SaucyTomayto

An Anglo American discovering Spanish Veggie Food

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Ametsa Spanish restaurant in London

Having been to Ametsa last year on a special offer, I was keen to go back but a bit wary of the price tag. The set lunch for £29 offers an indulgent experience and is worth every penny. Of course, if you add lovely wines on top (as I always do), it can add up, but the wines are not over-priced (£8 will get you a glass of velvety Hito Ribera del Duero)

The official title of the enterprise is ‘Ametsa with Arzak Instruction’ meaning it is a collaboration between Elena Arzak (Veuve Clicquot World’s Best Female Chef in 2012) and with her father Juan Mari Arzak, and Mikel Sorazu, Igor Zalakain and Xabier Gutierrez. The one Michelin Star Basque restaurant is located at The Halkin in London’s Belgravia

I loved the modern yet approachable design (including test tubes of spices suspended from the ceil-ing), and the fact that one wall is all glass overlooking a garden. It’s a slick operation, their system obviously alerts them when a customer has been there before, so they said ‘welcome back’ which was a nice touch

I started with a Marta rose Cava (2013) while eating the pumpkin and sourdough breads with nutty olive oil to dip it in

Next came a trio of starters: gazpacho with chillies and olives, pequillo peppers in salsa and crispy vermicelli noodles with asparagus in a sweetcorn chowder. Everything beautifully presented. I washed this down with a class of oak aged Viura, able to stand up to the chillies

Main course was a creamy dreamy mushroom rice (more akin to a risotto than a paella) with a spicy pepper sauce garnished with goji berry mock chillies – really cute and tasty – with a side salad of root vegetables. This course felt like it needed a glass of the Ribera mentioned above

Dessert was chocolate mousse-like ‘emeralds’ in green with aniseed biscuits held together with cream cheese, accompanied by a super sweet pruney Jerez. Then complimentary after dinner choco-lates shaped like grapes

Refreshing to have a 3-course veggie meal that wasn’t laden with cheese and was consistently artistically presented

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Some useful phrases if you’re a vegetarian in Spain

You might think that merely being able to say ‘soy vegetariana/o’ (I’m a vegetarian) would unlock a world of veggie delights in a restaurant in Spain. Not quite. While it’s a useful opening gambit, to be on the safe side, you will want to be explicit about what you don’t eat. Otherwise you may need to be prepared to pick bits of tuna out of your ensalada (salad – which on the menu had no mention of anything but vegetables) or hand over your tortilla de verduras (vegetable omelet) to your meat-eating partner when it arrives with tiny chunks of jamon (ham) in it

So what you imagined you were getting…

…doesn’t arrive like this

I’m a vegetarian = Soy vegetariana/o (depending on if you’re female or male)

I’m a vegan = Soy vegana/o

I don’t eat meat or fish or seafood or ham or chicken = No como carne ni pescado ni mariscos ni jamon ni pollo

(for vegans) …or cheese or eggs or dairy = ni queso ni huevos ni lacteos

(for lacto-ovo vegetarians)…but I do eat cheese and eggs = pero como queso y huevos (you will note the sigh of relief on many a waiter’s face to hear this)

Is this dish vegetarian? = Este plato es vegetariano?

Completely vegetarian? = Completemente vegetariano?

Is there anything for vegetarians? = Hay algo para vegetarianos?

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Veggie friendly Oliva Beach hidden gem

Hidden down a dusty road heading towards the sea, PlaceBo feels like a Caribbean beach shack, with a chilled atmosphere and friendly Romanian owners (one of whom is an artist, so check out the fanciful wall murals inside, even if you’ve wisely chosen to sit on the leafy veranda)

The menu is a happy combination of Greek, Italian and Spanish dishes – with plenty of veggie choices (vegans will have to ask to leave cheese out of a lot of the dishes, but will love the crunchy al dente grilled vegetables) – all clearly marked

We were with friends, so shared a bunch of dishes including super-thin and crispy pizza, garlic mushrooms (a bit confusingly called ‘baked mushrooms’ on the menu), goats cheese salad (the goats cheese served on tostadas over crunchy lettuce and drizzled with balsamico)

The fishy boys had calamari, pescadito frito (small fried fish) and the local meat delicacy of frigatells – which you won’t want to read about here!

Here is the link to their reviews on Trip Adviser :                                            Placebo Restaurant @ Terranoba Beach in Oliva, Spain

Here is the link to find them on Facebook:                                                                  PlaceBo – Rumboalmar

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Using guacamole to make ‘pizza’

Too tired and not hungry enough to go out for dinner on our last holiday in Spain, I concocted my version of a tostada with guacamole (or guacamole pizza). I started with the tried and tested guacamole recipe that I’ve been making for over 30 years. If the avocados are ripe, you can’t really go wrong. Judge the amounts based on your own tastes – we love spicy, so I use 3-4 jalapenos

Ingredients to make about 4 large tostadas

Guacamole

Juice of one fresh lime 2 large dessert spoons of chopped coriander/cilantro 1 tablespoon of finely chopped tomato (just to give a bit of colour) 2-3 chopped spring onions/scallions (or 1 tbsp very finely chopped white onion) 1-4 Jalapenos or other hot chillies, chopped Drizzle of extra virgin olive oil 2 avocados* Tostadas

Toasted sliced country bread, left to cool a bit (so the bread doesn’t go soft when you put the guacamole on top) Soft cheese to top (Monterrey Jack or queso de tetilla – yes, boob cheese! - if you’re in Spain)

Mix all the guacamole ingredients EXCEPT the avocados together in a bowl. The longer you leave it sit, the spicier it gets

Prepare the avocados:

*The way they prepare avocados at Rosa Mexicano in NYC works a treat: (How to make Guacamole by Rosa Mexicano):

Cut each avocado in half, working the knife blade around the pit. Twist the halves to separate them and flick out the pit with the tip of the knife. Fold a kitchen towel in quarters and hold it in the palm of your “non-knife” hand. Rest an avocado half cut side up in your palm and make 3 or 4 evenly spaced lengthwise cuts through the avocado flesh down to the skin, without cutting through it. Make 4 crosswise cuts in the same way. If you prefer it less chunky, mash it a bit with a fork

Scoop the diced avocado flesh into the bowl with the rest of the ingredients and mix

You can eat as is with tortilla chips, pita chips or crudité. In this case, I continued on to make the tostadas:

Spread on the cooled toasted break as thick or thin as you like (I like it very thick), top with grated or cubed cheese. Bake or grill/broil at about 220C/425F until cheese bubbles and turns golden

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MY FIRST ENCOUNTER WITH ROMESCO SAUCE

When we were in Tarragona last year, I had my first taste of this wonderfully rich sauce (which is vegan) on a salad in the very town in which it was invented, sitting out on the main square, washed down with a crisp Cava

Turns out it’s one of the oldest sauces in Spain, going back to Roman times. It is said that the fishermen of the area made it in a mortar and pestle to eat with the local catch of the day

The most famous way to eat it is as an accompaniment for charred calçots (large spring onions). In the absence of calcots, I grilled normal sized spring onions along with a bunch of other vegetables like courgettes and put those on a bed of salad leaves

Ingredients

1 large roasted red bell pepper (from a jar or done yourself in the oven*)

1 garlic clove, smashed

¼ cup slivered almonds, toasted

¼ cup hazelnuts, toasted

¼ cup tomato purée

2 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley

2 tablespoons sherry vinegar

1 teaspoon smoked paprika

½ teaspoon cayenne pepper

½ cup extra-virgin olive oil

Fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

*Easy way to roast any peppers is to place whole on baking tray in a pre-heated oven at 250C/400F until it is blackened but not burned – it takes about 15 mins. Carefully pick it up by the stem and put it in a plastic bag, tie it shut and leave hanging somewhere until cool. When you open it, the skin will easily peel off. Discard seeds and stem

Method

Pulse first 9 ingredients in a food processor until very finely chopped. With motor running, slowly add oil; process until smooth. Season with salt and pepper. Cover and chill

I find the traditional consistency a bit thick for my liking, so I add a bit of water

Can be made 1 week ahead

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TASTING THE BEST OLIVE OIL IN SPAIN

Went to my first extra virgin olive oil tasting hosted by Mar de Olivos www.mardeolivos.co.uk at the wonderful Arbina tapas bar near Warren Street in London www.arbina.co.uk 

Surprising how similar it is to tasting wine. You first swirl it about to release the aromas, then smell it, then taste a tiny bit while sucking air in through your teeth and coat your entire mouth with it to release both the sweet and bitter flavours

The session was packed with information, but here are my highlights:

Extra virgin olive oil is full of antioxidants and anti-inflammatory properties – a natural ibuprofen

Good taste attributes are: artichoke, almond, tomato, camomile, citrus, eucalyptus, floral, herbs, fig, banana, apple, pear

Bad attributes (which you can smell in an instant) are: musty, vinegar, metallic

Turns out bitter is actually good in an olive oil as it brings out the flavours of bland foods – but you’re still looking for balance

The less time between picking and pressing, the better. The Picual we tasted had been pressed within a few hours of being picked

Keep reading

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Enjoying a tea made of #hierbabuena in the small fishing village of Arrieta (Lanzarote) 🍵 This tea is used as body pain reliever. It’s very good for headache, stomach ache and toothache #tea #teatime #sunset #healthbenefits #yerbabuena #medicinalproperties #veggie #veggiefood #spanishfood #saucytomayto #blog #blogger