Dreaming of a Delicious Christmas : Tradition Dictates Cod, Cactus, Shrimp--and Turkey

I’ve never dreamed of a white Christmas. In my youth, all my Christmas Eves were warm, tropical, crowded events, with lots of tasty, delicious food.

My family’s Christmas Eve ritual began about 9 p.m. on Dec. 24 with the arrival of our extended family and a few close friends.

So that they wouldn’t see the presents guests were bringing, all the children gathered in one room to wait until 11 p.m., when Santa would arrive. Meanwhile, the adults sat in the living room, drank cocktails and punch and listened to Christmas music.

The teenagers were in charge of watching over the children. They put on plays like “Little Red Riding Hood” and “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” to entertain the kids.

A few minutes before 11, someone would holler that they heard a noise outside, and the children would be summoned to look out the window for Santa’s sleigh. The children’s reactions varied from skepticism to total assurance that they had just seen the bright lights on his sleigh.

At 11 on the dot, one adult would announce that Santa Claus had arrived and left gifts under the Christmas tree. The children would run out of the room like wild horses and sit around the tree, ready to open their gifts. The man of the house would hand out the gifts amid cheers of excitement.

When the gifts were opened, we moved to the dinner table, or tables, depending on the number of guests, and the grand party would begin. Normally, the singing and dancing and celebrating wouldn’t end until the morning hours.

Over the years, the site of the dinner party has moved from Cuernavaca to Mexico City to California. But for as long as I can remember, we have always served the same menu: a light broth, bacalao (salt cod) a la Vizcaina, revoltijo, turkey and, for dessert, turrones, mazapanes and dried fruit.

No matter how far we are from Mexico, we always find the right ingredients to make our traditional Christmas meal.

When I was very young, the preparations began months in advance. The first step required the most time and for my siblings and me was undoubtedly the saddest part of the whole celebration.

Every year my mother would go out to search for a small and healthy turkey. The turkey would then be brought to our home, would grow up in our garden and of course was considered a part of our family. We had a large animal family, so the new turkey always fit in with our boxer dogs, poodle, cat, macaw (guacamaya) and my sister’s little chicks.

When the baby turkey arrived, we would name it, play with it and every morning listen to it gobble. We loved watching the bird fluff up and expand its wings like a fan. It was also funny to watch how he would spring his red nose.

Many years of our childhood were spent watching one turkey or another grow up in our house, but we also noticed that our family turkey always disappeared one day before Christmas.

I later learned that my mother had a way of fattening up the turkey with a special diet to make its meat more tender. For several weeks, as my mother tells me, the turkey was fed corn, nuts and hazelnuts. The day before Christmas dinner, she gave it a few glasses of brandy so that the meat would be even more tender and would have a more delicate taste.

When we discovered the sad reality of the turkey’s fate, my mother, amid our pleas and anger, had to abandon her practice. She never again tried to fatten a turkey for Christmas; instead, she started buying a frozen turkey at the supermarket--one, at least, that we did not know on a first-name basis.

Another Christmas preparation involved a trip to Mexico City in search of dried cod, which was usually imported from Norway or Spain. It was really fun visiting the stores in downtown Mexico City because they still had a flavor of the small-town ones in Spain, not to mention the delicious food that would arrive from all parts of the world.

In Mexico, it was difficult to find imported products, and that made them expensive. My mother would take advantage of the trip by buying nougat-like Spanish turrones, the turron of Gijon and Alicante--my favorite one--mazapanes, dried fruit, olive oil that my mother used for the cod, olives stuffed with pimientos and mild chilacas or chiles gueros, as well as candies and nuts of Castille.

The next step was buying a Christmas tree, usually one imported from Canada or the United States. When the trees arrived in our neighborhood, we had to buy one immediately because they sold out quickly. Every year, my father come home with a big, fluffy one. Although our home had high ceilings, sometimes he had to cut the top so that the star of Bethlehem would fit.

The Anglo-Saxon tradition of having a Christmas tree has long been a part of our family. But most homes in Mexico had no Christmas trees and were decorated instead with nativity scenes that had clay figures of the Baby Jesus, Mary, Joseph and the Three Wise Men. I still remember the nativity scenes at Tono and Leo Hernandez’ home, because they were so elaborate and the pieces would occupy half of the living room.

Another crucial element of our Christmas dinner was the romeritos (a salad herb that looks like rosemary, but doesn’t taste like it), which my mother bought at the market to make little shrimp cakes in a mole sauce that is called revoltijo. This delicious dish, also enjoyed at Easter, is little known even in some parts of Mexico and is not a traditional part of the Christmas meal. It is labor-intensive, complicated and time-consuming to make, because you must clean the romeritos and make the mole.

Just before the dinner, my mother always cut fresh poinsettias. Cuernavaca’s gardens are famous for their beauty and the tremendous variety of plants. During Christmas, they are even more beautiful because of all the blooming noche buenas. The flowers, by the way, were exported by U.S. Ambassador Joel Poinsett--hence the American name poinsettias.

When I married 25 years ago, my family joined my husband’s each Christmas, and our traditions grew together. My mother would make her famous bacalao. My mother-in-law would prepare a delicious turkey. The romeritos would always be cooked at my mother’s home, and I would prepare the simplest dish--the broth. I was also in charge of the desserts and decorations. I also set the table, for 30 people, and that was time-consuming, but I remember those days fondly. The rest of the family would chip in to buy the wine and Champagne.

Today in Los Angeles, our menu has remained the same. I make the broth and the bacalao every year, and my husband prepares the turkey. My mother sends us revoltijo from home; the turrones we buy, along with the bacalao, from Dona Juana at the La Espanola store in Lomita. We still decorate our home with a Christmas tree and poinsettias.

Although it has been some years since the families have been together during the holidays, our family calls the rest of the clan in Mexico every Christmas Eve, and we continue to follow the tradition I remember from my childhood.

And even now, living in the United States, for us there are no white Christmases.

BACALAO A LA VIZCAINA

Salt cod needs to soak in several changes of water for 48 hours before it’s cooked, so allow plenty of time to make the dish. It’s worth the wait.

2 pounds dried salt cod

4 pounds tomatoes

1 bunch parsley

4 large onions

3 cloves garlic

1 1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons olive oil

1/4 cup tomato paste

1 pound small potatoes, peeled

1 1/2 cups pimento-stuffed green olives

6 to 8 chiles gueros (chilacas) or Italian chiles in escabeche

Salt, optional

Place cod in pot of water to cover at least 48 hours before cooking. Change water several times throughout days to clean salt from cod.

Crumble soaked cod and set aside.

Heat comal or griddle and toast tomatoes until blackened. Place in paper bag to cool and allow skin to loosen, then peel.

Place tomatoes, parsley, 1 onion and 1 clove garlic into blender or food processor and puree until smooth.

Chop remaining onion and garlic to fine dice. Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in large heavy saucepan over low heat, add onion and garlic and cook until soft. Add tomato puree and tomato paste and bring to a simmer. Add crumbled cod, potatoes and remaining olive oil and let it cook 45 minutes to 1 hour. Taste and add salt if needed. Be sure potatoes are cooked through. Place in serving dish and garnish with olives and chiles gueros.

Makes 8 servings.

Each serving contains about:

838 calories; 1,923 mg sodium; 151 mg cholesterol; 50 grams fat; 32 grams carbohydrates; 68 grams protein; 3.14 grams fiber.

SHRIMP CAKES WITH MOLE (Revoltijo)

ROMERITOS AND MOLE

3/4 pounds clean romeritos or nopales (cactus paddles)

Water

3 cloves garlic

1/4 onion

Salt

8 ancho chiles

3 mulato chiles

2 pasilla chiles

1 slice white bread, toasted

1 corn tortilla

3 teaspoons sesame seeds

Oil

2 cups chicken broth

1/2 pound small potatoes

Clean and cut roots of romeritos or clean cactus paddles and cut into strips. Place in water to cover with 1 clove garlic, onion and salt to taste. Bring to boil, then simmer until barely tender, about 7 minutes. Remove and cut in small pieces. Set aside.

Heat comal or griddle and toast ancho, mulato and pasilla chiles until blackened. Place in paper bag to cool and allow skin to loosen, then peel chiles and place in hot water. Set aside.

Place toasted bread, tortilla, remaining 2 cloves garlic and sesame seeds in blender or food processor and puree into paste.

Heat oil for frying, 1 to 2 tablespoons, in frying pan, add paste and heat through, about 5 minutes. Set aside.

Place chiles in blender or food processor and puree into paste.

Heat oil for frying, 1 to tablespoons, in frying pan, add chile paste and heat through about 5 minutes. Add bread-garlic paste, stir into chile paste and fry about 2 more minutes. Add chicken broth and 2 cups water and bring sauce to a boil. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until mole sauce thickens, about 15 minutes.

Peel potatoes and cut in halves.

Put reserved romeritos or cactus strips, mole and potatoes in large heavy saucepan over medium heat and cook until flavorful, about 20 minutes.

DRIED SHRIMP PANCAKES (Tortitas de Camaron)

1/2 cup dried shrimp

1 small piece stale bread

4 eggs

Salt

1 cup bread crumbs

Oil

Freshly ground black pepper

Peel and clean dried shrimp.

Place dried shrimp and stale bread in blender or food processor and puree until smooth. Set aside.

Separate eggs. Beat egg whites until stiff, but not too dry. Add 1/4 teaspoon salt and egg yolks 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add shrimp puree and bread crumbs and mix well.

Heat oil for frying, about 3 to 4 tablespoons, in frying pan. Carefully drop shrimp batter, 1 tablespoon at a time, in hot oil and fry until brown, turning to cook each side of pancake. Remove from oil and drain on paper towel.

Serve Romeritos and Mole over Shrimp Pancakes.

Makes 6 to 8 servings.

Each serving contains about:

375 calories; 697 mg sodium; 157 mg cholesterol; 20 grams fat; 37 grams carbohydrates; 14 grams protein; 1.52 grams fiber.