restaurant still lives…

The restaurants of La Coruña and Santiago de Compostela often have glass windows that display the local fine raw produce they cook inside. The windows groan under the weight of great hunks of meat, octopuses (please note that the plural of octopus is not octopi – it’s a greek word, not a latin one…so there!) and all manner of shellfish…I find these windows to be incredibly beautiful, like a Velazquez still life or the raw materials for an Arcimboldo painting…

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Meanwhile in bar malpica we feast on chippirones a la plancha (chargrilled squid), sweet and caramelised by the grill, parrochas fritas (fried little fish) and pimientos (little fried sweet green peppers)

other foody posts on this blog:

callos a la gallega

ossobuco vs xerrete

in praise of colombian food

few flowered recipes

first forage of the season

nose to tail and farajullas

flloeira

cocido gallego

chorizos

returning to the matanza

chorizos

chocolate con churros

pani puri sunday

cicchetti tea-break

baracca

empanada

further adventures in foraging

revelations in a milanese restaurant

braid burn

cooking the haul

foraging2

foraging

more foodie questions

foodie questions

nose to tail,

(s)light relief,

pulpo a la gallega

the matanza

morcilla and dying arts

jamòn serrano

nose to tail and farajullas…

Ok this was fascinating, for me at least. Just when i thought that i knew all the nose to tail tricks of the matanza in order to use every scrap of the animal, my mum tells me of a new one. Believe is or not, they even found a way to use the membrane that contains the intestines of the pig; the “farajullas” of the title of this post. Click on the film below for the full explanation:

other foody posts on this blog:

few flowered recipes

flloeira

cocido gallego

chorizos

returning to the matanza

chorizos

chocolate con churros

pani puri sunday

cicchetti tea-break

baracca

empanada

further adventures in foraging

revelations in a milanese restaurant

cooking the haul

foraging2

foraging

more foodie questions

foodie questions

nose to tail,

(s)light relief,

pulpo a la gallega

the matanza

morcilla and dying arts

jamòn serrano

filloeira…

The filloeira – a cast iron skillet that allows you to make multiple filloas simultaneously.

After the matanza you always make rexos aka chicharrones with the odd cuts of pork and fat (see here for method), it is a way to render down the meat, to confit it so it lasts longer.

Rexos are delicious just with a hunk of bread, but even better added to savoury crepes known as filloas (see here for the recipe). The filloeira would have originally had legs and sat over the fire to cook.

other foody posts on this blog:

few flowered recipes

cocido gallego

chorizos

returning to the matanza

chorizos

chocolate con churros

pani puri sunday

cicchetti tea-break

baracca

empanada

further adventures in foraging

revelations in a milanese restaurant

cooking the haul

foraging2

foraging

more foodie questions

foodie questions

nose to tail,

(s)light relief,

pulpo a la gallega

the matanza

morcilla and dying arts

jamòn serrano

chocolate con churros…

So now for some posts from Galicia…rainy, rainy Galicia…so expect a lot of foody posts…

A favourite Spanish breakfast of churros -  ridged fried donuts, specially designed to hold as much of the thick hot chocolate it is dunked into. In the cities it’s the choice of party goers to end their festivities in a bar with chocolate y churros before finally going to bed.

Here is how to make it:
you need 250 gms of plain flour and 250 ccs of boiling water plus a pinch of salt. Add the flour to the slightly salty boiling water and mix.

The mixture should be very, very stiff, almost to the point of being too stiff to beat. Then fill a piping bag with a star nozzle (to create the signature ridges)and pipe out the fingers of churros.

Deep fry in a light oil till golden and crispy, remove and sprinkle with sugar. Makes enough for 4 people.

Make the chocolate using tablet chocolate and milk. Traditionally it should be dense enough to leave a thick coating on the crispy ridged churros.
Then dunk away…

other foody posts on this blog:

cocido gallego

chorizos

returning to the matanza

chorizos

pani puri sunday

cicchetti tea-break

baracca

empanada

further adventures in foraging

revelations in a milanese restaurant

braid burn

cooking the haul

foraging2

foraging

more foodie questions

foodie questions

nose to tail,

(s)light relief,

pulpo a la gallega

the matanza

morcilla and dying arts

jamòn serrano

cicchetti tea break…

I know i came to Venice for the biennale, but actually i would almost make the trip just to eat the cicchetti at this place near Academia (discovered a few years ago thanks and infinite gratitude to a venetian friend).

So cicchetti are the Venetian version of tapas, and this place does them SO WELL…They come in many varieties but you can usually find the culinary wonder that is Baccalà Mantecato – pounded salt cod that is then whipped with olive oil till it reaches a buttery pate like consistency, you can leave it at that or add garlic, parsley, lemon juice…they also do a brie with nettle pesto that’s pretty darned good too…

2 Spritz (prosecco, campari and a spalsh of soda) plus 8 assorted cicchetti for €12, bloody bargain!

Still on the subject of food, over by the Giardini, in some adjacent public gardens, you can find a modest local bar apparently with no name,

where you can have a hefty plate of polenta plus many trimmings. Normally i hate polenta me, i find it bland and boring, i call it prison food…and you get a LOT of it in Piedmont. However, on this particular day in Venice, we were experiencing the tail end of the bora wind and there was the threat of acqua alta (and me in converse trainers) anyway you get the picture,  it was freeeeezing,  so hot polenta with many interesting accompaniments was not sounding so bad…

A big old plate of Venetian style polenta with: funghi (mushrooms), baccalà mantecato (salt cod paste), formaggio fuso (melted cheese), sopressa (salame)…never thought i would hear myself say it but really…delicious…

other foody posts on this blog:

chocolate con churros

pani puri sunday

cicchetti tea-break

chocolate con churros

baracca

empanada

further adventures in foraging

revelations in a milanese restaurant

braid burn

cooking the haul

foraging2

foraging

more foodie questions

foodie questions

nose to tail,

(s)light relief,

pulpo a la gallega

the matanza

morcilla and dying arts

jamòn serrano