Well-Seasoned
Greetings: Christmas Feasts from Poland, Mexico, and France by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget
This
column about Christmas that I wrote for the Monterey County Weekly (Circulation: 200,000) shows that having
many ways to celebrate Christmas makes the holiday merrier. This article contains information about
holiday celebrations from Poland, Mexico, and France that I have celebrated
throughout my life:
Well-Seasoned
Greetings: Christmas Feasts Feed Both
the Body and Soul by Ruth Paget (Monterey County Weekly – Circulation: 200,000)
Eating
messy krushchiki and listening to mystic kolendy, Polish carols, in the home of
my mother’s best friend whose ancestors were Polish always made me feel the
magic of Christmas as a child.
Polish
“angel wings” – a twisted, deep-fried cookie liberally sprinkled with powdered
sugar along with the Polish carols were the heart of the festivities.
Sometimes
before we ate, our hostess would break an oplatek into pieces and share the
flour wafer with everyone as a sign of peace.
We
ate spiral-cut ham for dinner with gourmet additions like veal pâté flavored
with cognace. This early glimpse into
Slavic culture set me on the path to becoming a global gourmet.
Later
in high school, my best friend and I would debate whether or not to actually
bake the pecan dough for Russian (also Mexican) teacakes that we made.
My
high school buddy and I also purposely added too many chocolate chips to
cookies, so they would bake into ovals of delicious, warm goop.
I
also exchanged cookies with a Mexican high school friend, whose mother made
empanadas, pumpkin turnovers flavored with anise. I liked the way she folded dough to make a
beautiful, scalloped edge for this Christmas Eve treat.
The
French, like the Mexicans, traditionally celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve,
as I discovered when I married into a French family. On my first Christmas in France, we attended
midnight mass and got ready for an “all nighter” at the dinner table.
Hors
d’oeuvres appeared on after the other:
-smoked
salmon
-rillettes
(pork cooked and preserved in its own fat, resulting in a salty, creamy spread
-foie
gras
Next,
we had an entrée of monkfish tail in a dish called lotte à l’américain. This recipe is of Basque origin, but is
dubbed American, because sweet, red peppers and tomatoes are used to make it.
Both
peppers and tomatoes originated in the Americas. Other ingredients in the sauce included olive
oil, garlic, onions, white wine, and Armagnac.
I thought this dish tasted wonderful.
I
was ready to crawl under the table and go to sleep after this dish, but, then
Uncle Jacques entered the dining room carrying a yard-long platter holding slices
of salmon terrine with a spinach topping he had prepared.
He
decorated this sliced, terrine dish with lemon slice sails and pastry shells
made of puff pastry. The whole
presentation looked like a Mediterranean galley.
After
the terrine, we ate slices of chèvre goat cheese on toasted baguette.
Dessert
was a chocolate cake called a büche de Noël followed by espresso.
The
dinner party broke up at 6 am, but we were expected back at noon for another
meal.
We
began our “light” meal with raw oysters, another salmon terrine, roast turkey
with chestnuts, and homemade chocolates.
Between
courses during both meals, we sang carols and listened to my brother-in-law
play the piano and papie (French grandpa) play the violin. We made toasts going around the table, askng
for “nouvelles” – news to report.
My
pleas for water garnered me a round of Gallic scoffing.
“Water
if for fish and flowers,” I was told.
“I
don’t want to spread tipsy tales,” I responded and coffee quickly appeared.
By
Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
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