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Central Mexico's Christmas Eve centerpiece, layered not tossed. Beet, jicama, orange, apple, tejocote, and Spanish peanuts over romaine, crowned with pomegranate arils and a whisper of canela.
This is a central Mexican dish. Ciudad de México, Puebla, Tlaxcala, the Bajio. The Nochebuena salad sits at the center of the Christmas Eve table after the bacalao and before the romeritos, and every household in this region builds it a little differently. The shape changes. The fruits rotate with the market. The principle does not.
Tejocote is the ingredient that tells you this salad is Mexican and that it is December. The small yellow-orange hawthorn fruit comes into the markets in late November and disappears by January. It is the same fruit that goes into the ponche navideño simmering on the stove next to this salad. If you cannot find tejocote fresh, the jarred ones in syrup at a Mexican grocery will do. If you cannot find either, the salad is missing its anchor. Find a Mexican market before December. Pregúntale a las señoras del mercado.
The other rule is layering. Ensalada de Nochebuena is not tossed. It is composed on a wide platter or in a glass bowl so the colors stay separate: the deep magenta of the beet, the white of the jicama, the orange of the citrus, the pale yellow of the apple, the ruby of the pomegranate. This is the table centerpiece for the most important meal of the Mexican Catholic year. It is supposed to look like Christmas. The flavor matters and the picture matters equally.
My mother made this every Nochebuena until the year she died. Her notebook has the recipe on the same page as the bacalao, in the same blue pen, with a note in the margin that says 'cacahuates con cascara, siempre.' Peanuts with skins on, always. She was right. Saber cocinar es saber vivir.
Ensalada de Nochebuena is a syncretic dish that emerged in colonial New Spain, combining indigenous fruits like tejocote and jicama with European introductions including beets, apples, and pomegranate, the last carried to the Americas by Spanish missionaries from Andalusia where it had been cultivated since the Moorish occupation. The salad's red, white, and green palette is often described as evoking the Mexican flag, but the color symbolism actually predates Mexican independence by several centuries and originally referenced the liturgical colors of Advent and Christmas in the Catholic calendar. The dish is most strongly associated with the central Mexican states and Mexico City, where it appears alongside bacalao a la vizcaina, romeritos en mole, and ponche navideño as part of the canonical Nochebuena menu codified in the late 19th century.
Quantity
4 medium
scrubbed, tops trimmed
Quantity
8
fresh or from a jar in syrup
Quantity
1 large
peeled and cut into matchsticks
Quantity
3
peeled and sliced into rounds
Quantity
2
cored and sliced
Quantity
3
sliced into thick rounds, added just before serving
Quantity
1 cup (from 1 large pomegranate)
Quantity
1 cup
skins on
Quantity
1 small head
leaves separated and torn
Quantity
1/2 cup
peeled and cut into batons
Quantity
1/3 cup
Quantity
1/4 cup
Quantity
3 tablespoons, or to taste
Quantity
1/2 teaspoon
Quantity
1/4 teaspoon
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| red beetsscrubbed, tops trimmed | 4 medium |
| tejocotes (Mexican hawthorn fruit)fresh or from a jar in syrup | 8 |
| jicamapeeled and cut into matchsticks | 1 large |
| navel orangespeeled and sliced into rounds | 3 |
| sweet apples (Gala or Red Delicious)cored and sliced | 2 |
| ripe bananassliced into thick rounds, added just before serving | 3 |
| pomegranate arils | 1 cup (from 1 large pomegranate) |
| raw Spanish peanutsskins on | 1 cup |
| romaine lettuceleaves separated and torn | 1 small head |
| sugarcane (optional)peeled and cut into batons | 1/2 cup |
| fresh lime juice | 1/3 cup |
| Mexican crema | 1/4 cup |
| granulated sugar | 3 tablespoons, or to taste |
| kosher salt | 1/2 teaspoon |
| ground canela (Mexican cinnamon) | 1/4 teaspoon |
Place the scrubbed beets in a small pot and cover with cold water by two inches. Bring to a simmer and cook for 35 to 45 minutes, until a paring knife slides in with no resistance. Drain and let them sit until cool enough to handle. Rub the skins off with a paper towel. They will slip right off. Slice the beets into thin rounds or half-moons. Set aside in their own bowl. Beet juice stains everything it touches and this salad is layered, not tossed, for a reason. Keep the colors separate until the plate.
If you are using fresh tejocotes from a Mexican market in December, place them in a small pot with water to cover and a tablespoon of sugar. Simmer for 15 to 20 minutes, until the skins loosen and the flesh softens but still holds its shape. Drain and cool. Peel them with your fingers and slice in half to remove the seeds. If you are using jarred tejocotes in syrup, drain them and slice. Do not skip this fruit. Tejocote is what tells you the salad is from December and from Mexico. Without it you have a fruit bowl, not a Nochebuena.
Heat a dry comal or heavy skillet over medium. Add the peanuts with their skins on and toast, shaking the pan often, for 6 to 8 minutes. The skins will darken and a few will pop. The kitchen will smell like a market peanut vendor on a December afternoon. Pull them off the heat and let them cool. Spanish peanuts with the red skin on are the right peanut here. Blanched peanuts are bland and they belong in a different recipe.
Peel the jicama with a knife, not a vegetable peeler. The skin is too thick and fibrous for a peeler. Cut into matchsticks roughly the length of your thumb. Peel the oranges down to the flesh, removing all the bitter white pith, and slice into rounds. Core the apples and slice them thin. Toss the apple slices with a tablespoon of the lime juice so they do not brown. Keep each fruit in its own small bowl. The salad lives by separation until it is composed.
In a small bowl whisk together the remaining lime juice, Mexican crema, sugar, salt, and ground canela. Taste it. It should be bright and a little sweet, with the canela whispering underneath. If your oranges are very sweet, use less sugar. If your limes are very sharp, use more. The dressing is not a vinaigrette. It is a light cream that ties the colors together without drowning them. Some families skip the crema entirely and use only lime, sugar, and a little orange juice. Both are correct.
Take your largest, prettiest platter. Lay the torn romaine across the bottom in a single layer. Now arrange the fruits and beets in concentric rings or in alternating wedges, beet next to orange next to jicama next to apple next to tejocote. Work for the contrast. Red beet against white jicama. Orange against deep magenta. This is the Mexican flag and the colors of Navidad on one plate. The salad is layered, not tossed, because the picture matters as much as the flavor. Esto no es comida de un solo México. This is a Christmas table dish from central Mexico and it is meant to look like a centerpiece.
Just before the family sits down, slice the bananas and scatter them across the salad. Bananas go on last because they brown the moment you cut them. Shower the whole platter with the pomegranate arils, the toasted peanuts, and the sugarcane batons if you have them. Spoon the crema dressing over the top in a zigzag or pass it in a small bowl alongside. Serve immediately. The salad does not sit. Once the dressing touches the fruit, the clock starts. Así se hace y punto.
1 serving (about 340g)
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