A Catalan Culinary Guide for Christmas
‘Tis the season to be jolly!
You might be wondering what to eat if you celebrate Christmas in Barcelona. We have put together everything you need to know to surprise your guests with typical Catalan Christmas dishes.
Escudella
The traditional recipe for escudella (a thick and very tasty broth complete with meatballs and pasta) includes assorted vegetables (leek, a stick of celery, parsnip, turnip, cabbage, carrots, potatoes, chickpeas), lots of meat (veal shank or topside of veal, veal rib, veal knee bone, knuckle of lamb, pork jowl, pork snout, pig's trotter, pork backbone, ham bone, floured rancid lard, white sausage, black sausage).
You put everything together in a big pot with 6 litres of water and salt and bring it to a boil for a few hours so the broth is well infused with the incredible amount of stuff we have just listed. Meanwhile, you can start making a few tennis-ball-sized meatballs with finely chopped parsley and garlic.
Add to the pot and the galets (conch-like pasta) in the last 30 minutes, and you will have a dish a serving of which would be enough to nurture you for a week in normal circumstances, but this being Catalan people eating in Christmas will only be the entrée.
You put everything together in a big pot with 6 litres of water and salt and bring it to a boil for a few hours so the broth is well infused with the incredible amount of stuff we have just listed. Meanwhile, you can start making a few tennis-ball-sized meatballs with finely chopped parsley and garlic.
Add to the pot and the galets (conch-like pasta) in the last 30 minutes, and you will have a dish a serving of which would be enough to nurture you for a week in normal circumstances, but this being Catalan people eating in Christmas will only be the entrée.
Pollastre farcit
In comes the main dish: stuffed roasted chicken. A free-range chicken of about 4 kg should be enough to feed 6 to 8 people. You need to prepare the filling (sausages, bacon, prunes, pine nuts, diced pineapple, dry apricots…) fried in lard and with a dash of cognac or brandy and then let the chicken cook in the oven for hours, turning it from time to time, while showering it with its own juices, some more brandy, oil…
It is absolutely delicious but remember to have available beds because, after the sweets (turrons, neules, marzipan…) and the alcohol and liquors, everyone will be in a food-induced coma.
It is absolutely delicious but remember to have available beds because, after the sweets (turrons, neules, marzipan…) and the alcohol and liquors, everyone will be in a food-induced coma.
Sant Esteve
On the 26th, Boxing Day, tradition dictates you need to keep eating: it is the turn of canelons, made with Christmas Day chicken leftovers and pasta. You stuff the shreds of chicken in a sort of pasta cannoli and then proceed to cover the dish with bechamel (white sauce) and cheese before you put them in the oven.
Canelons are delicious and very easy to freeze, so if you really don’t want to eat them the day after Christmas, you can save them for later in the week.
Catalan Christmas are not for the faint-hearted, so be ready to try scrumptious food you will never forget! (Also, remember to have some antacid on you just in case.)
Find your home in Barcelona
Canelons are delicious and very easy to freeze, so if you really don’t want to eat them the day after Christmas, you can save them for later in the week.
Catalan Christmas are not for the faint-hearted, so be ready to try scrumptious food you will never forget! (Also, remember to have some antacid on you just in case.)
‘Tis the season to be jolly!
You might be wondering what to eat if you celebrate Christmas in Barcelona. We have put together everything you need to know to surprise your guests with typical Catalan Christmas dishes.
Escudella
The traditional recipe for escudella (a thick and very tasty broth complete with meatballs and pasta) includes assorted vegetables (leek, a stick of celery, parsnip, turnip, cabbage, carrots, potatoes, chickpeas), lots of meat (veal shank or topside of veal, veal rib, veal knee bone, knuckle of lamb, pork jowl, pork snout, pig's trotter, pork backbone, ham bone, floured rancid lard, white sausage, black sausage).
You put everything together in a big pot with 6 litres of water and salt and bring it to a boil for a few hours so the broth is well infused with the incredible amount of stuff we have just listed. Meanwhile, you can start making a few tennis-ball-sized meatballs with finely chopped parsley and garlic.
Add to the pot and the galets (conch-like pasta) in the last 30 minutes, and you will have a dish a serving of which would be enough to nurture you for a week in normal circumstances, but this being Catalan people eating in Christmas will only be the entrée.
You put everything together in a big pot with 6 litres of water and salt and bring it to a boil for a few hours so the broth is well infused with the incredible amount of stuff we have just listed. Meanwhile, you can start making a few tennis-ball-sized meatballs with finely chopped parsley and garlic.
Add to the pot and the galets (conch-like pasta) in the last 30 minutes, and you will have a dish a serving of which would be enough to nurture you for a week in normal circumstances, but this being Catalan people eating in Christmas will only be the entrée.
Pollastre farcit
In comes the main dish: stuffed roasted chicken. A free-range chicken of about 4 kg should be enough to feed 6 to 8 people. You need to prepare the filling (sausages, bacon, prunes, pine nuts, diced pineapple, dry apricots…) fried in lard and with a dash of cognac or brandy and then let the chicken cook in the oven for hours, turning it from time to time, while showering it with its own juices, some more brandy, oil…
It is absolutely delicious but remember to have available beds because, after the sweets (turrons, neules, marzipan…) and the alcohol and liquors, everyone will be in a food-induced coma.
It is absolutely delicious but remember to have available beds because, after the sweets (turrons, neules, marzipan…) and the alcohol and liquors, everyone will be in a food-induced coma.
Sant Esteve
On the 26th, Boxing Day, tradition dictates you need to keep eating: it is the turn of canelons, made with Christmas Day chicken leftovers and pasta. You stuff the shreds of chicken in a sort of pasta cannoli and then proceed to cover the dish with bechamel (white sauce) and cheese before you put them in the oven.
Canelons are delicious and very easy to freeze, so if you really don’t want to eat them the day after Christmas, you can save them for later in the week.
Catalan Christmas are not for the faint-hearted, so be ready to try scrumptious food you will never forget! (Also, remember to have some antacid on you just in case.)
Find your home in Barcelona
Canelons are delicious and very easy to freeze, so if you really don’t want to eat them the day after Christmas, you can save them for later in the week.
Catalan Christmas are not for the faint-hearted, so be ready to try scrumptious food you will never forget! (Also, remember to have some antacid on you just in case.)
