Sopa de Galet

Sopa de Galet is a deliciously rich soup Catalans eat for Christmas Eve dinner.

It's not typically served in restaurants because of course, your mother already made it for you for Christmas Eve dinner.

In other words, if I wanted to try this soup, I had to make it myself.  And so I did.

And you can too, if you can find galets - large, snail-shell shaped pasta. I'd put money on global capitalism that both Berkeley Bowl and Central Market in Houston carry this speciality Catalan pasta.

Nailing down the recipe was a bit of an adventure.

Before Christmas, I had asked so many questions about the traditional Catalan soup that my Spanish teacher, Anna, called her mother in the country for the recipe. Anna, a fabulous teacher but apparently not a chef, gave me instructions for something, but not a soup.

So I decided to wing it using the ingredients list from her mother.

Fortunately, the beef butcher at the market gave me a few tips. Then the pork butcher added her two cents, including her family's secret ingredient:

Not sure what that is, nor do I want to.  Moving on....

After getting more tips from the chicken butcher and the vegetable vendor, I pretty much figured out what I was doing.
So, my recipe below represents a combined effort of at least five different Catalan families. 

Sopa de Galet is very easy to make but requires two days. The caldo (stock) is better the second day and the stuffed galets need to chill in the freezer for at least 24 hours.

Ingredient List
Bag of Galets
Quail eggs (if you're feeling fancy)

Galet Filling:

250 grams of ground beef

250 grams of ground pork

a hunk of dry bread, put in a bowl of milk

two eggs

chopped parsley

minced garlic

salt and pepper

Caldo:
one beef bone

one ham hock

parts of chicken including bones

sausage (preferably blood sausage)

several turnips

some celery

one onion

some carrots

one leek

water and salt

To Make the Soup

Day One:

Put all the caldo ingredients into a large pot. Cover with water and let boil for at least an hour but no more than one day.  Then, strain and reserve the liquid "caldo".

Next, make the galet stuffing by mixing all the ingredients together.

Pour yourself a glass of wine, turn on some nice music and begin the process of filling each uncooked galet with a bit of meatball mix.  I found using a teaspoon helpful.

Galets now go into the freezer. And you are done for the day.

Day Two:

While the galets are thawing, boil quail eggs in water for a few minutes.  Then, peel the eggs and put them aside.

Heat the caldo and when it boils, add the frozen filled galets. Boil for 20 minutes.  Just before the galets are tender, add the quail eggs.

Enjoy!
Our buddies Maria (left) and Nuria (right) seemed to think the soup turned out okay:)