ESCUDELLA I CARN D'OLLA

Published : 12/24/2018 11:51:53
Categories : Eatapas Suggestions , Recipes

ESCUDELLA or CHRISTMAS SOUP & CARN D'OLLA

Escudella & Carn d’Olla is the most traditional Catalan Christmas recipe and is made up of two different parts.

Carn d’Olla, which means Meat in a Pot, is the typical Catalan mixed boiled meat accompanied by vegetables and chickpeas. Escudella or Sopa de Galets, is a soup obtained by cooking thick pasta shells in the filtered broth of the Carn d’Olla.

INGREDIENTS for 6 people

Veal: 2 chunks of shin and 400g of thigh
Pork: a piece of cured fat, 2 spine bones, 1 halved pig’s trotter, 1 pig’s ear, a piece of pig’s snout, 1 black and 1 white Catalan sausage
Chicken: 1 breast and 1 thigh
Lamb: 1 shank
200g cooked chickpeas
Vegetables: 3 carrots, 3 leaks, 1 onion, 1 piece of celery, 1 turnip, 1 parsnip, 8 potatoes, 1 small cabbage
200g Galets, which are traditional pasta shells or conchiglioni
Water: 6l

The distinctive ingredient of Escudella is “la Pilota”, an extremely big meatball made with:

200g minced Veal
200g minced Pork
1 egg
1 Loaf of stale bread
a pinch of flour
1 garlic clove
some chopped parsley
salt
pepper

PREPARATION

Pour water, bones, pork fat an meats in a large stockpot. Turn on the heat, cover the pot and let it cook for about 60 minutes.

After one hour, add carrots cut into chunks, leeks, onion, celery, turnip and parsnip. Cover the pot and keep on cooking for 45 minutes more.

In the meantime, prepare the big meatball by mixing thoroughly the egg with the minced pork and veal. Add the stale bread with the crust removed, garlic, chopped parsley, salt and pepper. Combine all the ingredients to form a compact round ball.

Add the potatoes, the meatball and cover. After 15 minutes add the cabbage, previously quartered and cook for 5 more minutes.

Eventually add the Catalan sausage, chickpeas and simmer over a 5 minute period. Then the pot can be removed from the heat.

Drain a sufficient amount of broth into another pan and cook on a low heat.

Serve the soup with pasta shells and then the meat and vegetables.

Very important: don’t forget to keep on skimming the fat off.