In Spain, we usually have some similar dishes in every regions at Christmas days. Although many families have specialities of their regions, it´s frequent to have dishes from other regions, like meats and fish, or national dishes which are the same in every regions, like different types of soups.
We have made three different menus for different days at Christmas time.
Christmas soup:
Ingredients: (for 4 people)
-1/4 of kilo of beef or ok meat.
-1 bone (chicken)
-1/4 of kilo of hen.
-1/4 of kilo of cheakpeas
-1 leek
-Half an onion
-Parsley
-1 carrot
-1 garlic
-100 g of bacon cut in wide strips
-100 g of chorizo
-Thin noodles (30 grams per person)
Preparation:
-We put all the ingredients in a stew to boil with 2 liters and a half of water.
-They are boiling for two hours (in a fast pot, it´s enough with half an hour)
-We put the broth in and take off the meat and the cheakpeas.
-We fry the minced onion in a bit of oil and with small pieces of minced chorizo and bacon.
-We add them in the broth and when it starts to boil (bubble) we add noodles as we like.
-We cook it for 1/4 of hour approximately and we serve it.
-We cook the meat which we have taken off before with some peppers and tomato sauce.
-The cheakpeas accompany the soup in another tray.
Roast Beef:
An identity symbol of England, roast beef (roast meat of ox) has become to an international recipe and it has gone around the world. There are a lot of ways to cook it, but all of them must be careful with the treatment of the meat.
Ingredients:
-1 piece of high or mid loin of 1 or 2 kilos.
-50 ml. of olive oil.
-3 sliced cloves.
-100-150 gr. of normal mustard.
-Rosemary and thyme.
-Salt and pepper.
-One spoonful of oregano.
-2 or 3 leaves of laurel.
-1 liter of meat broth (prepared)
-1 glass of wine Pedro Ximénez.
For the brandy sauce:
-1 glass of brandy.
-2 spoonfuls of toasted flour.
-2 onions cut in tracks.
Preparation:
The best is using mid loin or, in its fault, high loin, so that it has the necessary quantity of fat, and this way it doesn´t remain dry. At the moment of serving, however you like: cold or warm, but always cut in very thin slices.
-We ripen and flavor the piece of meat with pepper.
-We heat one finger of oil in a frying pan or sauce pan and we put the Roast Beef on it.
-We leave it being gilded for both sides.
-Once it´s ready, we flavor the meat a bit more with thyme, oregano and some leaves of laurel.
-Add a glass of broth, a glass of wine Pedro Ximénez and a glass of brandy, which after will be used to make the sauce.
-Smear the piece with mustard and put it into the oven. Put the thermometer to 71ºC to control the temperature.
-At half cooking, put the spices again, a bit of mustard and turn it round.
For the brandy sauce:
-In the oil we fry the meat, we guild the garlic and the onion. When they´re ready, add the meat juices and the toasted flour. Finally we mix all.
Marzipan:
Ingredients:
-3 cups of peeled and minced almonds.
-2 cups of sugar.
-1 cup of water.
-2 egg whites.
-4 spoonfuls of glace sugar.
-1 spoonful of vanilla.
Preparation:
-Heat the water and the sugar in a sauce pan until the sugar dissolves and the mixture starts to bubble.
-Leave it boiling without stirring until it has a temperature of 110ºC (use the cooking thermometer to control the temperature).
-Withdraw and stir the mixture carefully. Add the almonds, beaten egg whites and vanilla. Mix all very well.
-Put the sauce pan on the soft heat during a few minutes, just until the mixture starts to come unstuck from the end sides of the sauce pan.
-Put a bit of glace sugar on a surface in the kitchen and empty the mixture in the sauce pan on the surface. Knead it well, and then make shapes, stars, half moons, etc.
-Wrap it up silver foil and put it in a hermetic place.
GARCÍA CLAVERÍA, Fernando
QUEROL, Claudia
RIVERA, Chema
3C
