Escudella

Escudella means "bowl," and it is the name of a large stew-soup served for Christmas in Catalonia, escudella I carn d'olla. The rustic flavor of this stew comes from the bones and feet, whose gelatin adds an unctuousness to the meal, as well as the rough vegetables that were common in the slopes and hills.

Every family will make it a bit differently, perhaps with spaghetti, cabbage, white beans, chickpeas, or other winter vegetables like turnips. The family escudella was not quite as great tasting as this recipe and was most likely eaten from a single bowl because they were too poor to have individual bowls. Escudella, like cocido in Andalusia or ouillade in Roussillon in the French section of Catalonia, is a hearty one-pot dinner. Its preparation in Catalonia is noteworthy enough for Colman Andrews, a keen student of Catalan cuisine, to dub it the ur-Catalan specialty. The eminent Catalan gastronome Joseph Pla once observed that a fine escudella made the traditional way is now worth a lot.

When you taste this escudella, you'll understand why it's a beloved cold-weather dish: it has great, distinctive tastes that are both soul and stomach warming. By the way, all those feet and bones in the stew are needed for a true and full flavor, and while stores are becoming more cognizant of the needs of traditional cooks and may stock them, you will almost certainly need to make a special trip to a butcher.

Ingredients

• 2 chicken feet, skinned or 1 chicken neck, 1 chicken gizzard, 1 lamb foot and ankle, 1 1/3 pounds lamb shank, 1 ham bone (about 2 pounds) or 1/ 4-pound piece ham with its fat, 2 pounds beef or pork marrow (soup) bones, 5 quarts water, 1 slice stale French bread, crust removed, 1 large egg, beaten, 1/2 pound ground pork, 1/2 pound botifarra , casing removed and meat crumbled, 2 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped, 1/4 cup finely chopped fresh parsley leaves, Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste, 1/4 cup fresh bread crumbs, if needed, 1 potato (about 1/ 2 pound), peeled and cut into chunks, 1 carrot, cut up, 1 pound Swiss chard, stems removed and leaves chopped, Flour for dredging, Fideos pasta or rice

Instructions

• In a large pot on the stove, heat some olive oil. Roll the ground pork into meatballs and cook in oil for about 5 minutes.
• Dice the ham, then put the ham, sausage, chicken, and bones into the pot with about 9 cups of water. The entire chicken breast can be placed in the water at once, as it will cook so much that it will easily shred itself.
• Bring the water to a boil, then reduce the heat and let the soup simmer on the stove for two hours.
• Remove the bones and then bring the rest of the liquid back to a boil.
• Add in the rest of the ingredients (chickpeas, white beans, cabbage, prosciutto, peas, potatoes, rice, noodles, salt, pepper, and cumin).
• Cook for another 30 minutes until all of the ingredients are cooked through (including the potatoes and the rice).