While in English-speaking countries celebrate
Halloween, in Catalonia on the 31st October and 1st November is ‘La
Castanyada’ and we eat panellets,
which both fall under the celebration of ‘Tots Sants’ or ‘All Saints Day’.
In Catalan, ‘castanya’ is a chestnut, and ‘castanyada’, means ‘eating
chestnuts’, really original as you can see… So it consists in cooking and
eating chestnuts mainly. Traditionally, the official date of this tradition is
on the night of the 31st October, but you can do ‘Castanyades’ all autumn long,
until chestnuts' season finishes.
On ‘Tots
Sants’, 1st of November, traditionally was a feast in honour of saints and dead
ancestors and the day families visit cemeteries and graves of their loved ones.
This last activities is still done but now the day is more a seasonal
celebration of autumn. This day- and not only this day- we eat a sweet thing
called ‘panellets’. The word might come from ‘pa’ (bread) but ‘panellets’ are
sweet and do not bear any relationship with bread: they are in fact marzipan
balls coated with pine kernels or smashed almonds.
HOW TO COOK
THE CHESTNUSTS:
You can
cook chestnuts in many ways -in the oven, on a pan in the cooker, etc. - but the
best way to cook them is in a special pan with holes in it on a fireplace (or
barbecue) using a herb called ‘palla de vesc’ which you gather on paths'
borders. To properly cook them this way, you have to make a deep cut on
the chestnut's peel so they do not explode and place them in a bowl of water
for a while. Then, you put the chestnuts on the special pan on the fire with some
of the herbs. As the herbs burn, you add more and keep moving the chestnuts.
After about 30-45 min they will be all black outside and cooked. Finally, you
place them on a piece of cloth for a while and eat them, opening them by the
cut. But be careful because they burn!
HOW TO MAKE
‘PANELLETS’:
To make panellets' dough we need the following ingredients:
almond flour, sugar and eggs).
Elaborating the dough:
- Separate the eggs' yolk from the white.
- Whisk the eggs' white until they look like foam.
- With the sugar and a little bit of water, prepare some sugar syrup.
- Keep a little bit
of syrup and mix it with the yolks.
- Mix the rest of syrup with the almond flour.
- Add the eggs' whisk to the mixture and mix again.
- Take the yolk-syrup and add it to the mixture, keeping a
little bit for later on.
- Mix until the dough is homogenous and leave it rest 60-90
min.
Coating the panellets:
- After the dough has rested, we can proceed with coating the dough.
- On different dishes, spread pine kernels, almonds and smashed almonds.
- Take small chunks of dough and make little balls with them.
- Coat the balls with the nuts.
Creativity is allowed and panellets can be coated with
coconut, or filled with quince jelly or mixed with hot chocolate to create
chocolate panellets. You can do panellets of whatever you like (or think you
will like)
Cooking the panellets:
- The oven must be heated some minutes before placing the panellets.
- Panellets must be placed on an oven plate, in which we need to spread some
butter to avoid panellets from sticking on the plate.
Once all panellets are placed on the plate(s), and just before cooking
them, take the rest of syrup-yolk you left aside and, with a spoon, put some of
the mixture on top of every panellet
- Place the plate full of panellets into the oven. Cook them
for about 10 min at a temperature of 180ºC - the best thing you can do is keep
an eye to them and take them out of the oven when the yolk on top is a bit
brown).
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Mientras en
países anglosajones celebran Halloween, en Cataluña el 31 de octubre es ‘La
Castanyada’ y se comen ‘panellets’y el 1 de noviembre es el día de Todos los
Santos.
Aunque la
tradición nos dice que cuando tenemos que asar y comer castañas es la noche del
31 de octubre, durante todo el otoño podemos disfrutar de ellas.
El día 1 de
noviembre, tradicionalmente era una fiesta en honor a los santos y antepasados
en la cual las familias visitaban los cementerios. Esto último, se sigue
haciendo, pero ahora se celebra la llegada del otoño. Y durante toda esta
estación, en Cataluña se comen los ‘panellets’, que son bolitas dulces las cuales
puedes decorar con piñones, almendra o incluso chocolate.
¿CÓMO ASAR CASTAÑAS?
Se pueden asar
castañas de muchas maneras, pero la típica aquí es en sartenes especiales con
agujeros que se colocan encima del fuego y colocas unas hierbas llamadas ‘palla
de vesc’. Para que se cocinen bien, haz un corte en la castaña, añade las
hierbas y sigue añadiendo a medida que vas asando las castañas.
Cuando estén bien
hechas, haces un cucurucho con papel de periódico, pones las castañas y listo.
¡Pero vigila que queman!
¿CÓMO HACER “PANELLETS”?
Ingredientes: harina de almendra, azúcar y huevos
Para la masa:
-Separa la clara
del huevo de la yema.
-Bate los huevos,
hasta quedar un color uniforme.
-Con el azúcar y
un poco de agua, a parte, preparas una especie de sirope.
-Con un poco de
este sirope, mézclalo con las yemas de los huevos.
-Mezcla lo que te
ha quedado del sirope con harina de almendra.
-Añade la clara
de los huevos y sigue mezclando hasta que queda una pasta homogénea i déjala
reposar unos 60-90 minutos.
Decorar los panellets:
-Después de que
la masa repose, vamos a decorar los panellets.
-En diferentes
recipientes, pon piñones, almendras o lo que tú quieras usar para
complementarlos.
-Coge con la mano
pequeños trozos de la masa y haz bolitas no muy grandes.
Panellets al
horno:
-El horno debe
ponerse a calentar un poco antes.
-Los panellets
debes ponerlos en una bandeja en la que tienes que poner mantequilla para
evitar que se peguen.
-Antes de
meterlos en el horno, con un pinzel hecha por encima las yemas de los huevos
que han sobrado.
-Pon la bandeja
en el horno y dejala unos 10 minutos a una temperatura de 180ºC.
¡Verás que buenos
están!
