaned, as the tubing becomes brittle. That means I can’t get burners hot enough for good wok cooking. And, some invasive varmint ripped most of the insulation out of the oven, so it’s seriously inefficient to heat.

Adios to my big American oven. A whole chicken, apple crisp and beets roast on one rack.

Peter at work in my kitchen. I've alerted him that Monday we're going to have to make some changes.

Panic! The new oven is almost at floor level. It's not wired in yet, so I'm looking for a new plan.

Cooking with gas is swell--but, as I get older, lugging butane gas tanks is a pain. (I got rid of gas hot water heater when I installed solar hot water system.) The new electric oven is way smaller than the old one. But, gone are the days when I roast whole turkeys with all the trimmings for eight to ten people. The induction cooktop only has three “burners.” But, hey, I can’t remember when I last needed four burners at the same time.

During the renovations, we’ve moved the clunky gas stove into the dining room so I can still put meals on the table. With the kitchen en obra, in the works, I’m not doing a lot of cooking.

My favorite soup pot for 50 years--aluminum with copper bottom--is soon to be  decommissioned, as it won't work with induction cooktop.

Peter Nielsen’s web site http://peteratplay.com/ shows samples of his art and photography. His fix-it and build-it artistry is on show in many homes in my area. My neighbor, Jan, wants to clone Peter. That's how important he is in our lives.