In the north-west of Spain lies a region that would fit happily into the heartland of Western England or the UK. It is the province of Galicia and its lush pastureland forms the final stretch of the Camino of St James which takes us to its heart at Santiago de Campostela. The food is certainly Spanish but with its own distinctive take. For me walking the 100km section of the camino from the Portuguese border at Tui, it is a super opportunity to take in the sights, smells and taste of the area. So forget paellas but say hello to other great seafood dishes. Here is the home of tender-cooked octopus and cake with plenty of potatoes and tapas to rival Seville.
Galicia is a region that tops Portugal and is bounded by the Atlantic Ocean. No Mediterranean cuisine here! They also love stews and enjoy some very fine wines in Alberino. All the hotels, the converted pazos or country mansions, restaurants and tapas bars have their own variants on Galician cuisine.
The sea is ever present in Galician cuisine. The oceans are a great reservoir of food for the Galician and it’s no surprise that the iconic dishes usually involve something from the Atlantic shore.
First off is the king of molluscs, the octopus. It makes you wonder if there are any left but Galicians swear by their succulence and taste. It’s cooked Galician style and is easy to prepare. You need a combination of potatoes and plenty of oomph from sprinkled paprika.
Octopus is quite an advanced mollusc. Look for Galician Almejas a la Marinera because this is all about fresh clams in a great tasting sauce. The Marinara sauce is a red sauce made with fresh tomatoes, paprika, onion, garlic. It is unique to the area of the Rias Baixas. The wine has to be Albariño white wine. It is the traditional dish of religious festivals.
Pork
When we discuss meat then pork is pretty much essential. It’s the case around most of Spain and there are standard culinary offers all round the area. One that epitomises Galician food is lacón. This is a savoury cooked ham hock or pork shoulder which is needed for a wider gallego preparation called lacón with turnip tops (Lacón con grelos). The turnip tops are common in Galicia and have a distinctive bitter, slightly sulphurous taste. Both greens and ham are boiled together to be traditionally served with potatoes and chorizo sausages. All these ingredients tell you this is going to be a gut buster – more kindly a hearty dish and definitely one for winter fare.
Check out zorza which is minced pork meat that is also found in chorizos. It’s usually served with potatoes and plenty of paprika but the meat can also be made into an empanada.
As you move away from the coast, sausages take over from seafood. Many types from dried to smoked are available. The remaining parts of the pig such as bacon, feet or trotters, snout, cheeks etc. also find their way into those great stews.
The Galicians have special affection for veal. For some it’s more important than pork. Veal is controlled by the designation of origin Ternera gallega. There are countless veal recipes including tenderloin and stews which all use this meat. You can also find ox and kid which are roasted as are various forms of poultry including roosters, chicken and capons.
Winter is marked out by stew. The great caldo gallego is one of beans with cabbage.
Empanadas
Empanadas gallega is a common flat meat pie which doesn’t mean it’s something to stick your nose up at. It looks like your typical rectangular pie of thick pastry, rather like puff pastry, which is then cut up into sections. The filling is usually meat but also fish and other seafood but always with a liberal lashing of onion and pepper, and plenty of spice, usually paprika. The crust is one of the best for being crunchy with a crisp finish. I think it’s a great snack or something to take away on a picnic and if you can find the more unusual types then just dip in.
The original actually started in Portugal and Galicia but is nowadays thought of as Latin American. I believe the Spanish versions are much bigger and flatter then their Argentinian or Uruguayan counterparts. Restaurants always have their own versions but it all depends on the day as to what the filling might be. Those closer to the estuaries and shoreline will choose fish depending on what has been caught that day. Tuna seems a nice choice.
Cheese
All the cheeses are from cow. The most tasty and distinctive is teta gallega and tetilla. Tetilla is pale yellow with a creamy spreadable texture. It has a high fat content: 25%. The flavour is mild and buttery with a slight bitter tang. In Galicia, the shape is best described as ‘small breast’ because it is made in the shape of a pear-shaped cone and a nipple on top. There should be no rind. It takes between 10 and 30 days to develop the cheese. The longer, the more bitter. It can still be eaten with membrillo
Vegetables are key sides. The most famous is the pepper from Padron. It has its own denomination (denominacion de origen). These small peppers when grown in the UK always seem to be extremely hot when they are cooked. In Spain they are grown to be sweet and mildly hot only. They always seem harmless until one passes through the net and becomes extremely hot. As the Spaniards say ‘O los pimientos de Padron; unos pican, y otros no‘ meaning ‘Oh the peppers of Padron; some of them bite and some of them dont’.
Desserts
The most famous dessert of the region and the one perhaps most closely associated with the way of St James is tarta de Santiago. This almond cake is marked out by the cross of St James which is stencilled on top of this cake.
Alcohol is marked by five designations of origin. The most important is Ribeiro but the white wine of the region is Albariño. This is a white grape variety growing widely in northwest Spain (Galicia) and northwest Portugal (Monção and Melgaço) where it produces many types of white wines. The Albariño white wine is fresh and light, quite high in acidity but with a floral aromatic character. The aroma is apricot and melon, with some honeysuckle and peach undertones. They are wines to be paired with seafood.
The Galician liquors and liqueurs are orujo which is a traditional spirit needed for the traditional queimada or flamed spirit with sugar.
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