RICHARD FRISBIE :: Galician Food & Wine

RICHARD FRISBIE :: Galician Food & Wine

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  RICHARD FRISBIE ::Galician Food & Wine Some notes on the restaurants, sights, and wines of Galicia, Spain, including a recipe for St. James Cake . . . Typical desserts we encountered included a cow milk cheese (like a ricotta) drizzled with honey, boiled chestnuts with warm chocolate sauce and whipped cream, and St. James cake, an almond flour cake. HereâEUR(TM)s the recipe: St James Cake 2 2/3 cups almond flour, or finely ground (peeled or blanched) almonds 3/4 cup flour 1 1/4 cup sugar 4 Eggs beaten together 1 stick or 8 Tbsp butter melted ½ tsp baking powder ½ cup water zest of 1 lemon Allow ingredients to come to room temperature, mix dry together, add melted butter, water and eggs, mix until combined, pour into a 10 inch spring form pan and bake at 350 degrees until a toothpick inserted into it comes out clean (about 45 minutes) Technically, this can be a gluten-free dessert by omitting the wheat flour and increasing the almond flour to 3 ½ cups. A little wheat flour added will help to create a crisper top and bottom crust. Traditionally, this is dusted with powdered sugar leaving the shape of a cross visible on the cake.
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  Themarket in SantiagodeCompostela (Mercado de Abastos de Santiago) is the biggest on Thursday, with fresh fruit, flowers, seafood, meat and stalls of bread in all shapes and sizes. Finally, after all these years of lamenting that being on vacation in a hotel without a kitchen means I canâEUR(TM)t buy all that luscious food inthe public market and cook it, we found a restaurant that caters to market buyers. Churro Mania, a restaurant next to the market, will prepare the food you purchase at the
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  market for 10%of the price you paid for it. Just show your receipt. Abastos, also around the corner from the market is a great little stand-up restaurant to stop in for a good local wine and a delicious octopus snack served on Galician slate tiles.  When Galicians talk about their bread they say, âEURoeYou canâEUR(TM)t buy any better bread than Galician!âEUR Some good wines to order: Valdeorras DOC Qunta de Peso Mencia 2008 Valdeorras DOC Casal Noro Mencia 2008 Lagar do Cigur Gedello Sabatellius Ribeira Sucra 2009 Rias Baixas DOC Pazo Senorans âEUR" we enjoyed their Albarinos at the vineyard, putting to bed the common misconception that
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  Albarino has tobe served young. In a vertical tasting of their 2004, 2008 & 2009 vintages we learned that it ages well and matures to a fine wine. Os Licores de Casal âEUR" a coffee flavored 52 proof liquor is a popular after-dinner digestive drink. There are other flavors, including a tangerine one I particularly enjoyed. They are made with a base of the grappa-style Galician liquor called orujo. OâEUR(TM)dezaseis is a family-style Galician restaurant where we were seated at communal tables and passed platters of food. It is like eating at a typical Galician home. OâEUR(TM)dezaseis is where all the dignitaries went for dinner after sending us to some haute cuisine place. We balked and went where the natives go for some Great food & service! Yayo Daporta, a restaurant named after the young chef/owner, is in the town of Cambados outside of Santiago. Yayo served us several great wines: Martin Codax 2008, Zarate Trus da Vina 2005, Casal Novo (Valdeorras) 2009, and the nouvelle cuisine (scallop carpaccio, tempura mussels, oysters ceviche) young, hip chefs prepare everywhere these days, but using the freshest local seafood available âEUR" delicious, and beautiful to look at! Speaking of which:
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  Food as art- GastroLab is a catering kitchen in the art gallery / art cooperative âEURoefactoriaâEUR, newly opened in Santiago. Miquel Gil, Goncalo Moreno, Antonio Cervera, & Adrian Hiebra were gracious hosts at an opening I attended there. It has a nice concept âEUR" artists can live and work there and contribute a percentage of the sales of their art the gallery sells. An odd architectural note, the scallop shell that is well-known as the symbol of the path the pilgrims follow to Santiago de Compostela, is also abundant because of the consumption of the scallops themselves. One use of the shell is as shingles, or siding for the buildings on the shore. It is a reflective and unusually attractive use of the beautiful scallop shells. While window shopping, really just walking through the streets, two things occurred to me; One: that you could gain weight accepting the sample foods being offered by shopkeepers standing in their doorways âEUR" primarily St James cake. Two: that the adult lamphrey eels writhing around in a big fish tank (sometimes attaching their huge tooth-filled sucker mouths to the glass so we could peer down their throats) were the most unappetizing seafood we saw on the trip, octopus included! Every day as many as one thousand religious pilgrims travel ancient paths from all over Europe to see the tomb of St. James in SpainâEUR(TM)s Northwest province of Galicia. They
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  seek salvation andthe granting of a favor from the saint. To qualify for these indulgences, they must travel at least the last 100 kilometers from Sarria to Santiago de Compostela, visiting the many churches and cathedrals along the Saint James Way. During the year when St. James Day (July 25th) falls on a Sunday (Xacobeo) it is a special, most holy, day, and the most auspicious season in which to make your pilgrimage. 2010 is such a year. My article on the pilgrimage is here. Air Europa San Francisco Hotel Monumento Parador de "Hostal Dos Reis Católicos" Turismo de Santiago de    Compostela Richard Frisbie, FOOD Correspondent: RICHARD FRISBIE is published twice a month to Gather Essentials: Food. It is a food junkie's take on growing, raising, preparing and - above all else - eating food. Together we'll explore the trends, addictions, equipment and regional specialties that
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  make up thesometimes mundane and sometimes sublime cooking and dining experience. You can keep up with my other postings and Gather activity by joining my Gather network -- I look forward to hearing from you. You can read all of my articles http://rfrisbie.gather.com/ or find them with those of the other Food Correspondents, plus celebrity chef content and plenty of other Foodies at http://foodtalk.gather.com DISCLAIMER - Richard Frisbie accepts free copies of books for review, restaurant meals to critique, bottles of wine and liquor for tastings, and all-expense-paid trips in exchange for articles about the destinations. He is paid for these articles. BIO - Richard Frisbie writes culinary travel articles, is a columnist for his local newspapers, and is a regular contributor to the many Hudson Valley, Catskill Mountain and other regional New York publications. Online, he writes frequent articles for EDGE Publications, GoNomad and Travel Lady, as well as Gather. JOIN MY GROUPS: Everything About New York State http://aboutnewyork.gather.com/ Travel/Food/Wine BOOK Reviews http://tfwbookreviews.gather.com/ Food Videos Forum http://foodvideos.gather.com/ Join to see some of the kitchens and techniques you read about here at Gather BLOG - http://www.bloglines.com/blog/rfrisbie Where some of my Gather work and other things, primarily about New York State, appears. BOOKSTORE - Specializing in New York State books since 1959 http://www.hopefarm.com You have successfully submitted a report for this post. http://travel.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474978113529