Christmas eve midnight dinner

In our culture, Christmas eve culminates in the midnight meal called Noche Buena which is a Spanish term to mean good night. After the festivities of the day and the caroling at night, there is the church’s last mass before Christmas day. Tired but still awake, the children would usually be invigorated when the parents hand the gifts before the midnight meal.

Our midnight meal is simple but traditional. We never fail to have the special Christmas soup made from chicken and pork with macaroni using the special recipe of my mother. The menudo is a very common pork dish but our recipe is again special. It is cooked in soy sauce and red tomatoes. Included are diced potatoes, garbanzo beans, raisins and that unique chestnuts. Yes, chestnuts really make our menudo dish unique.