Basque cuisine is not just food; it is a fundamental element of its culture and lifestyle. Its rich tradition and ability to innovate while maintaining the essence of local flavors have made Basque cuisine one of the most recognized and admired in Spain.
Its proximity to the Bay of Biscay deeply influences this cuisine, making marmitako, its famous stew of albacore tuna with potatoes, peppers, and onions, bacalao al pil-pil (cod in pil-pil sauce), merluza a la koskera (hake in Koskera sauce), and kokotxas en Salsa Verde (hake cheeks in green sauce) some of its most emblematic dishes.
But it's not only the sea that defines Basque gastronomy. Its vegetable gardens also stand out for offering high-quality products such as Ibarra chili peppers, Tolosa beans, and Gernika peppers.
However, if there is one representative symbol of the Basque Country, it is its pintxos, a symbol of Basque gastronomic culture famous thanks to the "txikiteo" tradition, which consists of going from bar to bar with friends, trying pintxos, and accompanying them with a glass of wine, txakoli, or cider.
One of the most iconic and recognizable pintxos is la gilda, a pintxo originally made with olives, anchovies, and guindilla peppers, born in San Sebastián's bars around 1940. And it is precisely this gilda that has inspired our chef Javier Ruiz, who reinvents this traditional pintxo in this recipe with a surprising version that explodes on the palate: Olive spherification with anchovies, boquerones, and piparras.
THE TRAVELING ANCHOVY IN... THE BASQUE COUNTRY
INGREDIENTS
To make this recipe you will need:
- Pujadó Solano Anchovy
- Pujadó Solano Boquerón (White Anchovy)
- Olive spherification
- Packaged piparras (mild green peppers)
If you prefer to prepare the olive spherification at home, following Chef Ferrán Adriá's technique, you will also need:
- 500 g of pitted olives
- 0.4 g of Xanthan gum
- 0.6 g of gluconolactate or calcium chloride
- 3.8 g of sodium alginate
- Mineral water
- 0.4-degree olive oil
- ½ cinnamon stick
- Lemon peel
- Star anise
PREPARATION
To prepare the olive spherifications, you can follow Ferrán Adriá's recipe steps:
- Chop the olives, remove the pits, and blend them with an immersion blender.
- Place the blended olives on a cloth, close it tightly, and squeeze to drain the liquid thoroughly. You will need to obtain about 200 ml of liquid.
- Add the calcium gluconolactate to the liquid and whisk the mixture until it is completely dissolved.
- Add the Xanthan gum and whisk the mixture again. Once whisked, cover the container and refrigerate for 24 hours.
- In a separate container, mix the water with the sodium alginate and whisk until completely dissolved. Strain the mixture, cover it, and refrigerate for 24 hours.
- The next day, place the oil, half a cinnamon stick, a piece of lemon peel, and chopped star anise in an airtight jar.
- Separately, pour the alginate base into a bowl. Fill a 5 ml spoon with olive liquid to make each sphere and pour it into the alginate base, where you should let it rest for 3 minutes.
- Remove the sphere from the mixture with a slotted spoon to drain it well, and pass it through a plate with water to rinse it.
- Drain the spheres and add them to the jar with the oil until you are ready to use them.
To make the Olive spherification with anchovies, boquerones, and piparras:
- Cut the anchovies into pieces.
- Cut the boquerones into pieces.
- Cut the piparras into pieces.
- Place an olive spherification on an appetizer spoon and add a piece of anchovy, a piece of boquerón, and a piece of piparra.
- Drizzle the spoon with some of the liquid from the gilda preserve.
