La Rioja-Logrono has been announced this morning as Spanish Capital of Gastronomy 2012, chosen from a list of 10 applicants, which also included Sevilla, Gijon, Valladolid, Ciudad Real, Oviedo, Segovia, Lugo, Granada and Santiago de Compostela. This is a new thing set up by the Spanish Hospitality Federation (FEHR) and the Spanish Federation of Travel [...]
Archive for the ‘Spanish food and wine’ Category
Madrilenians invest a huge amount of their time and energy in eating and drinking. Forget all that stuff about the Mediterranean diet and don’t even think about cutting down on sugar, salt, fat or alcohol. Being in Madrid is really not compatible with healthy living. The buzzwords here are cholesterol, caffeine and calories. Breakfast should [...]
This morning on BBC Radio 4, there was a programme by John Sergeant which explored the history of toasting – as in drinks rather than bread. It being New Year’s Eve, he was talking about the tradition of singing Auld Lang Syne at midnight, and what the lyrics are all about. Written by Robert Burns [...]
The tastiest tortilla in San Sebastian
Posted: November 27, 2011 in Basque country, Spanish food and wineTags: Nestor, Parte Vieja, pintxos, tortilla
Should you ever find yourself marauding around the pintxos bars in the Parte Vieja in San Sebastian at one o´clock in the afternoon or eight o´clock in the evening, you might wonder why there are people spilling out of the door of Bar Nestor on Calle Pescaderia. It may look pretty similar to many of [...]
Mushroom hunting in the Girona Pyrenees
Posted: October 30, 2011 in Catalunya, Spanish food and wineTags: Costa Brava Pirineu de Girona, El Ripolles, Gombren, mushrooms, Xesc Rovira
I’m feeling very autumnal after spending a morning foraging for mushrooms in a forest in the Ripolles area of Catalunya, in the foothills of the Pyrenees. The Catalans are mushroom mad, it is fair to say. Go to any market in the region and you’ll see piles of ceps, chanterelles, saffron milk caps and a [...]
A volcanic lunch in La Garrotxa
Posted: October 13, 2011 in Catalunya, Spanish food and wine, UncategorizedTags: cuina volcanica, Girona, La Garrotxa, Pep Nogue, volcanic cuisine
Ah! That first sip of beer when you’re hot and thirsty after walking through a volcano. Okay, it wasn’t really that strenuous. Oh alright, it was just a really pleasant stroll along shady paths in La Garrotxa volcanic nature reserve in Girona province in Catalunya, but that beer certainly slipped down well. It wasn’t just [...]
Eating Oysters in the Ebro Delta
Posted: August 27, 2011 in Catalunya, Spanish food and wineTags: Delta de l'Ebre, Delta del Ebro, Ebro Delta, mussels, oysters, Sant Carles de la Rapita
As simple pleasures go, eating heaps of the freshest oysters and mussels takes some beating – particularly out at sea and even more if there are a few glasses of chilled cava involved too. Along with about two dozen others, I had got on a boat in the harbour of Sant Carles de la Ràpita, [...]
Extreme gastroburgers at Nimu
Posted: July 9, 2011 in Madrid, Spanish food and wineTags: gastrobotanica, gastrohamburguesa
Posh burgers are everywhere these days, but when your burger bun is bright green, something tells you the game has been upped a level or two. Hardly surprising really, as the burgers at Nimu, a restaurant that opened last night in Madrid’s is-it-really-trendy-or-still-just-grotty Triball neighbourhood, have been dreamt up by chefs Rodrigo de la Calle [...]
Jose was methodically opening bottle of bottle of wine. ‘I’m just getting prepared,’ he explained to us, ‘A couple of hours from now, it’ll be absolutely frantic in here and we need to save every second.’ I arrived in Valencia from Madrid this morning, on the high-speed train. A fabulous paella at La Rua was [...]
Not grinding but pounding – Catalan cooking in El Priorat
Posted: April 30, 2011 in Catalunya, Spanish food and wineTags: Catacurian, Catalan cooking, Catalunya, El Priorat, Spain, travel
My technique was all wrong. ‘Don’t grind, pound,’ said Alicia Juanpere firmly, taking the large ceramic mortar from me and demonstrating how to wield the wooden pestle. ‘Like this. Pom, pom, pom!’ The almonds and hazelnuts were swiftly transformed into a smooth paste, which was mixed with garlic and saffron to make picada, one of [...]
