Spanish comfort food dishes to warm the coldest of winter days!

Here at Jacaranda Spain we love to promote the wonderful Spanish lifestyle and the Mediterranean Diet. 

It is always surprising to foreigners that the best Spanish recipes are for winter food. Nobody loves guisos (stews) and sopas (soups) like the Spanish workers. The recipes have all been handed down through the generations and remain as they were when Abuela (Grandma) used to make them. All bars and cafés serve these dishes at "comida" time (lunch). It is customary to take your main meal at this time before lying down for a siesta. 

Here are our favourite five, winter recipes:

1. Cocido Madrileño or Puchero. 

   This is the number one, winter warming stew. Some regions have slight variations but they are all, equally as good. It has everything in it, slow cooked and the end result delivers a two course meal that will warm and sustain you on the coldest days. Starting with the caldo (stock) and rice or pasta to enjoy as a light, warming soup. Then for the second course; a small piece of each meat; chorizo, morcilla (black pudding), beef marrow bone, pork rib, beef shin, serrano ham bone, chicken, tocino (salt pork fat, which is added for the flavour). To accompany this; a potato, carrot, penca (A vegetable stalk that looks like celery) and some chickpeas. At this point, I have to confess, that I have eaten Puchero many times and never cooked it. There is a lot of preparing and a long slow cook (6 hours) and I think, for this dish, I will leave it to the professionals and enjoy it in my local cafe. (Thursdays is “Día de Puchero” in Bar Paqui behind the Plaza Mayor in jalón)

   

2. Sopa de Lentejas. 

   My personal favourite. This is a dish that I make on repeat throughout the winter months. It is a staple in most Spanish homes. Make enough to last a week, every sitting tastes better than the day before. Lentils, chorizo, carrots, tomatoes, potatoes, onions, garlic and parsley combine to come up with a rich red soup to eat with crusty bread to dunk in it. Delicious!

   

3. Sopa de Ajo- Garlic soup. 

   This is a very simple dish, cheap and nutritious and perfect to feed the workers, on a budget. A ham bone is stewed to make a broth with chunks of ham, lots of garlic, paprika and chunks of slightly hard, yesterdays bread. It is finished with an egg, that poaches in the broth, and parsley. A hearty, flavoursome soup to ward off winter colds and flu.

   

4. Rabo de Toro- Bull Tail Stew

   The Spanish version of oxtail stew… but better. This rich stew is a staple dish on any tapas menu. Onions, carrots, tomatoes, celery, garlic, bay leaves, sherry, red wine and cloves cook together for 5 hours. Now you know why it´s so delicious!  I had the best “Rabo de Toro” as a free tapa in a famous old bar in Granada. I ordered a glass of rioja and it came with a small plate of the most delicious, melt in your mouth stew and a small piece of bread to wipe the plate clean. The best free food I had ever eaten!

   

5. Churros con Chocolate- Crispy fried batter with a hot chocolate dipping sauce.

    You simply can´t compile a list of winter favourites in Spain without adding this one. Churros are like donuts but like a stick, sprinkled with sugar and always eaten freshly cooked. Churros con chocolate are often eaten for supper. After the evening meal, families will often go out for a walk in the village or town, buy churros and eat them straight from the paper bag, while sitting in the plaza, chatting and watching the children play. The only problem I have with churros is; you can´t stop eating them!

6. 

We love Spanish food, cooked fresh with locally sourced ingredients and not an ultra-processed ingredient in sight! Most villages have their own fresh produce market for fruit and veg, and the local butcher is the best place to buy fresh meat. Foreign expats are often put off using these local businesses because of the language barrier but, take it from us, they are MORE than happy to chat to you in sign language and Spanglish. I have heard people mooing in the butcher shop in Jalón!

The team  at Jacaranda Spain wish you a happy, healthy winter season.