Stuffed: The Christmas Eve Feast

I always find it interesting to read or hear what other people around the world carve their knives into for Christmas Eve/Day dinner. Same with other large holidays and traditions. What types of food and how true they stay to local or ethnic tradition. Are they hardcore traditional where they eat the same thing over and over, year after year? New twists to old classics? Mix a few traditional dishes with non-traditional? Or, “well, we did have ham with our green curry chicken and naan, but it was rubbed with wasabi.”

Here’s what we had. (What’s in Spanish is traditional, though not exclusive and there are many other dishes as well, to many that I know)

Pre-meal warm up

Cocktails

Small platter of hard salami and smoked cheese

Cold spinach and artichoke dip (a real winner with everyone)

Appetizers

Vithel Tonne – Cooked slices of eye of round with sauce made of mayonnaise, tuna, and anchovies (no thank you)

Copa De Camarones – Small salad of shrimp, hearts of palm, and honeydew melon balls in a cup.

Fiambre alemán – Layered tower of crepes, ham, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, hardboiled egg, and roasted red peppers.

Main Course

Roasted pork tenderloin stuffed with prosciutto, salami, fontina, and capers

Pure De Manzana (if there’s pork) – Apple sauce

Ensalada Waldorf – Waldorf salad

Caesar Salad

Budin de Cebolla Verdeo y Salvia – Green onion and sage bread pudding

Dessert

Various turrón bars and pan dulce.

Green Onion Bread Pudding

This is super easy to make. Break up 6 large slices of day-old good white bread into small pieces and toss into a large heat resistant bowl. Heat up 3 cups of milk in a sauce pan until it is just about to boil. Remove from heat and pour over bread. Mash the bread up with a fork. The result should be a wet paste of sorts. If there is milk pooling up at top then add another slice of bread. Set aside and allow to cool a bit. Thinly slice about one cup of green onions. Chop up about 10 sage leaves. Saute green onion in 3 tablespoons of butter over medium heat until very soft-as if they are about to melt. Add sage and cook until leaves are wilted. Add onion-sage mixture to bread mixture and mix well. Add a teaspoon of salt or more to taste. Whisk four eggs together in a separate bowl. If bread mixture is very warm, add a couple spoonfuls to eggs while whisking rapidly. Immediately pour into bread mixture and whisk well. I was able to just fit this into 10 x 4.5 inch bread pan that was buttered and coated with bread crumbs. Cook for about one hour in a 325 Fº oven or until set.