Fishing boats provide some of the favorite ingredients for Spanish holiday meals.
According to Worldwide Gourmet.com, many of the special holiday foods of Spain draw on the gastronomic legacy of Arabian cuisine. This influence can be seen in the liberal use of almonds, honey, saffron and oranges, especially in desserts. Local meat and seafood combine with regional favorites such as saffron and olive oil to create a variety of delicious holiday meals. As in every country, the purpose of the traditional holiday foods in Spain is to bring people together and pass down family and cultural traditions.
Christmas
Almond soup is served as a dessert in the Castile region of Spain. During Christmas, it is traditional to flavor this sweet, creamy concoction with saffron and serve it as a sweet and savory first course for Christmas dinner.
The name of the dish "Christmas red cabbage with Ribera del Duero red wine" gives away nearly everything you want to know about it. Christmas red cabbage is a Catalan dish that uses pine nuts, garlic, raisins and wine to transform the humble winter vegetable into a dish worthy of serving friends and family for Christmas dinner.
Sea bream, also known as dorado, is one of the many seafoods popular during the Christmas season in Spain. Sea bream is caught on the Cantabrian and Galician coasts of Spain and is very expensive, especially during the holidays, but considered worth the cost for Christmas enjoyment. Typically, the sea bream is grilled and served with a mixture of parsley, garlic and saffron. In the Basque region, thin slices of garlic are sautéed in oil and added to the finished dish.
Easter
Hornazo is a savory pie that is traditionally eaten at Easter in the Castile-Leon region. It is a meat-heavy dish filled with beef, pork loin, ham and egg. A sweet version of hornazo featuring almonds, sugar and anise seed can also be found during this time of year.
Doughnuts made from bread crumbs and flavored with cinnamon, rosemary and honey are a treat traditionally prepared at convents and monasteries for celebrating the Easter holidays. According to The Worldwide Gourmet.com, chef Lorenzo Cano discovered the recipe for breadcrumb doughnuts while researching convent recipes for his restaurant at the Prador Chinchon Hotel in Chinchon, Spain. The pastry has proven so popular it has never left the menu.
St. Blaise Day
Small loaves of bread are baked and blessed during Mass as part of the February 3 St. Blaise Day celebration. Legend tells that St. Blaise, a Catholic saint, once healed a boy who had choked on a fish bone. According to St. Blaise Day tradition, each child in the home eats from the blessed loaf to protect him from choking.
Tags: According Worldwide, According Worldwide Gourmet, Christmas cabbage, Christmas dinner, foods Spain