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La Comida de Semana Santa
La Semana Santa es la conmemoración de la Pasión, la Muerte y la Resurrección de Jesús.
Holy Week is the commemoration of the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus.
Comienza con el Domingo de Ramos y termina con el Domingo de Resurrección.
It begins with Palm Sunday and ends with Easter Day.
Durante el Jueves Santo y el Viernes Santo los españoles preparan platos de verduras y pescado.
El pescado y las verduras son los alimentos que más se consumen en estos días.
During Holy Thursday and Good Friday, Spanish people prepare dishes of vegetables and fish.
Fish and vegetables are the most consumed foods during these days.
Evitan platos que contengan cualquier tipo de carne porque la carne representa el cuerpo de Jesús en la Cruz.
They avoid dishes that may contain any type of meat because meat represents the body of Jesus on the Cross.
Estos son algunos platos y alimentos típicos de la Semana Santa en España:....
La sopa de ajo:
Its name literally means 'soup of garlic.' It is made from el agua -water, el ajo - garlic, el pan del día anterior - any left over bread, el pimentón - paprika, el aceite de oliva - olive oil and los huevos - eggs.
The chopped garlic, paprika and olive oil are lightly cooked together. The water and dry bread are added. The bread gradually expands and absorbs all the flavours. Finally, eggs are cracked open into the saucepan and gently left to cook in the soup (like poached eggs).
La sopa de ajo is an excellent way to make use of bread that is slightly stale.
This bread is referred to as el pan del día anterior - bread from the day before.
El potaje de vigilia:
This is a stew made from los garbanzos - chickpeas, el bacalao - cod and las espinacas -spinach. It is also known as el potaje de garbanzos and is served with slices of huevo cocido - hard-boiled egg on top.
It is most commonly eaten on the Fridays during la Cuaresma - Lent and el Viernes Santo - Good Friday.
Los buñuelos de bacalao:
The name literally means 'doughnuts of cod.' They are deep-fried fish fritters made from el bacalao triturado - shredded cod, la harina - flour, el ajo - garlic and el perejil - parsley.
They are eaten throughout Lent and Holy Week.
Las patatas viudas: The name literally means 'widow potatoes.' They have this name because the potatoes are 'on their own, without a partner to accompany them.' In other words, they are served as a single dish eaten on its own, without the accompaniment of la carne - meat or el pescado - fish.
It is a stew made from las patatas - potatoes, el aceite de oliva - olive oil, el agua - water, el perejil - parsley, la cebolla - onion, el azafrán - saffron and el ajo - garlic.
There is also el arroz viudo - widowed rice. This is rice prepared with only vegetables. It is not accompanied by any fish or meat.
Las torrijas are thick slices of bread, soaked in la leche - milk and el huevo batido - beaten egg, fried in olive oil and served sprinkled with el azúcar - sugar or la miel - honey.
Las torrijas are popular throughout Spain during la Semana Santa.
Los pestiños are little fritters. A flour mixture prepared with canela (cinnamon) and ralladura de naranja (orange peel) is shaped into individual pieces that are deep-fried in olive oil then sprinkled with miel - honey or azúcar - sugar.
El ajonjolí - sesame - is often added to the flour mixture.
La leche frita literally means 'fried milk.' It is a mixture of leche (milk), harina (flour), azúcar (sugar), huevo (egg) and canela (cinnamon) that is heated until it thickens.
The thickened mixture is sliced into portions then fried and dusted with sugar.
Las rosquillas de Semana Santa are Easter doughnuts, popular during Holy Week.
Las flores de Semana Santa are flower-shaped fritters.
All the fritters and fried desserts mentioned above - las torrijas, los pestiños, la leche frita, las rosquillas and las flores - belong to a category of food called las frutas de sartén. This name literally means 'fruits of the frying pan.'
In Spain, Holy Week is a time of solemn processions and commemorating the events leading up to and including the Crucifixion of Jesus, but on Easter Day (el Domingo de Resurrección) and Easter Monday - el Lunes de Pascua - it is a time of happiness!
On Easter Day, the Resurrection of Jesus is celebrated and it is the tradition to eat el cordero - lamb.
El hornazo is a pie filled with meat such as chorizo, salami, jamón (ham) and huevos (eggs). There is also a sweet version, with the pie crust sprinkled with sugar! It is traditionally eaten in the area of Salamanca on the Monday one week after Easter.
This Monday shortly after Easter is known as el Lunes de Aguas - 'Monday of Waters'. The 'waters' refer to the river Tormes. People sit merrily on the banks of the river, having picnics and eating el hornazo after the solemnity of Holy Week.
Photo: el hornazo filled with meat and egg. There is also a sweet version - el hornazo dulce - which has sweet pastry with the same meat and egg filling!
A popular Easter cake of celebration is called la mona de Pascua. It is particularly popular in the areas of Cataluña, Aragón, Murcia, Valencia and Castilla-La Mancha. It is decorated with coloured feathers (plumas) and big chocolate eggs or figurines.
Cake shops often compete to see who can make the most impressive monas to place in their shop windows! Nowadays, las monas can be so ambitious and wonderful, that they even talk about them on the television news! Some monas look like sculptures carved out of chocolate.
¡Ñam ñam! ¡Me gusta el chocolate!
Fotos: unas monas de Pascua con huevos de chocolate, plumas, caramelos y pollitos.
Photos: monas de Pascua with chocolate eggs, feathers, sweets and chicks.
Un padrino regala una mona a su ahijado.
Traditionally, godparents give una mona to their godchildren as a gift to be eaten on el Lunes de Pascua - Easter Monday. This is the day following Easter Day - el lunes siguiente al Domingo de Resurrección.
If you live in an area where it is the tradition to eat la mona, then Easter Monday is also known as el día de la mona.
This picture is from an old Spanish magazine (around the year 1866). It shows a godfather (un padrino) giving una mona to his godchild.
The picture shows the original form of una mona which is a type of brioche base holding hard-boiled eggs.
The amount of eggs on una mona represents the age of the godson (el ahijado) or the goddaughter (la ahijada).
The photo below shows a traditional version of la mona de Pascua, with hard-boiled eggs - los huevos cocidos. There is una cruz - a cross - made from pastry positioned over each egg.
¡Vamos a comer la mona! Which version of la mona would YOU prefer? The old-fashioned, traditional version with hard-boiled eggs or the one including chocolate eggs?
¿Cuál te gusta más?
Escoge una respuesta:
1. Yo prefiero la mona de Pascua con huevos de chocolate.
2. Yo prefiero la mona de Pascua con huevos cocidos.
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