Traditional Spanish Christmas Recipes - Main Course

christmas, dorado, oil

Christmas - Sea Bream (Dorado) with Saffron and Sherry

Dorado, from the Cantabrian and Galician coasts, is a quite expensive (especially at Christmas time). The fish is grilled and served on a bed of thinly sliced potatoes and onion rings, garnished with parsley, garlic and saffron. It is served with a sauce made from a mixture of Sherry and peppers. In the Basque country, a few cloves of garlic, thinly sliced and sautéed in oil, are also added.

Serves 4

One dorado, about 1.5 kg (3 lb. 5 oz)
500 g (18 oz) potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
200 g (7 oz) onion, sliced into thin rings
Juice of two lemons
Rind of two lemons
150 ml (10 tbsp) extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 tsp coarse salt
3 cloves of garlic
4 strands of saffron
A large bunch of parsley
2 tbsp sherry vinegar
2 red chili peppers, julienned

Preheat the oven to 180° C (350° F). After cleaning the fish, sprinkle it with lemon juice, inside and out.

In a mortar, grind together the coarse salt, garlic cloves, saffron and parsley.

Add 4 tbsp olive oil and 3 tbsp water. Mix well and set aside.

Carefully oil the baking dish in which the fish will be cooked and served. Arrange the sliced potatoes and onion rings in the bottom and pour the mixture from the mortar over top.

Cover tightly and let cook about 20 minutes.

Place the dorado on top of the potatoes, drizzle it with 2 or 3 tbsp. of oil and place into a 200° C (400° F) oven for 15 to 20 minutes. Baste from time to time.

Whisk the sherry vinegar together with some ground pepper and a few spoonfuls of the cooking liquid from the fish.

Remove the dorado from the oven and garnish with a bunch of parsley.

Drizzle with the vinegar mixture and a very fine julienne of lemon peel and the red chili peppers.

Serve hot.

Christmas - Red cabbage with Ribera del Duero wine

A traditional Christmas Catalan dish

Red cabbage, 1 kg (2.2 lb)
250 ml (1/2 pt) young Ribera del Duero red wine
4 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
75 g (3 oz) raisins
75 g (3 oz) pinenuts
Salt and pepper

Soak the raisins in the red wine.

Cut the red cabbage into thin strips and wash.

Heat the oil in a deep skillet or Dutch oven and sauté the pinenuts for a few seconds.

Add the red cabbage and sauté for 30 seconds.

Pour the red wine and raisins over the cabbage.

Season with salt and pepper.

Cover the Dutch oven tightly and let cook over low heat for 1 hour.

Happy cooking and merry Christmas!

Traditional Spanish Christmas recipes