Total: 3 h 30 min Diners: 4

On the eve of Shrove Tuesday, in Spain, rare is the Galician house in which there is not some piece of lacón or even a whole lacón to soak desalting waiting to become the undisputed protagonist of the most famous recipe of the Galician Carnival, lacón con grelos, a hearty dish of simple preparation with which ends the festivities of meat to give way to Lent.

And the thing is that, although much less known than carnivals like those of Tenerife or Cadiz, in Galicia there are also towns with great carnival tradition as Xinzo, Verin and even A Coruña with its traditional dance of “choqueiros” in which many of the people of A Coruña gather in the street of the Tower in disguise, many of them with improvised costume -those are the choqueiros- to finish the party in the Plaza of Spain.

But apart from the street party, the Galician Carnival is a gastronomic feast, especially in the villages are common tables full of food with dishes like this octopus empanada, the always appreciated octopus á feira, or the mythical Galician Broth. And in the dessert chapter we find some of the most typical sweets of Galician cuisine, the filloas -which can be sweet or savory but are always taken for dessert-, the ears and flowers, all typical of Carnival that are accompanied by others that are never missing in any Galician party such as larpeira or bizcochón.

The lacón con grelos is not only a very popular dish in Galician gastronomy, but also its leftovers are great to prepare lacón croquettes, empanadas or even pizzas with lacón con grelos. The broth that we reserve is also great for preparing soups like this ramen of lacón con grelos or use it as a base for cooking rice or stews.

If you want the recipe to be lighter, cook the lacón the day before, remove the fatty parts and let the broth cool, remove the layer of fat that will form on the surface and use this defatted broth to cook the potatoes and Turnip Greens. In addition, you can prick the chorizos in several places before cooking them so that they release much of the fat.

How to make lacón con grelos

Ingredients

. Lacón, 1 kg (or a little more if it is a part with a lot of bone) Chorizos for cooking, 4 Grelos, 1 bunch Potatoes, 4 medium to large

Step 1

The first step is always to desalinate the lacón. The lacones are usually bought salted, although it is increasingly common to find them “en el punto de sal”, which supposedly would be ready to cook but, for my taste, they also have excessive salt so it is convenient to give them a soak. If the lacón is one of the latter, one night will be enough, otherwise we will have to soak it for a couple of days, changing the water every twelve hours.

Once the lacón is desalted, we put it in a large pot and fill it with water until it is completely covered. We put the pot on high heat until it comes to a boil, at that time we lower the heat and let it cook with the pot closed and simmer for 3 hours until we see that the meat is tender and detaches well from the bones.

Step 2

Once the lacón is cooked, remove it from the pot and set it aside. We also take out part of the broth – about half a liter – and reserve it to prepare the chorizos. From the broth left in the pot, remove half and keep it for a soup or stew, the rest we will use to cook the potatoes peeled and whole or cut in halves if they are very large.

Put to boil this broth that we have left in the pot and when it is boiling add the potatoes and turnip greens washed and chopped. Cook for about 30 minutes until both are tender.

Step 3

The chorizos can be cooked along with the potatoes and turnip greens, but I like to cook them in a separate saucepan in the broth that we have reserved for that purpose.

Once the turnip greens are cooked, you have to dry them, which can be done in two ways, by draining them very well -although they can fall apart more than usual- or by heating them in the pan for a couple of minutes so that the excess moisture evaporates. The leftover broth from all the cooking can also be saved for other recipes.

Step 4

Serve everything together on a platter so that each diner can serve themselves as they wish. On the table we also put an oilcan with extra virgin olive oil and a couple of pepper pots with sweet and spicy paprika, so that everyone can add the touch they prefer.