Christmas Recipes and Ingredients
As the Costa del Sol’s leading food wholesaler that is also open to the general customer as an international food retailer, we’d like to suggest you pay us a visit before Christmas and stock up on all the kitchen cupboard staples you are likely to need over the festive period, such as soft drinks and snacks, as well as some more exotic ingredients that can help you turn leftover turkey into a another mouth-watering dish.
Of course, we recognise that not all countries that celebrate Christmas follow the tradition of eating turkey and all the trimmings as the British and Americans do. If you are thinking of ringing the changes by following Spanish festive food traditions, we stock a full range of products needed to complement lamb, suckling pig or sea bream – favourites at a traditional Spanish family Christmas.
Christmas recipes from Spanish Sabores
Around Europe there is a tremendous diversity in Christmas dishes, as you may already be aware. Why not come to Leo Foods and pick up the ingredients to make Belgian Speculoos. These crunchy biscuits are made with brown sugar and cinnamon and taste like Christmas – you have probably been served miniature versions at your local Marbella café.
In Prague they eat Vanockka on Christmas morning. This sweet bread is similar to brioche and includes raisins, almonds and lemon zest, and is topped with powdered sugar.
Or, what about a ‘Berlin pancake’? Known in Berlin as a pfannkuchen it is essentially a jam-filled doughnut, more or less like the doughnuts loved by the British, and these are traditionally served on New Year’s Eve.
As you can see, confectionary plays a major role in most country’s special Christmas treats, and in Copenhagen they like risalamande, or a creamy rice pudding. It is served cold with hot cherry sauce and also contains whipped cream, and chopped almonds.
For those who love more savoury dishes, Bucharest offers some inspiration. In Romania it is traditional to slaughter a pig at Christmas, and most of the festive dishes are pork based. Sarmale (minced meat, rice and onions wrapped in cabbage leaves) has a prominent place on the Christmas table, while dishes such as piftie (pork and garlic in gelatine), șorici (salted pork rinds) and jumări (chunks of pork fat, fried) also feature heavily.
Or what about a Swedish julbord. This is built up from base items – pickled herring, cured salmon and meatballs – regular staples in smörgåsbords. However, they expand this at Christmas to include Swedish soul food traditions with specific dishes, such as Jansson’s Temptation (potato-anchovy casserole), dopp i grytan (bread dipped in pork broth), lutfisk (gelatinous white fish dish), risgrynsgröt (rice porridge), and julskinka (Christmas ham).
And don’t forget, we also have all the ingredients for Mexican, Oriental and Arabic dishes if you fancy something different from the usual over the Christmas holidays. You will always find something new and exciting to try at Leo Foods, the Costa del Sol’s leading international and organic food and drinks retailer and wholesaler.
