Hello to all

Last Sunday while my partner in crime here in Spain was on a mission far far away I had the great privilege of being invited to join some good friends for a wine tasting and lunch in Rioja.

Don’t want wine everywhere at this early hour!

The plan was simple. Travel to Tolosa, eat breakfast at the Casa de Locos Sociedad, get on a bus with the Socios de Solana crew, take a beautiful bus ride to Rioja Alavesa, walk around Laguardia, go to Bodegas Vallobera Winery, eat lunch and tase some wine. That was the plan, and that is what we did.

                     At Casa de Loco’s

It may not look pretty but it tastes so good!

I met up with Sonia “Super Women” and head over to the Sociedad for some delicious Tortilla con Chorizo, bread and of course ”it’s never to early” Rioja wine. It was a quick bite to keep us satisfied untill we arrived in the very beautiful village of Laguardia. The bus ride was fun, the entire crew was chatting away so it was a great opportunity for me to catch up on some sleep. It was very obvious when we entered Rioja. The landscape was full of vineyards; whole valleys filled with vines as far as the eye could see.

                     We are in Rioja

                  Valleys filled with vines

Before the arranged lunch and wine tasting, there was a decision made by someone (not sure who, but I think it was a very well thought out one) to stop for a few glasses of Rioja and some Chorizo to wet our appetites and just soak up a little more of the atmosphere here in Rioja Alavesa. Next, we were on to the Bodega. I have to be honest, everything during this day was taking place in Spanish. Though I feel that I can somewhat hold a basic conversation in Spanish, after five months here in Pais Vasco, it was just a bit too much to try to follow what was going on during the tour of the winery. I know that they make a white Rioja, a young Rioja that is less then a year old ,a Rioja Crianza which has been aged at least 2 years old, and a Rioja Reserva that has been aged for at least 3 years. The last three are reds.

                   Barrels of Rioja

And now it was finally time for the main event of the day, lunch accompanied by the bodega’s wine’s. Unfortunately at this point my camera ran out of batteriesso I was unable to get any pic’s, but I will describe what we had pleasure of eating. First, we had some Chistorra, this is much like Chorizo just is encased in a thinner casing. Being in Rioja we were served the world known Piquillo Peppers, these peppers are fire roasted and then peeled by hand, then they where slow cooked to concentrate the sweet flavors of the pepper. Really good! Next we were served scrambled eggs that where loaded with spring mushrooms from Rioja, this dish was great and even greater with the Crianza that we drank with it. To get us ready for the piece de resistance which was a baby lamb, we were served lamb trotters…. first time I had ever had these things. These where the part of the leg that is below the knee of the lamb, really gelatinous, cooked in a liquid with a lot a pimenton and some Chorizo. A different texture then what I normally enjoy but non the less very good. And then the Whole, slow roasted, baby lamb was served. It was ridiculously moist on the inside and had a great crunchy outside. Having been raised in Israel I hold a very close place in my heart for lamb, similar to how most chefs in the states feel about pork (this isn’t to say that I don’t love pork). I like it when the lamb is cooked low and slow and that I can taste the flavor of the lamb. This dish was all that and more. YUM! After some pastries that had been brought with us from Tolosa, some digestifs from Galicia and Single Malt Whisky it was time to move on to the next stop, as we do here in Pais Vasco. Why head home when there is a great spot on the way to have some Gin and Tonic’s overlooking a great view of the beautiful Sierra de Cantabria.

                          The wines!

                          The Lamb!

This was an unforgettable adventure and I need to thank the of Solana 4 Family for really embracing me as one of their own and inviting me to join them on this great day.

                        The Crew

Until next time,

Shalom

Hello to all

After three months at Martin Berasategui the organizers of the Basque Stage offered Ruth and I the opportunity to experience and work with some other typical Basque establishments. The Idea was to give us a more diverse learning experience of Basque cuisne and culture.

This is fridge and show window

My first stop on this new adventure was Solana 4. A small wine & pintxos bar, located in the quaint village of Tolosa. It sits in front of one of the best farmers markets that I have seen. The famous Tinglado farmers market in Tolosa has been running on Saturdays since 1786 and plays an integral role of menus designer, whither it be a pintxo or a full meal.

Cornucopia at the market

Some wild shrooms

Very nice stuff at the market

Solana (as we all call the place) has a small galley-like kitchen. It consists of an induction burner, microwave and salamander. This setup dictates simple, relatively fast, and yet very delicious food. The Super Woman that is in charge of Solana’s food is Sonia. A twelve-year veteran of the locally praised Fronton restaurant (where we will be staging as well) that came on board in October and does it all. She purchases, cleans, and prepares all of the fresh produce. She also takes customers orders, serves the food, cleans all the dishes and repeats it all over again. The rest of the crew is  Leyre, Leyre and Ivan, the bartenders . They fill different shifts throughout the day since the doors open at 7:30 and closes at midnight or later on weekends.

The “kitchen”

Sonia “Super Women”

During the two weeks I spent there I sliced Jamon (here in Spain Jamon is sliced with a long thin knife, while it rests on a Jamonero)and I can assure you I have a lot to improve on this very unique skill. I was thaught how to make very typical basque dishes such as Piparade, Puerro y Patata, Arroz con Leche, and Torrija. I made various pintxos: a great tuna belly on toast with a great pepper and onion vinaigrette, the very typical to Gipozkua Gilda, Revuelto de hongos, Fresh Chorizo poached in sidra, and Morcilla with carmellized red onion to name a few. During lunch and dinner hours people had the option of coming in and having a great fresh meal cooked for them. These meals would normally progress from Jamon, move on to a salad of some sort, normally a tomato salad with canned Tuna, boquerones and the “spread on anything to make it better” sal morejo. After some fresh veggies it is time for some pan roasted ones. A mix of what ever we had would end up roasted and some charred and then possibly a little drizzle of raw egg yolk to create a little sauce. Since it is Spring we did have the great gisantes and people could order those of course. The last course typically would be Beef tenderloin or Solomillo as it is called in this neck of the woods. Not my ideal cut of meat but cooked rare and this stuff had some of the best marbling I had ever seen. If anyone felt that they where in need of a something sweet or fatty to seal the deal, it was a choice of what had been made that day, Arroz con leche, Torrija, or maybe some great Idiazabal cheese from Martinxiki.

Some Pintxos

Tomato Salad with some tuna

Roasted veg with egg yolk

Some nice marbling, real nice for a tenderloin.

My time at Solana was a great opportunity for me to learn hands on about the food and the people who cook it, in a authentic Basque village. Having worked alone for these weeks I was needing to step up my Spanish skills and try to pick up a few Euskara words to put a smile on the locals faces. This has been an eye-opening experience in many ways and as far as i am concerned it was a great choice.

The Boss, Super Women and me

The crew

The adventure continues…..

untill next time

Shalom

Hello to all

about a month and a half ago I had the great opportunity to crash Paris for 38 hours. I was taking a trip to Paris to visit the person in the world I miss most on this great adventure here in Pais Vasco. I was going to be in Paris at 00:00 Monday morning (or sunday night) and leave Paris at 14:00 Tuesday afternoon.

Gaby and I

The trip was super easy. Hop aboard the commuter train just outside the apartment, take it to Hendaya, France, walk 100 meters and get on the TGV to Paris. Round trip in First class was 10 euro more than second and was a great investment. Six comfortable hours after sitting down in my seat I arrived at the Paris Montparnasse station.

oh Paris, you know your pastry!

While Gaby was out working all day having a tough time surveying the bakeries and pastry shops of Paris, I had the opportunity to walk around myslef. I figure I walked around in a big circle that was about 10 kilometers long. It was somewhat of a dreary gray day, which was great, not to hot and not to cold. The great thing about Paris for me , coming from Pais Vasco were the bakeries and pastry shops. With a real lack of good pasty shops in Pais Vasco, I got my fill of the while browsing the City of Lights.

Kev and I

For a very special dinner I had the privilege of being the first Del Posto employee to eat at my good friend Kevin O’Donnell’s new gig, L’Office. a small restaurant in the ninth androssiments (i think). it was a great meal simple but executed perfectly. A nice change for me as I had been thinking of going to one of the big hitters while in Paris for this special occasion. It was reasonably priced, but importantly it was comfortable and delicious.

Here is part of what we ate:

beef carpachio with bone marrow

scallops with apple and bacon

oil poached sea bass with cauliflower and olives

carrot soup with lambs neck

Best chicken ever with root vegtables and liver shhhh

Baby pig with lentils and gribiche

Panna cotta with lime and pineapple

financier with currants and nuts

The next day before heading back to Pais Vasco, I walked around some more and had a great meal at Je The Me, it was a real gem. I had read about the restaurant online and for me it stood up to my expectations. Eating at both of these restaurant has inspired me and given me the hope that one can have a small restaurant where you cook what you want and is comfortable but also profitable.

It was a great adventure that was closer and easier than I would have thought is to be.

Untill next time

Shalom

Hello to all

On train to Saint Jean De Luz

On a cold winter day a few weeks ago ruth and I had a bold idea. We were going to go to France. This might seem odd to some, since we are living in Spain. The truth is that going to France is just a matter of commuting, or should I say taking the commuter train that is 200 meters from our front door to its last stop which is in Hendaye, France. Hendaye is the most southwestern point of France and is on the main French train tracks (6 hours on the TGV and one is in Paris). From Hendaye it was a 10 minute train ride to Saint Jean De Luz.

Oh France, I love your pastry

The idea was really just to get out of the house and go somewhere new. Although, I had another agenda. I was told that this town was the birth place of the magnificent Macaroon, and I was on a mission to eat some.

Not a dull view all day

When we left our house the weather was gray (as it can be for days here) and cold. As we got closer to the French border (or imaginary line that is a border) the weather cleared up and was what is called a blue bird in a ski town . Walking into Saint Jean De Luz it was very clear that this was a summer town. Many of the shops on boardwalk were shut down and it was very quit.

So is it basking or Basquing?

All of this was great for ruth and I as we enjoyed a nap on the sunny little hill at the end of the bay. we walked through some of the residential neighborhoods. Our search for the Macaroon was a little harder than I thought and later I learned why. The Macaroon that was invented here is “The Basque Macaroon” (to Basque that probably means “The Macaroon”). Eventually we found a few bakeries and I definitely got my fill of sweets.Along the way, we also found an awesome cheese shop and a really cool shop that was all canned goods, mostly fish. All in all it was a great day had beautiful weather and had some great snacks. definitely a great adventure

Basque Macaroon

Oh France I love your cheese

Canned goods heaven....

And inside...

Until next time

Shalom