17 Soups And Creams For Christmas: The Best Recipes For A Comforting Starter

Although the stars of Christmas are always meat and fish, any party dinner worth its salt should have a good spoonful among its ranks.

A soup or cream is the perfect starter: comforting, but not as filling as other first courses; and, as Juan de Pablo’s would say, it is the ideal instrument to separate phases.

Depending on the region, it is traditional to serve a consommé at Christmas, but also more complete soups, such as the typical picadillo or fish. But there is no reason for us to innovate with other spoon dishes that, leaving aside the vegetables that fill up too much, can give the bell.

These are the best Christmas soups and creams from Director al Paladar, starting with the most classic and ending with the most original:

1. Christmas consommé

Ingredients
For 6 people
Black pudding
500 g
Hambone or tip
one
Calf knee bone
one
Salted pork backbone bones
Hen
500 g
Veal skirt
300 g
Carrot
two
Leek
one
Potato
one
Water
2 l
How to make a Christmas bouillon
Difficulty: Medium
Total time
2 h 17 min
Elaboration
17 m
Cooking
2 h
Repose
1 hr

The process begins by preparing a broth, cooking the ham and beef bones, the veal, the chicken, and the vegetables in 3 liters of cold water. In the beginning, to help reach temperature, we can do it with the lid of the saucepan on but as soon as it starts to boil, we will lower the heat and remove them from his saucepan. It is important to cook the broth over very low heat, just at the cooking limit so that it boils without making many spurts. In this way, the broth will not be cloudy but transparent.

At first, the boys and meats will release their foam and impurities that we will with a saucepan. The total cooking time is similar to that of stew or other meat broths, around two hours doing it very slowly. I do not recommend doing it in this case in the express pot as it is much cloudier and then you will have to clarify it.

When both are finished, and all the meat has left its flavor in the water, we remove the solid ingredient and strain the broth with a very fine strainer so that no impurities pass through. Then we degrease it, letting it cool down to remove the layer of fat that will solidify on the surface. Then we reduce the broth in a saucepan so that it is consumed until it is half its volume, being ready to taste. That’s when we taste it and rectify the salt since if we added it at the beginning when reducing the consommé, it would be salty. Then we degrease it, letting it cool down to remove the layer of fat that will solidify on the surface.

Then we reduce the broth in a saucepan so that it is consumed until it is half its volume, being ready to taste. That’s when we taste it and rectify the salt since if we added it at the beginning when reducing the consommé, it would be salty. We remove the solid ingredient and strain the broth with a slice of cheese or a very fine strainer so that no impurities pass through. Then we degrease it, letting it cool down to remove the layer of fat that will solidify on the surface. Then we reduce the broth in a saucepan so that it is consumed until it is half its volume, being ready to taste. That’s when we taste it and rectify the salt since if we added it when reducing the consommés, it would be salty.

2. Fish soup

Ingredients for 4 people: 1.5 l of fish broth or stock, 20 raw prawns, 350 g of clams, 700 g of white fish, 1 small spring onion, 1 small leek, 1 small celery, 1 medium carrot, 15 ml of chorizo , or Sonora pepper pulp, 1 bay leaf, half a teaspoon of sweet paprika, hot paprika to taste, a pinch of saffron, 120 ml of Pedro Ximenes, ground black pepper, fresh parsley to taste, dried thyme (optional), salt, oil of extra virgin olive.

3. Elaboration:

If we already have homemade stock, we can save ourselves the step of doing it. Otherwise, improvising a bit quickly, taking advantage of the prawn heads and shells, and the heads or bones of the fish -if there are any-, we will be much better than a mediocre industrial broth. The first thing is to soak the clams in cold water.

Then I recommend preparing the vegetables; wash the carrots, leek, and celery, peel lightly and chop them into very fine pieces together with the chives and leeks. Remove the pulp from the chorizo or Señora pepper in case we don’t have reserves – I always have small portions in the freezer. Take advantage of the remains of the vegetables for the broth. Peel the prawns on a saucepan that collects the juices, reserving the clean bodies separately. Put two or three tablespoons of olive oil to heat and add the bodies of the prawns and, if we have, the head or fish bones. Lightly salt and pepper and sauté over high heat, letting it grip the bottom a bit. Cover with water, approximately a little less than two liters.

Bring to a boil and lower the heat; cook for about 20 minutes. Strain and reserve. In the same clean pot or another casserole, heat a little oil and add the vegetables. Lightly salt and pepper, add the bay leaf and the pepper pulp. Sauté for about 8 minutes. Add the paprika and saffron, stir very well and drizzle with the wine. When the alcohol evaporates, cover with a liter of broth and cook for 10 minutes. Blend with the mixer to undo most of the vegetables, which will thicken them. Add the clean and chopped fish; after 5 minutes, also add the prawns. When they begin to take color, add the clams well-drained and rinsed, cover, and wait for them to open. If necessary, we can add more broth. Remove the bay leaf, add to the point of salt and serve hot. Give a hit of freshly ground pepper and add parsley, dill, or thyme to taste.

Link to the recipe | Fish soup: the recipe for a classic that never disappoints

Ingredients for 4 people: 30 ml of extra virgin olive oil, 40 g of butter, 2 chives, 1 clove of garlic, 200 g of prawns, 200 g of prawns, 200 g of prawns, 25 g of concentrated tomato, 50 g brandy, 1 l of fish stock or stock, 150 ml of liquid cooking cream, salt to taste, ground black pepper to taste.

4. Seafood cream

Elaboration: In a saucepan, heat the tablespoon of oil and butter over medium-high heat. While we cut the onion into small pieces, finely chop the garlic and sauté them for about 10 minutes, stirring from time to time. Add the prawns, prawns, and prawns without peeling and with head and lightly fry them. Other, we add the spoonful of concentrated tomatoes and then the brandy, letting it for about five minutes. Add the water, and a little salt and let everything boil for about 35 minutes. We remove from the heat, we crush the contents of the casserole with the heads and skins of the shellfish with a powerful mixer or a food processor, and we go through the Chinese, a very important step so that a very fine cream is left. We put the resulting cream back in the pan, add the cream, and mix well. We check the salt points, and we salt again it was necessary. We serve very hotly.