EVOO shines at the Michelin-starred chef’s traditional Christmas Eve dinner

EVOO shines at the traditional Christmas Eve dinner

Periko Ortega worked in two Michelin-starred restaurants before opening his own, ReComienda, and EVOO shines at the Michelin-starred chef’s traditional Christmas Eve dinner. In fact, chefs in France also use extra virgin olive oil in their Christmas dinners.

The Christmas season is fast approaching in Spain as the country effectively shuts down from December 24th to January 6th. On the night of the 24th, known as Christmas Eve, many Spaniards and residents in Spain will gather with family and friends to celebrate the event with a lavish dinner. Celebrations typically begin at 9 a.m. and last until the early hours of the morning.

Christmas Eve is different in every home. But extra virgin olive oil is always present. Periko Ortega, the award-winning chef of ReComiendo, one of the highest-rated restaurants in Spain and Europe, comments: “For me, the preparation is done the same day. I get up early and prepare the meal, spending the whole day in the kitchen with the family cooking and tasting the food.” Born in Jaén, the heart of Spain’s olive-growing country, extra virgin olive oil has always been an integral part of Ortega’s life and features as the star ingredient in almost all of his Christmas Eve dishes. “At Christmas dinner too, extra virgin olive oil is the best appetizer.” Along with a traditional hors d’oeuvres plate, a variety of cured meats and cheeses, Ortega serves bread to dip in fresh extra virgin olive oil. The type of oil Ortega uses for this purpose depends entirely on the previous month’s harvest. This year, he’ll use a blend of Hojiblanca and Picuda to dip the bread. However, in previous years, he’s used Picual and Arbequina. Traditional wisdom surrounding cooking with olive oil recommends using fresh extra virgin olive oil to dip bread and drizzle salads, while reserving last year’s oils for sautéing, baking, and roasting. However, Ortega uses only freshly squeezed extra virgin olive oil in all his meal preparations and in his restaurant.

Extra Virgin Olive Oil Parmentier
This year, for a first course, we’ll have an extra virgin olive oil parmentier. It’s made with just two ingredients: potatoes and extra virgin olive oil. Potato Parmentier takes its name from Antoine-Augustin Parmentier, a French nutritionist who eventually convinced Napoleon Bonaparte to end his ban on potato cultivation in France.

The dish is similar to mashed potatoes and can be eaten as a side dish or as a garnish for others at the Christmas Eve table.

Preparation

After baking the potatoes for an hour and blending them in a blender, add 10% Picual extra virgin olive oil, salt, and pepper. The Picual because it is a strong extra virgin olive oil, a bit spicy and bitter. This year, she plans to serve her potato parmentier with foie gras or egg fourchette.

“For the main course, we have wild sea bass slow-cooked in Hojiblanca extra virgin olive oil.” Hojiblanca sauce smells like freshly cut grass, is spicy, and the flavor pairs perfectly with sea bass. Place the sea bass in the pan before generously coating the fish with extra virgin olive oil and sautéing it for seven minutes at 65°C.

Iberian pork tenderloin is a low-fat, high-protein cut of meat from the part of the pig between the lower ribs and the loin. Ortega has a three-step method for preparing this classic dish. First, he roasts the pork for 45 minutes at 54°C (133°F) before removing the meat from the oven and placing it in a vacuum-sealed loin with Cornicabra oil, chili pepper, and a little salt.

“For the pork, we need an extra-virgin olive oil with a strong flavor, and I use Cornicabra because it’s more bitter. With milder varieties like Arbequina, the olive oil’s flavor is lost.” Once the meat is sealed in the bag, Ortega bakes the pork for another 45 minutes at 54°C (133°F). Once it’s out of the oven, he roasts the pork with a blowtorch until the skin is crispy.

Chef Periko Ortega also plans to serve sweet potatoes roasted in extra-virgin olive oil with the Iberian pork loin. He usually adds the sweet potatoes to the vacuum-sealed back so the flavor of the olive oil can penetrate. olive, pork, and potato are mixed.

ElsewhereIn most parts of the country, especially in central Spain, the traditional Christmas Eve dinner includes roast lamb instead of Iberian pork tenderloin. This dish should be prepared in a similar way with a strong extra virgin olive oil, again to prevent the lamb’s flavor from overpowering the olive oil.

Christmas Eve is different in every home, but extra virgin olive oil is always present.