El Capricho

So this post goes to the first one, El Capricho, a traditional rural bodega (cellar) restaurant in Jiménez de Jamuz, a small village in North of Spain, in the region of León. This region is famous its food and good wine and it is here also where we do our great Tortilla de Patata, slowly frying potatoes from the region.

The chuletón (T-bone steak) from El Capricho was described by Time magazine as “the perfect steak”, whereas Vogue’s food critic Jeffrey Steingarten defined it as “probably the greatest steak I’ve ever eaten”.

At La Buena Vida, we haven’t tried the steaks from El Capricho yet, although it is already in our To Do list, for our next trip up North. However we do have our favourites that we would like to share with you.

Illumbe, although a bit outside the city, this is one of the best places in Madrid to eat meat (they do have great fish dishes too!). Not fancy dishes to be found here, just simple great quality food, cooked to perfection. Our recommendation is to have something to share to start with (a bit of Jamón Ibérico, croquetas, buñuelos de bacalao - cod fritters) and then a big chuletón steak with piquillo peppers slowly cooked that are out of this world (only surpassed by our own Piquillo Peppers!).

Another great choice in the city center is the Asador Donostiarra. Like the Illumbe, this place features basque cuisine, simple but great ingredients. Besides great food, it is a place to see and be seen, where it is not unusual to see some of top Real Madrid players having dinner and other celebs.

And if rather than steak, roast beef is your thing, then definitely our favourite place in Spain is La Pondala, a long established restaurant located in Gijón, a city in the North coast. With a beautiful garden, eating roast beef in their outdoor dining area during the summer is definitely one of the highlights of the Spanish summer!

Do you have a favourite steak place in Spain? Send it to us and we will add it to the list!

El Capricho. Paraje de la Vega s/n. Jiménez de Jamuz, León. +34 987 664224
Illumbe. Avenida de Bruselas 9. Alcobendas, Madrid. +34 914 901096
Asador Donostiarra. Calle de la Infanta Mercedes 79. Madrid- +34 915 796264
La Pondala. Avenida de Dionisio Cifuentes 58. Somió, Gijón.  +34 985 361160

La Buena Vida at Supervalu Churchtown

As we roll out our product range in Ireland, I have had the pleasure of offering tasting sessions in selected stores in Dublin. The public reaction to La Buena Vida has been almost universally positive. The thought of a potato omelette at room temperature may not on the face of it immediately appeal to the Irish palate. The experience however is quite another thing, we love it! And the rich smokey taste of the piquillo peppers goes down equally well.

Big thanks to the store owners and managers for their support and co-operation. The Supervalu in Churchtown was excellent last week and I am looking forward to the next tasting session in the Supervalu in Mount Merrion on Oct 2nd and in the Spar in Milltown on the following Thursday, Oct 8th.

On a big jug (preferably a big old pottery one), mix 1 peach (cut into pieces), 12-14 cherries (pitted), the zest of an orange, the zest of a lemon, 2 or 3 tablespoons of caster sugar and half a stick of cinnamon and…. now choose between brandy, Cointreau and rum and add a generous glug to the mix. Now…. waaaaait! Don’t drink it yet, patience is required! Place the mixture in a fridge for about half an hour so that the flavours develop and blend.

Just before serving, add one liter of red wine (not a madly expensive one, we recommend Spanish wine from Jumilla, Alicante or Valencia, good value and great colour and bouquet for Sangría), the juice of two oranges, and one lemon and about quarter a liter of ice-cold soda water, together with as much crushed ice you can fit in the jug. This recipe makes about 1.5- 2 liters of Sangría, so we guess you may want to repeat the process and prepare a couple of jugs…

At La Buena Vida we highly recommend you treat your loved ones with a glass of Sangría (at least one to start with anyway), which may also help you spread our traditional Siesta (a must for great digestions after summer lunches). For the culture vulture amongst you, some historical notes: the origins of Sangría can be traced back to the XIX century and the name of Sangría would root on the Spanish word for blood, sangre, because of its characteristic red colour.

chiringuito de playa: typical tavern often located close to the beach (or even on the sand!)

Tortilla de Patata (Spanish Omelette)

…or to give it its more formal title “Tortilla de Patatas a la Española” is in my experience a greatly misunderstood dish. A venerable Irish publishing institution that shall remain nameless contained a recipe last weekend that called for the inclusion of boiled new potatoes. If you ever try that recipe and ask “why does it taste so much better in Spain”, well the answer is pretty simple, it is not the same beast. The Tortilla requires the potato to be cooked as a confit, slowly cooked below 100 degrees centigrade so that it does not take on colour but is to the point of unctuous softness with a full, rich flavour.

A long and arduous process which you can save with La Buena Vida Tortilla kit! Next time someone offers you a confit de canard and serves you up a boiled duck, well you know what to do; send it back and demand the real thing!

Garden Café España

The National Gallery of Art, in Washington D.C. is now (and until the 23rd of August) featuring the exhibition “Luis Meléndez: Master of the  Spanish Still Life” showcasing over 30 paintings of this great Spanish artist. Some of his great works include “The Four Seasons” which depict cabinets with every spices produced by the Spanish climate, and which work was commissioned in 1771 by the Prince of Asturias, later King Charles IV.   Also on display are period objects—including an 18th-century cork wine cooler, Alcorcón pottery, a lusterware honey pot, and a copper chocolate pot—like those represented in Meléndez’s beautiful still lifes. Additionally, another exhibition, “The Art of Power: Royal Armor and Portraits from Imperial Spain” is also taking place from the 28th of June to the 1st of November.

To mark the events, the west wing coffee shop in the National Gallery, the Garden Café has been renamed as Garden Café España and will offer an entire Spanish menu created by the well known US-based Spanish Chef and celebrity José Andrés. The dishes in the menu are inspired in the ingredients depicted in Meléndez’s paintings.  For those of you that won’t be able to visit the Café, at least you can take a peak at the Menu and some of the good Spanish Recipes inspired by the Exhibition:

Garden Cafe España Menu (PDF)

Garden Cafe España Recipes (PDF)

]]> http://blog.buenavidafoods.com/events/spanish-culture-and-food-get-together-in-the-national-gallery-of-art-in-washington/feed/ http://blog.buenavidafoods.com/wines/spanish-wines-score-high/ http://blog.buenavidafoods.com/wines/spanish-wines-score-high/#comments Mon, 08 Jun 2009 17:02:04 +0000 Diego http://blog.buenavidafoods.com/?p=22 Spanish wines get 342 medals in the last edition of the International Wine Challenge 2009!

Competing against over 9,500 other wines from 41 different countries, Spanish wines stood out from the rest receiving a total of 342 medals. The Spanish wines received 23 Gold Medals, 108 Silver and 211 Bronze Medals. An additional 307 wines received special recommendations from the jury.

Barón de Ley 7 Viñas

The winner in terms of Spanish regions has been the Denominación de Origen Jerez (Protected Designation of Origin Jerez) with 9 different “Sherry” and “Pedro Ximenez” wines: ‘Néctar Pedro Ximenez’, ‘Apóstoles Palo Cortado VORS’, ‘Sandeman Character, Medium Dry Amontillado’, ‘Sainsburys Taste The Difference Amontillado’, ‘Lustau Solera Reserva Oloroso Don Nuño’, ‘Lustau Solera Reserva Moscatel Emilín’, ‘Lustau Almacenista Palo Cortado’, ‘Waitrose Solera Jerezana Fino Sherry’ and ‘Marks and Spencer Manzanilla Sherry’.

The Jerez region was closely followed by the Denominación de Origen Rioja, with 8 Gold Medals: ‘Barón de Ley 7 Viñas 2004’, ‘Inspiración Valdemar Edición Limitada 2004’, ‘Imperial Reserva 2004’, ‘Luis Cañas Reserva Selección de la Familia 2003’, ‘Juan Luis Cañas Reserva Selección de la Familia 2001’, ‘Campo Dorado Reserva 2005’, ‘Campillo Gran Reserva 1995’ and ‘Roda I 2004′.

Finally two wines from the Navarra region (‘Príncipe de Viana Vendimia Tardía de Chardonnay 2007’ y ‘Viña Zorzal 2007’), two from the Priorat region (‘Coma Vella 2006’ y ‘Scala Dei Cartoixa 2006’), one from the Rias Baixas (‘Maior De Mendoza 2007’) and finally one from the well known Ribera del Duero (‘Cillar De Silos 2006’) also received a Gold Medal.

The 26th edition of the well known International Wine Challenge, considered by many the world’s most prestigious wine competition, took place during May in London during two weeks when a total of 370 jury members tasted the wines. The award ceremony will be held in a gala dinner in London next 2nd of September.

Our recommendation: Try the awarded wines from Navarra for great value for money or for a different experience try one of the sweet Pedro Ximenez wines served with a nice blue cheese and toasted bread. Delicious!

Good news for the Spanish Food Lovers in the UK!  A Taste of Spain starts next weekend in London as a celebration of Spanish gastronomy, culture and lifestyle.  In its fourth consecutive year, A Taste of Spain will take place on Sunday the 31st of May, in Regent Street, with great promotions to eat authentic Spanish food, dancing horses in the street, food and wine tasting including two giant paellas, flamenco dancers and fashion and art shows.  The activities will also take place in the Borough Market on Tuesday and Wednesday 2nd and 3rd of June and Edinburgh on the 17th of June.

Great opportunity to visit The Borough Market, definitely one of our favourites in London, and a great place to taste good Spanish food in the Brindisa Tapas Bar.

The events are sponsored by the Spanish Tourist Association, Regent Street Association and The Crown Estate, plus The Borough Market and The Daily Telegraph.

As you would have probably noticed, we have launched a revamped version of our website with more information and recipes and we have also added a blog, so that we can share with you news about Spanish Food and Culture and about La Buena Vida.

Soon we will also be adding an online shop so that all of you that have written to us asking where to find La Buena Vida products in your country can buy them online and get them delivered directly to your doorstep!

We are still reviewing the website so if you see anything or have any suggestions, please let us know!  We would also love to hear your impression about our new site, so please send us your feedback through the Contact Us section of the web.