Original ingredients for Christmas celebrations

As you know, a few weeks ago we opened the Pantry section. It is a section that makes me especially excited, since we have put a lot of care into the selection of products and suppliers. I think we have a good variety of ingredients that can come in handy to give a different touch on a daily basis or to reserve for a special occasion.

For this reason, today I would like to talk to you about some products that can come in handy for Christmas celebrations. They can be an excellent appetizer as well as accompany a dish or they can even be an original gift if we are the guests.

Ideas for appetizers

At home we really like cheese, it is a food that is almost never lacking on the table. If we also present it with a chutney specially designed to accompany it, the result is excellent. We just have to prepare some dishes with various types of cheese and a small bowl with the chutney sauce according to each one. Another option is to present some toasts with the cheese and a small teaspoon of chutney on top, the color contrast is beautiful, and the flavor is delicious!

Continuing with the chutneys, another good option may be to accompany a beef carpaccio with a little tomato or onion chutney and a few flakes of salt . If you prefer to present the carpaccio without any accompaniment, you can try adding a drizzle of almond oil and a little grated Parmesan, you'll see what a delight!

Special chutneys to accompany cheese, and tomato and onion chutney

Another ingredient that also works very well in appetizers are peppers, absolutely delicious if they are natural and of good quality. You can try spreading toast with cheese and presenting candied piquillo peppers on top. I also recommend you try the chorizo ​​pepper meat, piquillo pepper delights or those seasoned with oil and garlic.

If you prepare canapés, you can use cheese mousses or pepper cream as a base or even simply spread on good bread. By the way, when making canapés, you can't forget the foie gras either, a classic for these dates!

You can also serve needles in olive oil, a delicious Galician octopus or some horses as appetizers. In the Fish and Seafood section you will find several of them from Ramón Peña, a company that takes great care of the origin, quality and process of its products.

Straight to the table: sardines, needle, mackerel and Galician octopus

Another product that I recommend you try is the Chatka, Russian crab. A salad of lamb's lettuce with chatka with a fig pulp vinaigrette, for example, is easy to present and tastes excellent. You can also use it to prepare canapés (you can easily chop it up and mix it with a little mayonnaise), or prepare skewers by wrapping it with green leaves. It is a product with which we always succeed!

Russian Chatka crab, crustal can (100% crab legs, ideal for presentations with the product exposed) and canned (60% legs and 40% Russian king crab meat, ideal for dishes in which it is chopped)

Ideas for main courses

You can also use chatka for the most elaborate dishes. In this case, I encourage you to incorporate it into a salmon cake, for example, it will give it a delicious flavor. Also in fish and shellfish gutters, it will help you greatly enhance the flavor.

We also have some ingredients that can help you dress or accompany a dish, such as vinegar with fruit pulp for a salad, Parmigiano cheese cream or truffle salt for a pasta dish, or truffle oil and grated truffle if you prepare rice or risotto.

If you want to prepare a special meal for those at home, I also encourage you to try a little treasure from the Pantry, the truffle tagliatelle. They have a spectacular flavor, so we can take them only with good oil and a little grated Parmesan, or add a dash of truffle oil to intensify the flavor even more.

Combine the delicious truffle tagliatelle with truffle oil

I would also like to highlight the canned duck confit, both Serrano and Castaing are excellent. In each package there are two duck legs, ready to eat. My recommendation to prepare a simple but delicious dish is to sear the thighs in the pan to leave the skin crispy; At the same time, cut some potatoes into slices about 3 or 4mm thick and roast them in the oven with a little salt and some fat from the confit (you can take it from the same pan where you are marking the thighs); when the potatoes have about 5 minutes to cook, grate a fresh truffle or canned truffle on top. It seems incredible that something so easy to prepare can be so good!

Taste a delicious duck confit accompanied by roasted potatoes with truffles.

If you are thinking of cooking meat or fish in a casserole or cocotte, you know that many recipes start by browning the pieces before continuing with cooking in the oven. You can try using flavored oil to get a subtle and special touch. The one with almonds , for example, is ideal with most meats and fish. Nor would I like to highlight some vinegars that help us in many recipes and that are classics, such as sherry, tarragon or apple, Beatriz talked about them in this post .

Other ingredients that go very well with meat are mustard with honey or cream of peppers. You can also add some accompanying peppers to the dish or add a little chutney, both of which work very well with meat.

Dessert or gift ideas

Whether you are a guest or if you are sure that there will be an after-dinner meal, this is what interests you: in the Pantry section you will find several products that are not only absolutely delicious, but also come in presentations that are perfect to present directly at the table, or to take away as a gift when we are the guests.

The beautiful boxes of cookies from the Belgian firm Jules Destrooper, the addictive Walkers cookies -perfect to accompany tea or coffee with their 100% Scottish boxes- or the delicious panettone from the Italian house Caffarel are ideal.

Jules Destrooper biscuits in different presentations, Walkers biscuits in assortment and London Bus , Caffarel panettone and peach in Serrano syrup

Another dessert that is also very popular is peach in syrup. Serrano's is very natural, top quality fruit that is absolutely delicious. In addition, the 4kg container, ideal for when there are many of us at home, is precious that we can later reuse for a lot of things, don't you think?

In closing, if you like tea, I would like to encourage you to try any variety of Kusmi Tea. It is one of the favorite brands for a large part of my family, since it has a truly exceptional quality and flavor. It is a product that works very well throughout the year, but at parties it is also an excellent gift with which we will look great.