Simple Spanish Food

Candied Citrus Peel for Decorating Your Roscón

Roscones de Reyes, the traditional, wreath-shaped sweet breads sold in Spanish bakeries for King's Day (and increasingly throughout the holiday season) are usually decorated with chopped nuts, powdered sugar, candied fruits, and sometimes a glaze.  These decorations not only make the roscones look festive, they add a lot of flavor.  

An easy way to decorate your roscón at home is to make some candied citrus peel and arrange them, along with chopped nuts, onto a freshly glazed bread. Here's one we did last year:

Candying citrus peel is easy.  Just peel some strips of orange zest (or other citrus of your choice) with a vegetable peeler. Cut them into match sticks or other shapes if you like, or just leave them "abstract" (that's what I do).    Put them in a pot of cold water. Bring them to a boil. Drain them. Repeat.

Make a simple syrup:  Put one cup of sugar and one cup of water in a saucepan. Bring it to a boil. Add the citrus peels. Let them simmer in the syrup an hour or so. Remove them from the syrup and roll them in  sugar. 

These keep for weeks so you can make them ahead of time.

When you've finished baking your roscón  (see my easy recipe for roscón de Reyes to learn how), coat it with a simple glaze (again see my easy recipe for roscón de Reyes for the glaze recipe). While the glaze is still wet, arrange the candied citrus peels and chopped nuts of your choice on top.

The glaze serves as "glue" to hold the decorations in place.

¡Feliz día de Reyes a todos!

Is Your Roscón Ready?

Tomorrow, January 6th, is King's Day, or Día de Reyes, when the ring-shaped holiday breads called roscones de reyes are enjoyed all over Spain.

If you would like to celebrate Reyes the way the Spaniards do, it's still not too late to make your own roscón. See my post on roscón de reyes for an easy recipe and more information about this traditional Spanish holiday bread--including the prizes inside.

Also see my post "Ten Spanish Ways to Enjoy the Holidays #10" for more pictures of roscones de Reyes.

¡Feliz día de Reyes a todos!

 

 

Ten Spanish Ways to Enjoy the Holidays #10: roscón de Reyes (Twelfth Night Bread)

Spaniards celebrate the Epiphany (día de los Reyes, or Reyes) with a wreath-shaped holiday bread called roscón de Reyes, a.k.a rosca de Reyes, but increasingly roscones are eaten throughout the holiday season, and beyond.

In every roscón there is a tiny prize (usually a porcelain or plastic figurine), and whoever finds the prize in his or her slice of roscón is supposed to have good luck.

Here are some prizes from roscones de Reyes we've eaten over the years:

In Spain roscones de Reyes vary from bakery to bakery. Some roscones are yellow and brioche-like, while others are white, like a sweet roll.

Many roscones in Madrid are flavored with anise, a very popular spice in old fashioned Spanish sweets. The toppings will differ from day to day--and from roscón to roscón--even in the same bakery.

Some are sprinkled with sugar and walnuts. Others have decorations of candied fruit and almond slivers. I've seen them with powdered sugar or a glaze.

When we're celebrating día de Reyes here in the U.S., I make a roscón de Reyes at home.  See my post on roscones de Reyes for a recipe and more information.

If you have a hispanic community in your area, it's often possible to find a baker who will make a roscón de Reyes for you, especially if you order in advance.

 

Ten Spanish Ways to Enjoy the Holidays #9: Turrones & Other Christmas Candies

Turrones, tortas, bombones, and other traditional sweets are enjoyed throughout the holidays in Spain.  In most Spanish homes a variety of these candies, along with many different types of Spanish Christmas cookies, will be served together on platters after the comida (the main meal)  or after the cena (late-evening meal) or for the merienda (afternoon snack). Everyone can choose his favorites.

Candy stores like Casa Mira, pictured above, make huge blocks of turrón and sell them by the kilo. Spaniards also buy lots of mass produced turrón, sold in boxes.

Some turrones, such as turrón de guirlache, are quite easy to make at home. See my post on turrón de guirlache for the recipe.

Other turrones, such as turrón de Alicante, a hard almond nougat, are quite difficult to make and, I feel, are best left to the experts. See my post on turrón de Alicante for more information.  Turrón de Alicante and other turrones are available from La Tienda.

Some turrón-like candies are disk shaped. They're called tortas. The torta imperial de almendras is the most common.  Again see my post on turrón de Alicante, which it closely resembles.

I make guirlache in the form of a torta:

The traditional shape of a guirlache is rectangular, cut into bars:

Turrones and tortas are only the beginning when it comes to Spanish holiday candies. There are chocolate covered nuts:

You can make a version of these very easily at home. See my post on easy Spanish bon bons.

The small disk shape is just as authentic as the round. We see these tortitas de choclate for sale in Madrid candy shops.

There are many other sorts of confections. Esperanza, my mother-in-law, buys these chocolate covered coconut balls, bolitas de coco:

Don't let the retro packaging fool you. These things are really good.  Lots of old-fashioned Spanish candies and cookies  have packaging that looks, to my American eyes, like cheap drug store candy, when in fact it's of the highest quality. In Spain it often seems that the more "vintage" the packaging looks, the better the product is.

Spanish chocolate pralines--pralinés de chocolate--are easy to make at home and delicious too.  See my post on pralinés de chocolate for the recipe.

See La Tienda's dessert page for a wide selection of Christmas sweets.

 

 

 

 

 

Sources in the U.S.A. for cordero lechal (milk-fed lamb)?

José, a reader of Simple Spanish Food, has asked if we know of any U.S. sources for cordero lechal, milk-fed lamb (a.k.a. suckling lamb, baby lamb, spring lamb).

According to the Spanish food site Directo al Paladar, a cordero lechal is a lamb that has been slaughtered at around one month old. It weighs around 13 pounds (6 kilograms) and has consumed nothing but ewe's milk .   

Cordero lechal is prized in Spain because it is delicate in flavor and has none of the "gamey" taste of older lamb or mutton. Cordero lechal is also low in fat and very tender. In the picture above (credit to the article "Lechazo asado" from Wikipedia en español), you can see in the foreground uncooked sides of cordero lechal. Notice the light color of the meat. This light color is also typical of cordero lechal.

As I mentioned in yesterday's post on grilled lamb chops, whole roasted baby lamb, cordero lechal asado, is traditionally served on Christmas Eve in Spain, but it may also be served on any special occasion.  

In Spain there is also cordero recental, lamb slaughtered at around 30 pounds (15 kilos). Cordero recental has consumed grass and feed as well as milk.  It has a stronger flavor, higher fat content, and slightly darker meat, but it is still mild, low in fat, and tender by U.S. lamb standards.

Cordero pascual is lamb slaughtered between 4 to 12 months of age.   Cordero pascual has red meat, high fat content, and a pronounced "lamb" taste.

Almost all of the lamb available in the U.S. would be classified as cordero pascual in Spain.  Because there is such a big difference between cordero lechal and cordero pascual, one can't really substitute for the other.

Back to José's question: is there a source for cordero lechal here in the U.S.?

To my knowledge, no.

According to Wikipedia's article on lamb and mutton, milk-fed lamb is almost never available in the U.S. or the U.K.  It is considered to be uneconomical.  I have searched for cordero lechal with no luck.

I suspect it would be necessary to go directly to someone who raises lamb to obtain cordero lechal here in the U.S.  Baby goat, cabrito, may be easier to find. It's probably the best substitute. 

I will keep searching. If anyone knows a source in the U.S.A. for cordero lechal, please let us know.

Until then, cordero lechal asado is yet another reason to visit Spain. 

 

 

 

 

Grilled Lamb Chops for the Holidays? ¡Qué Va! (Chuletas de cordero a la brasa, o a la parrilla)

Whole roasted lamb (cordero asado) is a typical Christmas Eve dish in much of Spain.  If there aren't too many people eating,  half a lamb (split longways, nose to tail) may be roasted instead.  Unfortunately, I have not had a chance to cook a whole lamb, or even half of one, so I made lamb chops instead.

When Esperanza, my mother-in-law, sees this post,  she's going say, <<¡Qué va! ¡Eso es de cada dia!>> ("Get out of here! That's everyday food!")

True, lamb chops are ordinary fare in Spain, but I wanted to do a post on grilled lamb chops anyway. They're simple, easy, and very Spanish.  For a future holiday season I will roast the whole lamb. For now, it's lamb chops, chuletas de cordero.

You can cook these in a heavy skillet (I like cast iron), in which case your chops would be a la parrilla. Or you can grill them. Either way, they're great.

For this post I did them on a kamado (Big Green Egg).

 

When I grill or pan-fry chops, I turn them a total of 4 times.  In other words,  I quickly cook the chops twice  on each side. This ensures the chops are cooked evenly.

The chops are then allowed to rest for 8 to 10 minutes on a warmed plate.  During this time the chops are still cooking inside, so the rest is essential.

These cooking times are for chops about 1 inch thick.  

Here's how to do it:

Put however many lamb chops you want on a plate. Sprinkle them with coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper. If you're cooking them in a skillet, rub them down with a little olive oil.

Preheat your grill or your pan to medium-high, about 450 degrees.

 When the grill or pan is hot, put on the lamb chops.

Let them cook 2 minutes.

Turn the chops, and let them cook 2 minutes more.

Turn the chops again, and cook them--you guessed it--2 minutes.

Turn the chops one last time, and let them cook 2 minutes.

Got it? That's four turns, two minutes per turn, for a total of eight minutes cooking time.  This is for medium rare lamb chops.  If you like your chops well done, you might add 30 seconds extra per turn, for a total cooking time of 10 minutes.

Now remove the lamb chops from the grill or pan and place them in a warmed cazuela or plate. Cover them with foil and let them rest for 10 minutes.  

When the ten minutes are up, your lamb chops are ready to eat.

 

 

 

Ten Spanish Ways to Enjoy the Holidays #8: Fish & Shellfish (pescado y marisco)

Spaniards serve fish and shellfish, pescado y mariscos, on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year's Eve, and just about any other chance they get. True, for an elaborate Christmas Eve banquet  there may be a main dish of  roasted lamb (often an entire baby lamb roasted whole) or (in Galicia) kid goat, or some other special meat dish, but there will almost always be a fish course, and often seafood will be the focus of the entire meal. As I explain in my post "Scenes from Spanish Fish Markets," most Spaniards adore seafood.

Many types of seafood are served over the holidays, but on Christmas and New Year's Eve Spaniards often splurge. A luxury seafood meal might include centollas (huge crabs), angulas (baby eels)---La Tienda sells angulas tinned in olive oil if you're interested in giving them a try---and percebes (goose barnacles).  All of these are expensive. In the picture below, the angulas are near the center (they look a little like spaghetti) and the percebes are the black shellfish to the lower right.

Pulpo (octopus) used to be a humble food of Galicia. Now it's becoming expensive, if not quite a luxury item, and so it's served on special occasions like Christmas Eve. (See my post on Pulpo a la Gallega, Galician Style Octopus for a recipe).  Besugo (sea bream) is also a popular holiday fish.

For Christmas and New Year's Eve, Esperanza, my mother-in-law, often serves langostinos (prawns) or bogavante (lobster). See  my post "Esperanza Cooks Bogavante" for the recipe.

Andrés, my father-in-law, loved merluza (hake) over the holidays. He usually had it with a Galician sauce of olive oil,  garlic, and pimentón.

In short, for a Spanish-style holiday dinner, almost any sort of seafood you like would be appropriate.  Here in the U.S. we often have clams (see my recipe for almejas a la marinera).

We love a good fresh local fish like pompano when we can find one. When we can't, we have grilled shrimp:

Oysters would be great (and authentic) but I rarely get to eat them because Ana doesn't like them.

See the seafood category here at Simple Spanish Food for more ideas and recipes.

Ten Spanish Ways to Enjoy the Holidays #7: Christmas Gift Baskets (cestas de Navidad)

In Spain one of the most popular Christmas gifts is a basket (or sometimes a box) filled with really good food, sweets, and wine. Companies give cestas de Navidad to their employees. Business people give a Christmas basket to their best clients as well as to their more valuable colleagues.   Residents of a building will often give a small basket to the doorman.

A typical cesta de Navidad usually includes Spanish ham--jamón serrano, jamón iberico, or even pricy jamón de bellota . . .

as well as other types of Spanish cured meats and sausages--chorizos, salchichón, lomo, etc.

Cestas de Navidad almost always have one or more  nice cheeses (quesos)  . . .

and a bottle or two of good wine, sherry, cava or champagne, as well as whisky or liqueur.

An exceptional olive oil would not be out of place in a cesta de Navidad.

This one, infused with truffles, was luxurious--and really good drizzled on French fries.

Top-quality tinned seafood is prized in Spain and often found in cestas de navidad too.

Spanish sweets are an all-but obligatory component of a proper cesta de navidad. They range from chocolate-covered almonds or hazelnuts . . .

to all sorts of  traditional Spanish Christmas cookies, such as polvorones

and, always,  turrones

Check out La Teinda's selection of gift baskets, or create your own. 

See the dessert category here at Simple Spanish Food for lots of recipes for traditional Spanish sweets and cookies. They make great Christmas gifts too.

 

 

Ten Spanish Ways to Enjoy the Holidays #6: Twelve Grapes on New Year's Eve (doce uvas por nochevieja)

Eating twelve grapes (doce uvas) as the clock strikes midnight is a New Year's Eve tradition all over Spain.  But as I explain in my post on Twelve Grapes (doce uvas), you must follow the rules to ensure good luck.  The grapes should be green. You should eat one grape with each chime of the clock. It's especially important to have the twelfth and last grape in your mouth the second it turns midnight.  You may also wish to observe other elaborations to the ritual, such as standing on your right foot as you eat the grapes. (That way you'll enter the new year on the right foot).  Again, see Twelve Grapes (doce uvas) for more information.

It's best to use seedless grapes for obvious reasons.  You may also want to peel the grapes, which makes it easier to gobble  twelve in a row in less than half a minute.

 In  Spain, the clock everyone watches is in the Puerta del Sol  in Madrid.

You can watch the Puerta del Sol party live on-line at Rtve.es la 1 en directo. Of course the problem is the broadcast won't be at midnight outside of Spain's time zone. (The Puerta del Sol celebration comes on at six in the afternoon here in Florida, Eastern Standard Time).  So we watch the big ball in Times Square, which creates some timing challenges because  the countdown is done by seconds, not chimes.

We, like many Spaniards,  usually have some tapas while waiting for midnight, and we toast the New Year with cava or champagne

 

Ten Spanish Ways to Enjoy the Holidays #5: lombarda

It is a Castillian tradition on Christmas Eve (Nochebuena) to serve red cabbage (lombarda), usually alongside a main dish of lamb (cordero)--the subject of a post in the near future. However, the family of Esperanza, my mother-in-law, used to serve lombarda with capon for Christmas Eve.

The old way to prepare lombarda involves lengthy (sometimes too lengthy) simmering, often with pork fat, but lighter, fresher, and quicker versions are becoming more popular.  

See my post on Easy Stir-fried Red Cabbage, Lombarda (pictured above) for a recipe adapted from José Pizarro's  Seasonal Spanish Food.

You may also want to check out my vegetarian version of Lombarda San Quintín,  red cabbage with roasted apples and potatoes.