La pomme espagnole

After months and months and months, I have finally updated the about page of La pomme espagnole! Go check it out to find out how I got here, why I write about food, and where the name of my blog comes from!

xoxo

Take a look at the this picture:

If you're Spanish, you're first thought might be "Ooooo Delicioso!!"

What was your first thought? Mine was “EW! What’s with all the little black toes?” When I first saw these at the market, I had no idea what they were and why anyone would even think of eating such an ugly thing. Then I was told these are some of the most delicious, and expensive, seafood found in Spain: Percebes. According to our friend Wikipedia, they are called Goose Barnacles in English, although I doubt many of you have ever heard the term. They belong to the crustacean family, and are found on the coasts of Spain, Portugal, Morocco and…. Canada! While I have never heard of a fellow Canadian eating one of these things, apparently there is such a high demand in Portugal and Spain that they actually import Percebes all the way from Canada. They are quite expensive here in Spain (75euro per Kilo at the local grocery store!), mainly because of the danger involved in harvesting them.

Everyone kept telling me that I just had to try these things, especially the ones from Galicia, a region in the north of Spain. Lucky for me, I got to go to Galicia for a week in August. Since I was in the area, I decided this would be the best time for me to try these slimy little creatures. We were staying with A’s parents, who were super nice and bought some percebes for dinner one evening. I was really excited to try them, but when I saw them on the table my reaction wasn’t so positive. Even after being cooked, they still looked like wrinkly black toes. This is where I thank my parents for teaching me to try a little bit of everything and be open-minded when it comes to food. If it wasn’t for that, I don’t know if I would have tried them, and would probably have missed something great.

75 euros per kilo? Imagine what these must cost at a restaurant!

To eat percebes, you have to make a little cut near the “nail” part, remove the black skin, and eat the chewy black thing inside. I know, still doesn’t sound too appetizing, but the taste is actually really good. I think it tastes just like the sea: a bit fishy, and quite salty with a chewy texture, somewhat like a mussel. Once I got the hang of removing the skin, I was eating one percebe after another and found I couldn’t stop ’till they were all gone! I wouldn’t say they are my favorite crustaceans, but once you get over their appearance these little creatures are actually quite delicious.

To Spaniards, percebes are a delicacy not to be missed. In my opinion, they are definitely a must-have experience for anyone visiting northern Spain. But when it comes to seafood, I would still choose a nice lobster over percebes any day!

Summer has finally arrived! And in Spain, it’s getting seriously hot. They say that June is the mildest month of summer in Madrid. If that’s the case, I might not be alive to continue this blog by the time July and August come around. It’s already 30˚C everyday with a sun that is so bright it actually hurts to go outside.

The positive side of summer however is that I absolutely adore summer food. I love experimenting with salads, eating lots of grilled fish, and of course cold soups! And the best part of being in Spain in summer is GAZPACHO!

My first attempt at making gazpacho in Spain! Delicious!

Gazpacho is a chilled vegetable soup, traditionally done with a lot of tomatoes. The gazpacho we know today originated in the south of Spain in the province of Andalucía, although some say you can find recipes similar to gazpacho which come from way back when the Moors occupied Spain. Of course, gazpacho would have been tomato-less until the 16^th century when the conquistadors brought tomato seeds from South America.

Today gazpacho comes in many different flavours, using a variety of vegetables and fruit. Chefs all over the world are altering the traditional recipe by using ingredients such as watermelon, papaya, avocado, and green tomatoes. While all of these recipes sound delicious, I love traditional gazpacho so much that I don’t feel the need to change it at all.

I am lucky to have been given a wonderful recipe by Andrés’ mother, the woman who has been introducing me to many Spanish dishes since I’ve arrived here. This recipe uses the traditional gazpacho vegetables: tomatoes, cucumber, onion, green pepper and garlic. The most important ingredient is the tomato. If you have bad, unripe, or hard tomatoes, don’t even try it. Make sure your tomatoes are ripe and juicy and have lots of flavour. You will also be adding bread to add texture to the gazpacho. It’s best to use day-old bread, and try to find the cheapest baguette you can find. It doesn’t have to be quality bread, but none of that mushy sliced-bread stuff. Also, once you’ve blended all of the ingredients into a thick soup, you can choose to either leave the chunks in, or strain the gazpacho to make it smooth. Both are very good, it just depends which texture you prefer. Gazpacho can be eaten from a bowl or sipped from a glass, and always tastes best on a hot summer afternoon! Enjoy!

Gazpacho Recipe

Courtesy of Marisa Giménez

½ kg cucumber
125 g onions
250 g green peppers
2 kg ripe tomatoes
2 cloves of garlic
8 tbs olive oil
6 tbs vinegar (I used cider vinegar but red wine vinegar is good too)
Bread (cut up into small pieces)
Salt, Cumin and Paprika to taste

Chop up all the vegetables as small as you can, and mix them together using a blender or food processor. Mix in the olive oil and vinegar. Add bread a little bit at a time, mixing well after each addition, until you’ve achieved the consistency you prefer. Add salt, cumin and paprika to your preference. Keep blending everything until you have a relatively smooth soup. You can now either leave it like this or strain out the small chunks. It is best to leave it in the refrigerator for a couple hours before serving.

I’m warning you, this entry is not about Spanish food. I know, this is a blog about Spanish food and I’m writing about something else? I’m a terrible blogger. But this week was restaurant week in Madrid, and that means half-priced dinners at over 100 restaurants around the city. To be honest, I was feeling tired of Spanish food, and I just wanted the comfort of a dinner prepared by my mother.

Lucky for me, I can find something similar (though never as good) in any French gourmet restaurant. Unfortunately, that’s rarely an option for someone working on a teacher’s assistant salary. So I thought what better than restaurant week to go and splurge a little on some upscale French food? I did some searching, and found this great little place called Le Petit Bistrot Madrid.

picture from www.lepetitbistrot.net

Le Petit Bistrot has the exact feel of a typical French bistro. For those of you not in the know, this means simplistic décor, wooden floors, and lots of wine. A good bistro must have a decent wine list. As soon as I opened up the Le Petit Bistrot’s menu, I got really excited. There were so many delicious dishes to choose from! I opted for a salmon tartar with mango and pesto to start, followed by duck filet with apricots and potatoes. I was also really excited about A’s choice of the escargot appetizer and steak tartar dish.

The first courses arrived, and my first thought was: “I’m jealous, I was to trade appetizers!” I LOVE escargot. It really made me miss my mom’s garlic butter and parsley escargot. This one was ALMOST the same, but I think perhaps the cook forgot to add salt. With a pinch of added salt it became perfect!

My salmon tartar with mango and pesto sauce was not as exciting. Actually, it was disappointing. I think it was a combination of bland salmon and the flavourless mango. It had a lot of potential, but it was just lacking a boost of flavour that could have come from riper mangoes, or better quality salmon.

Luckily, our main courses totally made up for the lackluster salmon. My duck was amazing. Cooked to perfection, nicely juicy, and accompanied by some yummy little potatoes. I loved how they brought the whole sauté pan to the table so I could enjoy it freshly off the stove! A’s steak tartar was seasoned to perfection. They even brought out a little spoonful ahead of time to make sure it was seasoned to his taste.  Very classy!

This was a very enjoyable experience, and I left happily full of yummy French food. I do love discovering Spanish food, and it is truly wonderful, but I think that my heart will always be with the French (the food, not the people!). Thank you Le Petit Bistrot for taking me back home for an evening

Last weekend, I decided that I could no longer handle Madrid’s loudness, heat, and general bigcity feel. I needed to get out. So I decided to head up to northern Spain’s most beautiful coastal town. Luckily for me San Sebastián, or Donostia in Basque language, is not only a gorgeous beach town but is also famous for its amazing food. I definitely had some very high expectations for this trip, all of which were fulfilled. My guide book informed me that San Sebastián had more Michelin stars than Paris, and while there is no way I could afford a dinner at Martín Berasategui’s 3-star restaurant, I was looking forward to some delicious, yet affordable, meals in this beautiful coastal town.

Our first night did not disappoint. We found this cute little restaurant (unfortunately I forget its name) which seemed to have a great menú for a great price. As a starter I chose a terrine de foie gras with goat cheese and some fruity sauce. It was fantastic. I’m not entirely sure why, but there was foie gras EVERYWHERE in San Sebastián. This alone made me insanely happy. As some of you might know, foie gras is on my list of favorite foods, and has been since I was about eight years old.

I loved how foie gras was everywhere in San Sebastián!

My friend ordered Huevos revueltos con jamón y esparragos. This is a very typical Spanish dish. While we North Americans tend to associate eggs with breakfast, here in Spain it is a very common lunch or dinner dish. They come in all forms (omelet, fried, scrambled, etc) and are often mixed with potatoes or some other vegetable. I will try to go further on this subject in another blog entry, because there is a lot to write about Spanish eggs! These eggs in particular were scrambled with jamón ibérico and asparagus, wrapped in a crunchy crouton. YUM!

Just look at that amazing presentation!

My foie was followed by a Zarzuela de Pescado. This was basically a variety of fish cooked in a heavenly sauce. I hate myself a little for not asking what kind of fish was included, especially since one of the little fillets was the best fish I have had in a long time, and I have no clue as to what it was. It was soft and white, and melted in my mouth releasing an explosion of flavour. I know “explosion of flavour” sounds a bit ridiculous, but I assure you that is the only way to describe it. At first it has a very normal fish flavour, but as it melts in your mouth it releases a kind of deliciousness that I just can’t express in writing.

Can anyone tell what kind of fish this was?

To finish off this delicious meal, I had porcion de chocolate con moras which translates to portion of chocolate with blackberries. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect of this “portion” of chocolate, but I figured anything with the word chocolate would but great. Even after having eaten it, i’m not quite sure how to describe it. It was like a creamy, thick square of chocolate paté. Chocolate paté must sound strange, but I don’t know how else to explain it. And it was just so yummy that I forgot to take a picture of it! Sorry!

I still have to tell you about two more San Sebastián meals, one of which consisted of the city’s famous pintxos. But I will have to leave that for another blog entry. Hopefully very soon