Oh, Christmas, pleasant for some, tostonazo for others. It is possible that this season you have to prepare an agape or two for more or less relatives/friends/relatives, or even just for you and your partner, but at this point you are still a little in albis. Do not despair, we come to the rescue with some relatively simple and quick last minute ideas that will help you succeed.
For a good appetizer, you don’t have to get involved in preparing a tomato jelly with a basil aroma and licorice cloud, with some delicious well-treated shellfish, like these magnificent clams with garlic prawns or its 2.0 version, you’re ready or ready. If you want to levitate with taste, prepare a homemade cod brandade that is simple and quick if you have a hand blender, it is made with a desalted cod that is now in all shops and you can prepare it in advance; you will lack bread to spread so much brandade. If you want to work even less, all you have to do is set up an interesting table of sausages and cheeses with the guidelines that we gave you in this article.
As for versatile dishes that can be served as a starter or as a main course, depending on whether it’s dinner or lunch, and depending on how trippy your guests are, a tasty fish soup such as traditional bouillabaisse is always appealing and it won’t take too long. if you use decent frozen fish and shellfish, or this juicy sautéed beans with cockles, a very simple thing to do with canned vegetables and very cheap.
Canned foods are extremely useful when we are short of ideas and time, not only legumes as in the previous suggestion, but any magnificent fish or shellfish preserve, and also vegetables. For example, a button, like this salad of confit piquillo peppers and mackerel, delicious and luscious, which can be a starter or appetizer of category
CONFIT PIQUILLO PEPPERS AND MACKEREL SALAD
Ingredients
for 4 people
- 16 whole piquillo peppers, canned
- Olive oil to taste
- 2-3 garlic cloves
- salt flakes to taste
- 350 g mackerel canned in oil
Preparation
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First of all, confit the piquillo peppers: cover the bottom of a casserole with a little olive oil where the piquillos will fit without over-mounting.
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Finely chop the garlic, heat the pan and fry until they change colour.
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Arrange the piquillo peppers in a circle on top of the oil. Cook on the lowest possible heat for 20-30 minutes, with the casserole uncovered, rocking the casserole from time to time as if it were a pilpil.
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The peppers are evaporating the moisture and caramelizing slightly, but be careful not to go too far and that they remain in the spirit of the candy.
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Transfer the piquillo peppers to a platter, arrange the mackerel on top of them, drained a little of its liquid, into flakes, and salt with salt flakes. Serve the salad warm or at room temperature.
Are you very spoon? The classic french onion soup it always wins, it’s the simplest thing in the universe when it comes to soups, and because it’s French, it tends to sound more sophisticated to us than our garlic soup, even though the origin is just as peasant. The slice of bread with cheese gratin on top, floating like a boat in a sea of onion, is the master touch that conquers the stomachs of all who try it. It takes a while to cook, but you don’t have to keep looking her in the eye, at the soup, and in the meantime you can make more dishes. There goes the recipe with ingredients that we all have in the pantry, you’re welcome!
FRENCH ONION SOUP
Ingredients
for 4 people
- 500 g white onion
- 70g butter
- 1 tbsp flour
- 100 ml of white wine
- 2 l of water or meat broth
- thyme and bay leaf
- Salt
- White pepper
- nutmeg to taste
- A few slices of good quality artisan bread
- 100 g grated Gruyère cheese (or Manchego)
Preparation
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Cut the onion into julienne strips.
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Put the butter in a wide pan and melt it. When it bubbles, add the onion. Sauté over low heat until it turns coloured, stirring from time to time. If the edges burn at any time, add a couple of tablespoons of water and stir well, this way the toasting is distributed.
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Sauté until toasted to our liking, a long time, up to an hour. Add the flour and stir it a few times for a minute, so that it is toasted.
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Add the wine and mix. Add the rest of the ingredients: water or broth, seasonings and herbs. Cover and cook over very low heat for about 45 minutes. Taste the seasoning and rectify if necessary.
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To serve the soup, divide into oven-safe bowls. In each bowl of soup put a few slices of toasted bread sprinkled with grated cheese.
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Gratinate on the grill, until the cheese is melted and toasted. Serve immediately.
As a main dish and in the fish and shellfish market, we suggest anything from a very simple fish en papillote or to the Saltwhich you can adapt to your budget by using farmed sea bass or wild sea bream, to sea bream fillets enlivened with crunchy crumbs and lemon that are prepared in no time.
If you fancy a classic that is prepared relatively quickly and for which it is worth finding an excellent genre, treat yourself to a Galician hake, a fish cooked in a broth with its own potato garnish and served with a stir-fry. garlic and paprika.
HAKE GALICIAN
Ingredients
for 4 people
- 6-8 slices of quality hake (depending on the size of the fish and the size of your diners)
- coarse salt to taste
- 1 onion
- 6 garlic cloves
- 2 liters of water
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 kg of potatoes to fry
- 1 tsp sweet paprika
- 120 ml of virgin olive oil
Preparation
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Wash the hake slices under water and dry them with paper. Season each one with a little coarse salt an hour before cooking.
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Peel and quarter the onion, and peel and slice the garlic. Reserve.
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Peel the potatoes and cut in half.
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Bring the water to a boil in a large saucepan where the slices of hake will fit, with the onion, the bay leaf and a tablespoon of salt.
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Add the potatoes and cook until tender, at least 15 minutes.
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Add the hake and cook over a very low heat for between five and eight minutes, depending on the size of the slices. When they have lost the raw color, cut off the cooking with a ladle of cold water and turn off the heat. Cover and rest while we prepare the ajada.
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Heat the olive oil in a frying pan and brown the sliced garlic.
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Turn off the heat and add the sweet paprika. Let rest.
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To serve, remove the fish and potatoes from the broth into a bowl. Pour the ajada on top and on the table.
In the meat business you should try these suckling pig chops -or recental, which is cheaper- that are prepared in the oven with its built-in garnish, a bed of potato and onion, with zero complication, or the Palencia recipe for roasted lamb, which is prepared in a casserole and is almost roasted with very little effort. Add some sliced potatoes and some chopped shallots to the casserole and you already have the perfect accompaniment. If you are not many diners, a duck magret made at the moment is magnificent, served with some fruit in the form of a compote or grilled that brings freshness to this fatty meat, as in this recipe which we give below.
DUCK MAGRET WITH APPLES
Ingredients
for 4 people
- 2 duck magrets (breasts)
- 4 pippin apples
- juice of two lemons
- Sugar or honey to taste
- Salt
Preparation
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Make some cuts in the magrets on the fat side, without reaching the meat (this helps the fat to exude).
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Heat the pan over low heat and lay the magrets on the fat side. Let them release fat, which we will gradually remove into a bowl. Don’t dump the fat.
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When they take 15-20 minutes, raise the heat a little so that that face is finished toasting. Remove all the fat from the pan.
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Salt the meat side, turn both magrets over and cook for another 5 minutes, or depending on how we like the point of the meat. When they are done, wrap them in aluminum foil and let them rest for 10 minutes.
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While the magrets are cooking, peel the apples and cut them into eighths. Sprinkle with the lemon so they don’t blacken while they wait.
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While the magret rests, return a couple of tablespoons of the collected fat to the pan and sauté the apple over low heat. If we like, add some sugar or honey.
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When the apples have softened, transfer them to a source. The apple partially deglazes the pan, so it collects the substance left by the magret. Cut the magrets into more or less thick slices and serve immediately with the apples so they don’t get cold.
What do you get for curling the loop at the last minute and making a homemade dessert? Well, make yourself some chocolate and spiced wine truffles that take away your heart; Homemade truffles are very easy to make, you just need to recruit someone to help you shape them to speed up the process, we all know how to knead balls in our hands. Another option is these apples wrapped in shortcrust pastry, which you can prepare in no time with purchased dough and put in the oven and forget about until serving time; a delicious twist on the baked apples of a lifetime. If you’re more into the jetapostre school, you can always have a crunchy cookie and coffee with mascarpone and chocolate, a colorful fruit salad or some banoffee cups of cream, banana and dulce de leche, which you can finish off with a bit of grated nougat to that they fully enter the Christmas orbit. With these simple recipes, the night will be peaceful for everyone; even those who have to cook.
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