THE TRAVELING ANCHOVY IN...
Basque Country
The gastronomy of the Basque Country is not only food, but also a fundamental element of its culture and lifestyle. Its rich tradition and its ability to innovate, while maintaining the essence of local flavours, has made Basque cuisine one of the most recognised and admired in Spain.
The proximity to the Cantabrian Sea has a profound influence on this cuisine, making marmitako, its famous stew of albacore tuna with potatoes, peppers and onions, cod pil-pil, hake a la koskera or kokotxas in Salsa Verde, some of its most emblematic dishes.
But it is not only the sea that marks Basque gastronomy. Its orchard also stands out for offering high quality products such as chillies from Ibarra, beans from Tolosa or peppers from Gernika.
However, if there is something representative of the Basque Country, it is its pintxos, a symbol of Basque gastronomic culture famous thanks to the tradition of “txikiteo”, which consists of visiting bars with friends, tasting pintxos and accompanying them with a glass of wine, txakoli or cider.
One of the most iconic and recognisable pintxos is the gilda, a pintxo originally made up of olives, anchovies and chilli peppers that was born in the bars of San Sebastian around 1940. And it is precisely the 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, anchovies and piparras.
THE TRAVELING ANCHOVY IN...
Basque Country
INGREDIENTS
To make this recipe you need:
- Anchovy Gildas Pujadó Solano
- Gildas de boquerón Pujadó Solano
- Olive spherification
If you prefer to prepare the olive spherification at home, following the technique of Chef Ferrán Adriá, you will also need:
- 500 g pitted olives
- 0.4 g xanthan gum
- 0.6 g gluconolactate or calcium chloride
- 3.8 g sodium alginate
- Mineral water
- Olive oil 0.4 degrees
- 1/2 cinnamon stick
- Lemon peel
- Star anise
INSTRUCTIONS
To prepare the olive spherifications, you can follow the steps in Albert Adriá’s recipe:
- Chop the olives, removing the pit and crush them with a blender.
- Place the crushed olives on a cloth, close it on itself and squeeze to drain the broth well. You will need to get about 200ml of broth.
- Add the calcium gluconolactate to the broth and whisk the mixture until completely dissolved.
- Add the xanthan gum and whisk the mixture again. Once beaten, cover the container and keep it in the fridge for 24 hours.
- In a separate bowl, mix the water with the sodium alginate and whisk it until it is completely dissolved. Strain the mixture, cover it, and keep it in the fridge 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 5ml spoon of olive stock 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 spoon of holes, so that it drains well, and pass it through a plate with water to wash 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, anchovies and piparras:
- Cut the anchovies into pieces.
- Cut the anchovies into pieces.
- Cut the piparras into pieces.
- Put an olive spherification on an appetizer spoon and add a piece of anchovy, a piece of anchovy and a piece of piparra.
- Sprinkle the spoon with a little of the liquid from the gildas preserve.
