Guardamar, on the Costa Blanca in sunny Spain Guardamar, on the Costa Blanca in sunny Spain

Guardamar Information

Giving information for Guardamar

Spanish food and Spanish recipes

Semana Gastronómica - Gourmet Week in Guardamar

For the past five years Guardamar Town Hall has sponsored a week of fine dining in Guardamar. A group of restaurants form the Asociación de Restauradors de Guardamar which provides the food. Nine restaurants currently belong to the association. These are El Jardin, Jaime, La Cañada Playa, La Nostra Pizza, La Saranda, La Vuelta, Manolo, Marjal and the Rincón de Pedro.

The sixth annual week runs from the 7th to the 13th June 2010 and is called the Semana Gastronómica de la Nyora I el Llagostí. The Nyora is a dried sweet red pepper that is local to Guardamar and Llagostí are large prawns. The ñora and the llagostí are included in the feast served at each restaurant. There are up to six courses of food all beautifully presented and quite exquisite to eat. Red , white and desert wines are included which gives the diner the opportunity to taste Spanish wines of a quality that we do not see in the house wines we drink with our Menú del Día.

The price of the meals including everything is 36€ plus VAT at 7%. The price of a comparable meal in England would probably be a £100 or more.

The town hall produces a glossy brochure containing the menus for all of the meals and beautiful pictures of the food. There are also less glamorous brochures including one in English. Copies can be acquired from the participating restaurants.

If you are lucky enough to be in Guardamar during the second week in June and you want to have a special dining experience then this is your chance.

Traditional Spanish food is influenced by the Greek, Roman, Phoenician and Moorish settlements, and typical Spanish food is not only about tortillas and paella, the immense variety of Spanish food recipes is enough to satisfy anyone. Allow us to introduce you to some of Spain's gastronomic delights and acquaint you with some of the traditional Spanish food menus.
 

Update - 11th June
Last night Jill and I went to the Rincón de Pedro to enjoy their contribution to the Setmana Gastronómica. We chose the Rincón de Pedro because it was an all sea-food menu and this made it interesting.

The first course was salad with smoked salmon, crispy octopus and I think very young baby eels. They are called "gulas" on the menu but according to the dictionary this means greed! Very flavourful. It had a vinaigrette sauce flavoured with the ñora (the local mild red pepper).

The second course consisted of langoustines simply cooked keeping all of their natural flavour.

The third course was a pair of brochettes supporting cherry tomatoes, prawns, pieces of fish and mussels served with olive oil suffused with the flavour of the ñora. Very good

The fourth course, and the star part of the meal, was monk fish served in a thick sauce accompanied by clams and new potatoes. Monk fish is a great fish to eat. It is very ugly when you see it on the fish counter. Its head constitutes sixty percent of its body. About 30 years ago fishermen tossed them back in the sea then it was discovered the flesh was similar in texture to lobster and prawns. As a result it was packaged up and sold in catering packs and much of the scampi sold twenty years ago was actually monk fish. Nowadays chefs have realised how good monk fish is and it is now as expensive as Dover sole and turbot. Monk fish is very good for people who are nervous about fish bones - it has no bones at all.

The monk fish at the Rincón de Pedro was wonderful. The sauce was like a very deeply flavoured Spanish fish soup and the texture of the fish was superb.

The fifth course was postre (pudding). A choice of a chocolate confection or a coconut flan with fruit.

The coffee was excellent. We drank white wine through out the meal. It was Blanco Adelum Esencia del Mediterráneo and had a very good flavour that complimented the food beautifully.

We are looking forward to Saturday when we are going to Jaimes.


The above (plus the sidenote below) was submitted by George Macleod, one of our favourite helpers for helping to keep this information website as up-to-date as possible.

"My wife and I have eaten there for the past two years. and propose to visti two of the restaurants this year. In 2008 we went to La Saranda where the food was exceptional. We also went to Manolo's which was not so good. In 2009 we went to La Saranda again and the food was similarly very good and we also went to Jaime's which was exquisite. The message i think is to choose a normally expensive restaurant which is used to producing high quality food and not to choose a more day to day restaurant which tries to raise its game and may not succeed. After all the meals are all the same price.

This year we plan to go Jaime's again and also to the Rincon de Pedro."

If anyone else would like to become one of our famous helpers, (there's no financial incentives, but you do get a nice, warm feeling from helping others!), just email to Helpers@GuardamarInformation.com
 

Traditional Spanish food
Garlic, olives, plus sweet and hot peppers are important ingredients in most Spanish recipes. Meat, poultry, game and fish also feature prominently in traditional Spanish food recipes. Savory pies and rice dishes are meals in themselves. The Basque country features fish dishes principally, such as fish soup, garlicky baby eels, squid, and a variety of dried cod dishes. The seafood from the Galicia region is famous as are the casseroles from Cataluna. Cataluna is a premier Spanish region that boasts of gastronomical delicacies - which includes seafood zarzuela, fine sausages and regional sauces. The rice dishes are a specialty of Valencia and surrounding regions of Spain. While Andalucia is known for its fried fish and gazpacho, central Spain is renowned for its succulent roast recipes.

Spanish breakfast's are generally light. Most Spanish breakfasts consists of coffee and a croissant or roll. Tortillas or omelettes are also eaten for breakfast. The lunch (la comida) and the dinner (la cena) menus are fairly elaborate. The Spanish Tapas or snacks are popular. A Tasca or Tapas bar is a place where most Spaniards relax at the end of the day. The traditions of Tapas or snacks that accompany a wine or alcoholic drink dates back to a Spanish king. Spanish Tapas menus can encompass simple dishes made of cheese and eggs or more elaborate canapés, dips and savory pastries.

Spanish menu
An important specialty Spanish food is jamon Serrano which is a special ham that is salt-cured. This type of Spanish ham is not smoked. Sausages are also very popular in the Spanish diet. Chorizo and Salchichon are examples of hard sausages while sobrasada is a soft and spreadable sausage. A Spanish menu is accompanied by a Spanish red wine. The Rioja and Montilla are famous, though there are many varieties of tintos, blancos and rosadas. Salads and fried potatoes come as entrees in a typical Spanish food menu. Desserts are made of eggs, ground almonds, flour and milk.

List of Spanish tapas :
Albondigas - Meatballs
Alitas de pollo - Chicken wings
Almejas - Clams
Berenjenas horneadas - Roasted aubergines
Butifarra - Sausage from Catalunya
Calamares - Battered squid
Callos - Tripe
Caracoles - Snails
Chistorra - Spicy sausage
Chopitos -  Small cuttlefish fried in batter
Chorizo al vino - Spicy sausage pan-fried in red wine
Cogollos fritos - Lettuce fried in garlic and oil
Criadillas - Bull's testicles
Costillas - Ribs
Croquetas - Croquettes, normally with ham, chicken or cod
Diablitos picantes - Mini hamburgers
Escombros - Fry up of bits of small squid.
Figatell - Speciality of Valencia meatballs of pork and liver
similar to faggots
Gambas pil pil - Sizzling Prawns in Olive Oil and Garlic
Gambas rebozadas - Battered prawns
Huevos de codorniz - Quail's eggs
Jamon serrano - Spanish ham
Judias blancas - Butterbeans and whole cloves of garlic in a
white wine vinegar
Longaniza blanca - Normal sausage colour but not as spicy as longaniza roja
Longaniza roja - A speciality of Aragon, red spicy pork  sausage
Magro - Pork in a paprika/tomato style sauce
Manitas de cerdo - Pig's trotters
Mejillones - Mussels
Merluza a la Romana - Hake with a very thin batter
Morcilla - Black pudding
Muslitos de mar - A croquette of crab-like meat skewered on a crab claw
Orejas de Cerdo - Pig's ear
Patatas a lo pobre - Potatoes with onions and peppers
Patatas alioli - Potatoes in a garlic mayonnaise
Patatas bravas - Potatoes in a spicy sauce
Pinchito - Kebab
Pollo al ajillo - Chicken in garlic
Queso Manchego - Manchego cheese in varying degrees of maturity
Rabo de Toro - Bull's tail or oxtail
Sepia - Cuttlefish
Sesos - Brains, usually lamb or calf
Tortilla Espanyola - Spanish potato omelette but can also have peas, ham etc


Spanish recipes :

Gazpacho
The Gazpacho is Spains varied speciality and there's probably as many versions of Gazpacho, as there are towns and villages in Spain.
Below, for another variation of Gazpacho, you'll see a recipe for Gazpacho Spanish food and Spanish recipes Gazpachofrom one of our regular visitors to this website for Guardamar, Reg, from Canvey Island, Essex, England.

1 Kilo very ripe tomatoes
1.5 Tablespoons wine vinegar
2 Tablespoons Olive oil
Half teaspoon cumin seed crushed
2 Cloves of garlic (crushed)
Small piece of cucumber (diced)
Half a small green pepper (de-seeded and shredded)
2 Spring onions (sliced)
1 Tablespoon chopped mint
2 Tablespoons course brown breadcrumbs
750ml ice cold water
12 Ice cubes
Salt and black pepper
Liquidise the tomatoes, sieve and pour them into a soup bowl, adding all the other ingredients except the water, ice cubes, mint and breadcrumbs.
Sprinkle the mint and breadcrumbs over the gazpacho.
As an accompaniment, pass round small dishes of sliced onions, black olives, diced cucumber, shredded green pepper and chopped hardboiled eggs.


Paella
Paella Valenciana (Paella is a traditional rice dish of Spain - made with seafood, chicken, rabbit or vegetables. The rice you use in your paella depends on your preference - whole grain rice or wild rice or the short grained Spanish rice which is used foSpanish food and Spanish recipes Paellar traditional Spanish rice dishes.)
Below, for another variation of Paella, you'll see a recipe for Paella from one of our regular visitors to this website for Guardamar, Jill, from Bramley, Leeds, England.

4 cups of rice
8 cups of stock
8 - 10 each of prawns and mussels
200 gm of shrimps
2 tomatoes chopped
3 -4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
Few strands of saffron
Olive oil
Sauté garlic in a pan with little olive oil. Add tomatoes,  shrimps and saffron then cook till soft. Add rice and stock and salt and cook for about 20 minutes. Add prawns and mussels and cook for a few minutes more with a lid.


Tortilla
If you like the taste of french fries, you'll love the Spanish tortilla. When made correctly, the Spanish tortilla is a delicious half-inch thick "cake" of fried potatoes mixed with fried eggs and onions. After cooking, the tortilla can be cut into pizza-like triangleSpanish food and Spanish recipes Tortillas to serve 4-6 people, or cut into squares to give a whole group a bite-sized toothpick sample.
Below, for another variation of Tortilla, you'll see a recipe for Tortilla from one of our regular visitors to this website for Guardamar, Wendy, from Clifton, Nottingham, England.

1 cup olive oil
four large potatoes (peel and cut into small pieces about 2mm thick)
salt to taste
one large onion, thinly sliced
four large eggs.

Some people add thin slices of red pepper together with the onion.

Heat the olive oil in a 9-inch skillet, add potato pieces, one slice at a time so that they don't stick. Alternate layers of potato and onion. Cook slowly, medium flame. Do not fry!! Turn occasionally until potatoes are tender, but not brown. They must be loose, not "in a cake".

Beat the eggs in a large bowl with a fork. Salt to taste. Drain potatoes. Add potatoes to beaten eggs, pressing them so that the eggs cover them completely. Leave for 15 minutes, then heat 2 tbsps of the olive oil in a large skillet. Add potato-egg mixture, spreading quickly. Lower the heat to medium-high. Shake pan to prevent sticking (very important!!) When potatoes start to brown, put a plate on top skillet and flip to cook other side, adding another tbsp of oil. Brown on the other side. Can flip three or four times for better cooking.

If you know of any other typical Spanish food, or you have any Spanish recipes, just email details to :
Spanish-Food@GuardamarInformation.com

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