Gastronomic Valencia: Part 3

MEALS

After time in Valencia, we traveled down the coast to the town of Denia where we enjoyed several Michelin-starred meals, a tasting and lunch at the home of vintner Gutierrez de la Vega, noted for his sweet Moscatel wine, and short visits to the Borja ducal palace in Gandia, and the 11th century Moorish castle in Denia (under restoration).  dsc01481 Shown here is the palace.  Other high points included lunches at Casa Manolo in Daimus (I loved their take on caprese salad) img_1516 and L’escaleta in Cocentaina (a really tasty sweetbread ficelle sandwich ) and the five hour extravaganza at Restaurante Quique Dacosta where we were served twenty-six different tastes or bites.

The theme at Quique Dacosta was Fronteras, translated as “borders,”  but I might better call it “frontiers.”  This was cuisine at its most refined and most creative, in some ways more of an intellectual experience.  Precise attention to presentation and form in this meal.  Everything from little puffs of cod, tuna belly with seaweed, a slice of dried octopus, to a beautiful crushed and dried tomato (the maître d’ came around with his hammer to do the crushing, one of my favorite courses), a langoustine with green curry, avocado and corn, to mushrooms served on the forest floor, a piece of completely black charred bread with romesco sauce for dipping, to a slender vase of roses with a tangle of apple in the center.  Shown here the battered tomato, seaweed, part of one dish, and the wrapped langoustine.  img_1663  img_1659 img_1669     All quite amazing!

Coming back down to earth on our last day, we had a brisk walk in the lovely riverbed park in Valencia pausing only to gaze on Calatrava’s jarring and beautiful architectural forms:  opera house, music hall and science museum.  The final lunch was at a popular bar in working class neighborhood called Casa Montana.  Here the food was comfortingly familiar looking.  We began with sweetish vermouth over ice with tiny arbequina olives in the front of the bar.  Then ducking under the counter to get to the back room (it’s a tradition to duck), we sat on high stools at longish tables for an array of tapas courses. img_1749 img_1756 From Iberian ham to braised broad beans, tuna marinated in seven spices, cod brandade, little roasted red peppers stuffed with tuna (my kind of tapa!), tiny slices of grilled beef with garlic (yum!) to several kinds of sheep cheese including a grilled cheese toast and, lastly, homemade chocolate truffles.  All washed down with three different wines, a white and two reds.  What could be better!

INGREDIENTS

I was both surprised and disappointed when the guide book to Spain I purchased in advance of our trip had no discussion whatsoever of Valencia and the surrounding region.  This city and its environs are one of Spain’s autonomous communities and with such a richness of culture and cuisine deserve to be discovered.  Like the farm to table movement, there is great emphasis on local produce and local fish and meats.  Below are some of the foodstuffs that were repeated in the meals we enjoyed. And, if I had taken copious notes, I could have reported on all the many and marvelous wines we sampled!

Eel.  I am not a big fan of eel, but we had it simmered with potatoes, garlic and paprika, smoked on endive, and flamed and dried.

Rice.  Every chef has his or her rice dish (arroz) and in addition to two kinds of paella, we had two dry rice preparations, one with mushrooms, a soupy wet rice with chicken (delicious!), and creamy rice with pumpkin and mussels and one with pork flank and mushrooms.  img_1601 img_1605

TunaTuna was served in several ways:  tuna belly with tuna rillettes, tuna cured in paprika, and tuna stuffed red peppers.

PorkThe Iberian ham was delectable, but we also saw pork in a creamy rice dish and shoulder of pork crusty with onion ash and charred quince.  img_1588 img_1479

Seafood.  Prawns, langoustines, squid, and the occasional clam or snail appeared on some menus.  I like the shrimp family, but not always the squid.

Local fish.  Besides cod in several forms and we also ate red mullet which I found very fishy and strong.  img_1668

Fruits and vegetables.  No green salads the entire week unless you count the lettuce and sliced tomatoes on the breakfast buffet in Denia.  Lots of citrus—oranges, lemons, quince—and also apples and tomato added as a flavor component of several dishes.  Asparagus, beans, endive, and vegetable tempura.

Oreos.  We were told that it was de rigeur that each chef create an Oreo hors d’oeuvre. These are mini size (think an American quarter) and we had one with parmesan and bacon (think the cookie was made from squid) and another from white and black garlic with salted nougat filling.

Now we’re home and after all that food and wine, it’s time to diet!  And get back to our regular exercise.

All photos ©JWFarrington

Header photo–Calatrava building in Valencia

Gastronomic Valencia: Part 1

CENTRAL MARKET & CATHEDRAL

We’re on a gastronomic tour of Valencia, Spain, and the surrounding region.  Valencia is the third largest city in Spain and, as many know, famous for Valencia oranges.  It’s also a center for some very innovative cuisine, bringing influences from Italy and the Arab world together with the richness of the local ingredients.  Our group of 23 people consists of seven Americans, seven Brits, three Canadians, two Aussies, two from Hong Kong, along with our Dutch-born lecturer and the British tour manager.  Diverse geographically and all very congenial.

We flew together from London and spent the first full day with noted chef Ricard Camarena.  First off was a trip to market with the chef to buy the ingredients for the lunch he was going to prepare for us.  The central market in Valencia dates from the beginning of the 20th century and has a somewhat colorful facade; inside it was sparkling clean.   dsc01281 I love markets of this type and just seeing all the produce, dried goods, meats and fish, for me is fun.  dsc01334But it was even more enjoyable to go with Ricard and follow him around as he carefully selected aubergines, mushrooms, mandarins,  tomatoes, and the like and negotiated with the venders.   dsc01299He believes in only using products from the market in his various restaurants.  While in the market, we stopped for a coffee (or freshly squeezed orange juice) at his coffee bar.  Everyone in the market knows him.

Before going to Senor Camarena’s lab, we had a brief tour of the Valencia cathedral which combines Romanesque, Gothic and Baroque elements.  Our lecturer doesn’t really lecture (fortunately), but provides informed comment with occasional bits of humor about specific aspects or highlights of a building or a work of art.  Just the right dose of facts to make us appreciate what we are seeing.

LAB & LUNCH

At the Ricard Camarena Lab we were treated to a cooking demonstration as Ricard made mini versions of the four dishes on our lunch menu.  Seated classroom style, we watched as he explained each ingredient and the steps involved.  His English was quite good, but Gijs, our lecturer, translated as needed and added in extra commentary.  We got to sniff and taste various bits along the way which made the whole process more interesting.

After an hour and a half or so, we decamped from the lab for wine and hors d’oeuvres while the lab was set up with a long table for lunch.  Lunch was both a taste adventure and an intellectual one as we ate the completed renditions of dishes we had followed every step of the way.  Shown here are two of the dishes we had:  smoked aubergine (eggplant) covered with a strip of tuna belly sitting on a bed of tuna rillette with capers and topped with three bits of tuna “bacon” and the dessert, a pumpkin waffle with pumpkin cream, pumpkin seeds and an oval of ginger ice cream.  Truly a treat and a very special experience, not available to us as individuals.  dsc01378 dsc01393

After this three hour extravaganza we returned to our hotel and later made a brief after hours visit to the museum of modern art for an exhibit entitled, “Lost in the City.”  If anyone needed it, dinner was on your own!  We had a few tapas in the hotel.

All photos copyright JWFarrington

Header photo:  Soup lined up for serving