Salad of Raw Red Thistle and Oysters

Ensalada de Cardo Rojo Crudo con Ostras
Túbal
Cuoco: Nicolás Ramírez
Nazionalita: Spain
Localita: 31300 Tafalla (Navarra)
Indirizzo: Plaza de Navarra, 4
(+34) 948700852

This restaurant represents the evolution of popular cuisine in Navarra. A statement that is at its height regarding the elements the local population is the proudest of: vegetables. The menu offers infinite recipes with diversified treatments of every main ingredient. Boiled, fried, sautéed… and raw artichokes served with a wide variety of accompaniments from here and there. As well as winter thistle. This is the most clairvoyant indigenous salad which “dares” to integrate distinguished vegetables from the land: red thistle, artichokes, green beans or mange-tout, chicory, watercress, red chard and arugula, served raw or stripped, sliced and in leaves, seasoned with a delicate and tempered vinaigrette and oyster juice. The whole is topped by a huge oyster that gives oceanity and exquisiteness to the liveliness of the countryside. Nature and naturality in all their splendour.



La Ricetta



Ingredients (4 servings)

  • 4 oysters
  • red thistle
  • 2 artichokes “Blancas de Tudela”
  • 1 chicory
  • green beans
  • 4 purple potatoes
  • watercress
  • red chard
  • extra virgin arbequina olive oil
  • apple vinegar
  • chopped spring onion
  • chervil
  • Maldon salt

Method

 

Open the oysters, remove the shells and set aside with their water.

RED THISTLE. Choose the most tender and youngest ribs, clean and cut them both lengthwise and transversally. Clean and put in water with ice so that the thistle curls and absorbs the oil better.

ARTICHOKES. Peel, slice and cover with extra virgin olive oil and some drops of lemon.

POTATOES. Cut and cook into salted water until tender. Strain and set aside.

GREEN BEANS. Cut in thin strips, cook in water with bicarbonate and salt and cut the cooking with water and ice.

CHICORY. Choose the most tender ribs and clean.

Assembly

 

Mix all the ingredients except the oysters in a bowl. Season with the extra virgin olive oil, the vinegar and the salt. Place the vegetables onto the plate in an aesthetic way, add some Maldon salt crystals and top with the oyster. Make a cream with the oyster juice and the extra virgin olive oil, and add into the salad. Finish with the chopped young onion and the chervil.

Tags:


Fried Artichoke with Pio Negro Jowl, Fresh Mushrooms, Crayfish and Toasted Almonds

Alcachofas Fritas con Papada, Hongos Frescos, Cigala y Almendras
Túbal
Cuoco: Nicolás Ramírez
Nazionalita: Spain
Localita: 31300 Tafalla (Navarra)
Indirizzo: Plaza de Navarra, 4.
(+34)948700852.

This restaurant represents the evolution of popular cuisine in Navarra. A statement that is at its height regarding the elements the local population is the proudest of: vegetables. The menu offers infinite recipes with diversified treatments of every main ingredient. Raw artichoke and red thistle salad, green beans or mange-tout, chicory, watercress, red chard and arugula,… as well as oysters, al dente, stewed with other winter vegetables like white thistle, borage, green beans or mange-tout, together with ham and vegetal velouté sauce. After being cooked at low temperature (vacuum-cooked for 20 minutes with oil and salt at 90º C), the whole is grilled with young garlic and Iberian pork, and then fried. A version that is infinitely more succulent, ostentatious and glamorous due to the magnitude of all the ingredients that accompany the artichoke. A great dish made of crayfish, pork jowl, (meadow) mushrooms and almonds in which the artichoke really does justice to the part it plays in the title.



La Ricetta



 
INGREDIENTS (4 SERVINGS):

• 8 artichokes
• 300 g fresh mushrooms
• Black pork jowl (Pío negro)
• 4 big crayfish
• Slices almonds
• Minced parsley
• Extra virgin olive oil
• Crayfish oil

 

FRIED ARTICHOKES:

Peel the artichokes removing the external hard leaves and the tip, leaving just the heart and the tender leaves. Cut them 1 cm thick, approximately. Slightly coat in flour and fry in extra virgin olive oil at 170º C until the heart is tender and the tips are slightly browned.

PÍO NEGRO PORK JOWL

• 1 jowl
• 500 g coarse salt
• 150 g sweet paprika
• 10 cl chicken and veal broth

Remove the skin of the jowl. Mix the salt with the paprika and cover with the jowl for 3 hours.

After that time, remove the salt and the paprika.

Dehydrate the jowl and put it into a vacuum bag together with the broth. Steam-cook at 75º C for 17 hours.

Once cooked, cool down into water and ice, cut into pieces and slightly brown on the grill.

SAUTÉED MUSHROOMS

Clean the mushrooms and sauté at a high heat with extra virgin olive oil, salt and parsley.

SAUTÉED CRAYFISH:

Peel the crayfish and sauté in a Teflon pan with olive oil so that the external part gets slightly browned. Set aside and add a bit of artichoke broth into the pan to use the juices from the first step.

ARTICHOKE JUICE

Make a crayfish oil with the heads of the animals and vegetables (onion, garlic, carrot and leek). You can crystallize at very low heat to extract all the flavour from the heads or cook into a vacuum bag at 75º C.

Make a roux with this oil and add some artichoke broth as well as the broth obtained to brown the crayfish. Strain in a conical strainer.

TOASTED ALMONDS:

Brown the sliced almonds in a pan with a drop of olive oil or on their own in the oven.

ASSEMBLY:

Place the slice of pork jowl in the centre of a plate and cover with the sautéed mushrooms. Add the fried artichokes and the crayfish. Pour the sauce and spread the toasted almonds.

NOTE: In spring, we use meadow mushrooms instead of fresh wild mushrooms.

Tags:


Fried Artichoke with Pio Negro Jowl, Fresh Mushrooms, Crayfish and Toasted Almonds

Alcachofas Fritas con Papada, Hongos Frescos, Cigala y Almendras
Túbal
Cuoco: Nicolás Ramírez
Nazionalita: Spain
Localita: 31300 Tafalla (Navarra)
Indirizzo: Plaza de Navarra, 4.
(+34)948700852.

This restaurant represents the evolution of popular cuisine in Navarra. A statement that is at its height regarding the elements the local population is the proudest of: vegetables. The menu offers infinite recipes with diversified treatments of every main ingredient. Raw artichoke and red thistle salad, green beans or mange-tout, chicory, watercress, red chard and arugula,… as well as oysters, al dente, stewed with other winter vegetables like white thistle, borage, green beans or mange-tout, together with ham and vegetal velouté sauce. After being cooked at low temperature (vacuum-cooked for 20 minutes with oil and salt at 90º C), the whole is grilled with young garlic and Iberian pork, and then fried. A version that is infinitely more succulent, ostentatious and glamorous due to the magnitude of all the ingredients that accompany the artichoke. A great dish made of crayfish, pork jowl, (meadow) mushrooms and almonds in which the artichoke really does justice to the part it plays in the title.



La Ricetta



 
INGREDIENTS (4 SERVINGS):

• 8 artichokes
• 300 g fresh mushrooms
• Black pork jowl (Pío negro)
• 4 big crayfish
• Slices almonds
• Minced parsley
• Extra virgin olive oil
• Crayfish oil

 

FRIED ARTICHOKES:

Peel the artichokes removing the external hard leaves and the tip, leaving just the heart and the tender leaves. Cut them 1 cm thick, approximately. Slightly coat in flour and fry in extra virgin olive oil at 170º C until the heart is tender and the tips are slightly browned.

PÍO NEGRO PORK JOWL

• 1 jowl
• 500 g coarse salt
• 150 g sweet paprika
• 10 cl chicken and veal broth

Remove the skin of the jowl. Mix the salt with the paprika and cover with the jowl for 3 hours.

After that time, remove the salt and the paprika.

Dehydrate the jowl and put it into a vacuum bag together with the broth. Steam-cook at 75º C for 17 hours.

Once cooked, cool down into water and ice, cut into pieces and slightly brown on the grill.

SAUTÉED MUSHROOMS

Clean the mushrooms and sauté at a high heat with extra virgin olive oil, salt and parsley.

SAUTÉED CRAYFISH:

Peel the crayfish and sauté in a Teflon pan with olive oil so that the external part gets slightly browned. Set aside and add a bit of artichoke broth into the pan to use the juices from the first step.

ARTICHOKE JUICE

Make a crayfish oil with the heads of the animals and vegetables (onion, garlic, carrot and leek). You can crystallize at very low heat to extract all the flavour from the heads or cook into a vacuum bag at 75º C.

Make a roux with this oil and add some artichoke broth as well as the broth obtained to brown the crayfish. Strain in a conical strainer.

TOASTED ALMONDS:

Brown the sliced almonds in a pan with a drop of olive oil or on their own in the oven.

ASSEMBLY:

Place the slice of pork jowl in the centre of a plate and cover with the sautéed mushrooms. Add the fried artichokes and the crayfish. Pour the sauce and spread the toasted almonds.

NOTE: In spring, we use meadow mushrooms instead of fresh wild mushrooms.

Tags:


Fried Artichoke with Pio Negro Jowl, Fresh Mushrooms, Crayfish and Toasted Almonds

Alcachofas Fritas con Papada, Hongos Frescos, Cigala y Almendras
Túbal
Cuoco: Nicolás Ramírez
Nazionalita: Spain
Localita: 31300 Tafalla (Navarra)
Indirizzo: Plaza de Navarra, 4.
(+34)948700852.

This restaurant represents the evolution of popular cuisine in Navarra. A statement that is at its height regarding the elements the local population is the proudest of: vegetables. The menu offers infinite recipes with diversified treatments of every main ingredient. Raw artichoke and red thistle salad, green beans or mange-tout, chicory, watercress, red chard and arugula,… as well as oysters, al dente, stewed with other winter vegetables like white thistle, borage, green beans or mange-tout, together with ham and vegetal velouté sauce. After being cooked at low temperature (vacuum-cooked for 20 minutes with oil and salt at 90º C), the whole is grilled with young garlic and Iberian pork, and then fried. A version that is infinitely more succulent, ostentatious and glamorous due to the magnitude of all the ingredients that accompany the artichoke. A great dish made of crayfish, pork jowl, (meadow) mushrooms and almonds in which the artichoke really does justice to the part it plays in the title.



La Ricetta



 
INGREDIENTS (4 SERVINGS):

• 8 artichokes
• 300 g fresh mushrooms
• Black pork jowl (Pío negro)
• 4 big crayfish
• Slices almonds
• Minced parsley
• Extra virgin olive oil
• Crayfish oil

 

FRIED ARTICHOKES:

Peel the artichokes removing the external hard leaves and the tip, leaving just the heart and the tender leaves. Cut them 1 cm thick, approximately. Slightly coat in flour and fry in extra virgin olive oil at 170º C until the heart is tender and the tips are slightly browned.

PÍO NEGRO PORK JOWL

• 1 jowl
• 500 g coarse salt
• 150 g sweet paprika
• 10 cl chicken and veal broth

Remove the skin of the jowl. Mix the salt with the paprika and cover with the jowl for 3 hours.

After that time, remove the salt and the paprika.

Dehydrate the jowl and put it into a vacuum bag together with the broth. Steam-cook at 75º C for 17 hours.

Once cooked, cool down into water and ice, cut into pieces and slightly brown on the grill.

SAUTÉED MUSHROOMS

Clean the mushrooms and sauté at a high heat with extra virgin olive oil, salt and parsley.

SAUTÉED CRAYFISH:

Peel the crayfish and sauté in a Teflon pan with olive oil so that the external part gets slightly browned. Set aside and add a bit of artichoke broth into the pan to use the juices from the first step.

ARTICHOKE JUICE

Make a crayfish oil with the heads of the animals and vegetables (onion, garlic, carrot and leek). You can crystallize at very low heat to extract all the flavour from the heads or cook into a vacuum bag at 75º C.

Make a roux with this oil and add some artichoke broth as well as the broth obtained to brown the crayfish. Strain in a conical strainer.

TOASTED ALMONDS:

Brown the sliced almonds in a pan with a drop of olive oil or on their own in the oven.

ASSEMBLY:

Place the slice of pork jowl in the centre of a plate and cover with the sautéed mushrooms. Add the fried artichokes and the crayfish. Pour the sauce and spread the toasted almonds.

NOTE: In spring, we use meadow mushrooms instead of fresh wild mushrooms.

Tags:


Charcoal-Grilled Elvers

Angulas a la Brasa
Etxebarri
Cuoco: Bittor Arginzoniz
Nazionalita: Spain
Localita: 48291 Axpe-Marzana. Atxondo. (Vizcaya).
Indirizzo: Plaza San Juan, 1.
(+34)946583042.

We don’t know exactly whether this was the first or one of the first great dishes invented by Bittor Arginzoniz. But what we do know is that this was the one that was most mentioned in the media and that made the chef famous, although it might be just as glorious –or not– as other proposals. It is also the most desired, because elvers are a real myth; a myth that has been anchored to Spanish history and that has become overestimated, like caviar or white truffle. A kind of dream that very few can make come true...
Here starts the series of triple somersaults of the father of the charcoal revolution. Making elvers on embers can be the top of difficulty ever. To execute this feat, Bittor had to create a new tool: a mesh pan that allows to maintain the elvers above the embers without falling and to sweat the wood perfumes in all their splendour. If this deserved a 10/10 by itself, what can we say about the fact of avoiding the traditional treatment consisting in boiling and then sautéing the animals. Here, the elvers are killed with tobacco, meticulously washed and immediately sent to the mesh pan, where they are heated over the embers for one or two minutes, according to the intensity of the fire. While they are being “grilled” and “impregnated” with wood, some chili oil is pulverized on the embers in order to give another touch to the wood and to lubricate the animals, which deliciously slip into the mouth.



La Ricetta



Tags:


Charcoal-Grilled Elvers

Angulas a la Brasa
Etxebarri
Cuoco: Bittor Arginzoniz
Nazionalita: Spain
Localita: 48291 Axpe-Marzana. Atxondo. (Vizcaya).
Indirizzo: Plaza San Juan, 1.
(+34)946583042.

We don’t know exactly whether this was the first or one of the first great dishes invented by Bittor Arginzoniz. But what we do know is that this was the one that was most mentioned in the media and that made the chef famous, although it might be just as glorious –or not– as other proposals. It is also the most desired, because elvers are a real myth; a myth that has been anchored to Spanish history and that has become overestimated, like caviar or white truffle. A kind of dream that very few can make come true...
Here starts the series of triple somersaults of the father of the charcoal revolution. Making elvers on embers can be the top of difficulty ever. To execute this feat, Bittor had to create a new tool: a mesh pan that allows to maintain the elvers above the embers without falling and to sweat the wood perfumes in all their splendour. If this deserved a 10/10 by itself, what can we say about the fact of avoiding the traditional treatment consisting in boiling and then sautéing the animals. Here, the elvers are killed with tobacco, meticulously washed and immediately sent to the mesh pan, where they are heated over the embers for one or two minutes, according to the intensity of the fire. While they are being “grilled” and “impregnated” with wood, some chili oil is pulverized on the embers in order to give another touch to the wood and to lubricate the animals, which deliciously slip into the mouth.



La Ricetta



Tags:


Charcoal-Grilled Elvers

Angulas a la Brasa
Etxebarri
Cuoco: Bittor Arginzoniz
Nazionalita: Spain
Localita: 48291 Axpe-Marzana. Atxondo. (Vizcaya).
Indirizzo: Plaza San Juan, 1.
(+34)946583042.

We don’t know exactly whether this was the first or one of the first great dishes invented by Bittor Arginzoniz. But what we do know is that this was the one that was most mentioned in the media and that made the chef famous, although it might be just as glorious –or not– as other proposals. It is also the most desired, because elvers are a real myth; a myth that has been anchored to Spanish history and that has become overestimated, like caviar or white truffle. A kind of dream that very few can make come true...
Here starts the series of triple somersaults of the father of the charcoal revolution. Making elvers on embers can be the top of difficulty ever. To execute this feat, Bittor had to create a new tool: a mesh pan that allows to maintain the elvers above the embers without falling and to sweat the wood perfumes in all their splendour. If this deserved a 10/10 by itself, what can we say about the fact of avoiding the traditional treatment consisting in boiling and then sautéing the animals. Here, the elvers are killed with tobacco, meticulously washed and immediately sent to the mesh pan, where they are heated over the embers for one or two minutes, according to the intensity of the fire. While they are being “grilled” and “impregnated” with wood, some chili oil is pulverized on the embers in order to give another touch to the wood and to lubricate the animals, which deliciously slip into the mouth.



La Ricetta



Tags:


Rafael García Santos

Lentejas: ¿Qué Tiene que Decir la Alta Cocina?

03/01/2012 - Rafael García Santos

    Ni la cocina tradicional ha hecho de las lentejas, quizás por miserables, nada relevante, ni tampoco la alta cocina, que se ha fijado por meta  sorprender, recurriendo a sabores exóticos inventados más que a una creatividad real y perfeccionista. Por eso hoy, los ingredientes humildes y habituales siguen sin ser el centro en el que fijen los grandes chefs, llamados a atraer las miradas recurriendo a la lejanía, a lo inhabitual, a lo desconocido. Incorporar la universalidad del gusto merece un 10; pero que quede claro que ningún chef  es grande sino sabe marcar la diferencia con un tomate o un café. Las lentejas son un claro ejemplo de cómo  muy pocos cocineros se atreven a magnificar la  cotidianeidad familiar.
    Las lentejas españolas, de la Armuña (Salamanca), son ciertamente buenas, merecen la notabilidad. Eso no quiere decir que las haya mejores, las verdes francesas, lleven el sello “Du Puy, de Berry, o de otros lugares, son en sí mismas muchos más minerales y menos hollejudas, preservando integra la textura, siempre con no se sometan a excesos de cocción. En España quién las   ha tratado y llevado a su culminación es Josean M. Alija “Nerua” en su fórmula  laminas de cebolla roja confitada con caldo de lentejas verdes, aunque solo haya sido en un consume de la legumbre (ver en Grandes Platos; receta incluida). En la variedad  pardina, el ceniz lo ha conseguido otro de los mejores cocineros del país, Nacho Manzano “Casa Marcial”, que si primero destacó   con los callos de  bacalao con brotes de lentejas y agua de pimientos rojos (ver en Bacalaos), que en la actualidad esta en la carta de  “La Salgar”, en Gijón, este último año ha alcanzado la culminación con una receta absolutamente transcendente, también   de bacalao, que conlleva un nuevo corte, titulada pieles, aunque también ofrezca un centímetro de las carnes del pescado en salazón, que están junto a ella,  con lentejas, hongos y jugo de verduras asadas, que hoy  se brinda en Arriondas.
    En la cocina universal, quizás la mayor eminencia, por vivencia con el territorio,  ha sido Regis Marcon, con muchas y brillantes creaciones. A su vez no podemos olvidar el plato de pato - foie gras, confit, aiguilletes, jamón  - que sobre un fondo de lentejas dispuso Joël Robuchon en Jamin. Y mucho menos  las versiones artísticas que del plato con el que Italia celebra la nochevieja ha  llevado  a cabo en la cuna del zampone, Emilia Romana, en concreto Modena, nuestro admirado y querido Massimo Bottura “Osteria Francescana”, la última el  ravioli de cotechino y lentejas.
    Son algunos ejemplos, por supuesto que hay más,  de una alta cocina que suele pretender más impresionar que crear realmente. Quizás el público también tenga su responsabilidad  en cuanto no valore esta pobre   y rica legumbre. Sea como fuere,  no hay mucho con que deleitarse y que encumbrar. El mundo esta por hacer…la imaginación esta conseguirlo.
    Próximamente: tratamiento de las lentejas.
 

  • Pieles de bacalao con Lentejas, Hongos y Jugo de Verduras Asadas "Casa Marcial"
  • Pieles de bacalao con Lentejas, Hongos y Jugo de Verduras Asadas "Casa Marcial"
  • Láminas de Cebolla Roja Confitadas con Caldo de lentejas verdinas "Nerua"
  • Láminas de Cebolla Roja Confitadas con Caldo de lentejas verdinas "Nerua"
  • Raviolis de Cotechino y Lentejas "Osteria Francescana"
  • Raviolis de Cotechino y Lentejas "Osteria Francescana"


8

Zampone Montana Gourmet


Montana Food SpA

Nazionalita: Italia
Localita: 43011 Busseto (PR)
Indirizzo: Via Europa, 14
(+39) 03766801 t
Prezzo: 10,5


 Empresa del Gruppo Cremonini que nos ofrece este Zampone de Modena Igp precocido que se suele comer en invierno y es típico en navidades en compañía de unas lentejas, plato con el que los italianos celebran el cambio de año.
El Zampone emula una pata de cerdo rellena de las carnes picadas del cochino entremezcladas con la grasa. Por tanto, un embutido precocinado, sin curar, tierno, gelatinoso, carnoso, que expresa la contundencia de este animal en su plenitud. Inmensamente sabroso y saciador; 50 gramos llenan como una terrina de foie gras, mucho más si se acompañan de unas lentejas al curry o de polenta, fuera de Italia puede ser con puré de patatas, aunque nosotros recomendamos una berza, repollo o lombarda, cortados en juliana hermosa, cocida en cazuela tapada sin agua y con unas gotas de aceite de oliva durante 10 o 15 minutos; tiempo en el que se dará vuelta tres o cuatro veces.
Las indicaciones de todos los fabricantes indican cocerlo, entre 20 y 30 minutos en la propia bolsa que en que viene con su grasa. Es preferible hacerlo quince minutos; abrirlo, desengrasarlo completamente y meterlo a gratinar a 150º, de esta manera la piel se dora en vez mostrarse extraordinariamente gelatinosa. Es una cuestión de gustos.