Catalan Christmas Stock Recipe (Catalan escudella and carn d’olla)

The Catalan Christmas broth is a preparation known in its region of origin as escudella catalana i carn d’olla, because although it is cooked all together, when it comes to serving it, put all the vegetables and cooked meats on one side and on the other, all the broth with its condiments.

We know that in each house a different homemade Christmas broth is made, so the one that we are going to teach you to make is the typical one to prepare a good Christmas soup with ball, which is nothing more than a ball of minced meat from Spiced pork and beef meatball-like that is to die for. Try this Catalan stew and tell us if you liked it!

Ingredients to make Catalan Christmas Stock (escudella catalana i carn d’olla):

• For the easy broth or escudella:
• 1 onion
• 1 leek
• 1 stick of celery
• 1 pig’s ear
• 1 pork foot
• 4 chicken wings
• 2 chicken breasts with carcass
• 3 carrots
• water to cover
• 1 tablespoon food coloring
• 1 can of chickpeas
• 7 potatoes
• For the minced meat balls:
• 4 garlic
• bread crumbs
• 2 eggs
• 1 pinch of salt
• 1 pinch of ground black pepper
• 1 handful of flour
• 500 grams of minced pork
• 500 grams of minced beef

How to make Catalan Christmas Stock (escudella catalana i carn d’olla):

1. Clean the vegetables of the easy escudella recipe: to do this, peel the carrots and the onion and wash them well together with the celery and the leek.
2. Tip: You can also put turnip, parsnip or other vegetables in your Catalan Christmas broth.
3. At the same time, wash all the pieces of meat well (except the ground pork and beef, which are for the broth balls), and place them in a pot taller than wide with cold water to cover.
4. Trick: If we see that later we need more water for the Catalan stew, we will add it.
5. Add the cleaned vegetables to the pot, add a handful of salt, raise the heat to maximum and put the lid on so that the water begins to boil. Once it boils, let the homemade Christmas broth simmer for about 2 hours.
6. While the Catalan escudella is being made, make the balls for the broth: to do this, peel and chop the garlic finely and in a bowl add the minced pork and beef, with the minced garlic, the eggs, a pinch of pepper and salt to taste, and stir everything well to integrate the ingredients.
7. Next, add a handful of breadcrumbs to give consistency to the balls of minced meat and thus be able to form them, but do not overdo it, because otherwise they will come out very compact. Now, divide the mixture into several portions depending on the balls you want to make for the Catalan Christmas broth (in my case there are 3) and shape them into rugby balls with your hands. Reserve them coated in a little flour so they don’t stick together.
8. When the Catalan escudella has been boiling for about an hour, add the food coloring and let it continue cooking. In this way the homemade broth will have a nice yellow color.
9. When there are 40 minutes left before the Catalan stew is finished, add the meatballs to the pot and let them all cook together, because the cooking time of the ball in the broth is approximately 40 minutes, but it all depends on the thickness of the same.
10. Meanwhile, peel and cut the potatoes into large chunks.
11. Tip: If you crack them directly in the pot of the escudella, the broth with balls will thicken too much due to the action of the starch.
12. When there are 20 minutes left to finish cooking, add the chopped potatoes and let them all finish cooking at the same time.
13. Once the Catalan Christmas broth is finished and following the traditional way of serving it, on the one hand and with the help of a slotted spoon, set aside the meat, potatoes and vegetables and place them on a tray; and on the other hand, rectify the flavor broth and strain it so that there are no impurities and it is very clear.