The second weekend of march it was celebrated the 4th Festast at Tortosa, an exhibition of gastronomical products from the Terres de l'Ebre.
Amongst the acts of the fest, saturday 14th it vas the "Dia Cuina"... And, as usual in other chances, there was a gastroblogger meeting organized by Cuina marazine. As in a meeting of this type, it was a pleasure to put faces at everyone you read or discover blogs that you did not hear about until that time.
Everything began at 10 a.m. at Tortosa fair, where a bus picked us up and carried us to a gastronomical treasure: CREO chocolate factory. Once there, Xavi Benet, introduced us in the world of artisan chocolate production. A wonder! But let me not to explain at all now about this visit, because it deserves an only post. Passion at explanations of Xavi and the attention of his family cannot be diluted in a post with the other activities of the day.
Next we went to Tortosa Market, a wonderful s. XIX building where still there is a traditional market environment. We stopper in front of Sorolla, experts cod sellers who, later, would have importance at the fair. There we sar a complete map of cod world.
Although building refurbishment was 18 years ago, according the words of a seller, it is very well preserved, because it seems the refurbishment was quite recent.
Festast was the last stop.
There was no many people because we arrived when the fair was almost open, so we could have a walk with calm and watch the different stands with equipment, food, beverages, restaurant exhibitions...
There was a place for a Xocolates CREO exhibition, where it could be seen a little tour by this chocolate maker's history. We were lucky to find there Cinta, Xavi's wife, and listen her to talk about chocolate and life around it.
The main dish of the day was the set of showcookings prepared.
To start,the Escola Via Magna, with Joan Forcadell at the head introduced us to the Sephardic cooking (from the jews of Iberian peninsula and Northern Africa) with two recipes we could find on a table during Sabbat: Almodrote and Djadjik. The first one is a cold recipe where roasted egg-plant joins two kind of cheese, all dressed with olive oil and herbs. The second one, is a yoghourt and cucumber soup... Yes, like Greek Tztatziki..., but did not notice similarities when you read the name mentally?
Immediately, Carles Tejedor appeared on scene for talking about olive oil, because of a personal project that, it seems, started during a visit to Harvard pushed by Ferran Adrià: Oilab. I és que a l'universitat nord-americana va parlar sobre la difícil gelatinització de l'oli... This was the spark of a creative and researcher process that still continues. Fruit of this project it was a curious olive oil jelly.
The third showcooking of Dia Cuina also had number 3 as star, because David Caballero (who shared the morning with us) cooked three recipes from three areas that like cod: Cod à Bras (from Portugal), Bizkaia style cod (from Basque Country). While the three recipes were executed, Paco Sorolla, from Sorolla, guided us by the "cod world".
Miguel Ángel Roque (from Pimientos Verdes blog) gave the blogger touch of the day, cooking a pie with apple and a risotto with Romesco sauce. While he was cooking, he was talking about his experience in front of the stoves, the computer and as author of cooking books.
The ending of the day, as any meal, was sweet. On stage appeared Joan Forcadell again with the masters of Pastisseria Pallarés who cooked a mousse of Garrofetes del Papa and a Banda de Brossat.
With the mousse, they updated a typical product from Tortosa since s.XVI, made to feed Benet XIII d'Avinyò, the Antipope "Luna".
The Banda de Brossat, is a sweet bread filled with Brossat, a cottage cheese from Terres de l'Ebre. This time, it was released in two versions: one of Brossat, simply, and another of Brossat with violet, in which cheese was dressed with the scent and flavour of the flower.
No doubt: it was a day... to repeat.
Amongst the acts of the fest, saturday 14th it vas the "Dia Cuina"... And, as usual in other chances, there was a gastroblogger meeting organized by Cuina marazine. As in a meeting of this type, it was a pleasure to put faces at everyone you read or discover blogs that you did not hear about until that time.
Everything began at 10 a.m. at Tortosa fair, where a bus picked us up and carried us to a gastronomical treasure: CREO chocolate factory. Once there, Xavi Benet, introduced us in the world of artisan chocolate production. A wonder! But let me not to explain at all now about this visit, because it deserves an only post. Passion at explanations of Xavi and the attention of his family cannot be diluted in a post with the other activities of the day.
Next we went to Tortosa Market, a wonderful s. XIX building where still there is a traditional market environment. We stopper in front of Sorolla, experts cod sellers who, later, would have importance at the fair. There we sar a complete map of cod world.
Although building refurbishment was 18 years ago, according the words of a seller, it is very well preserved, because it seems the refurbishment was quite recent.
Festast was the last stop.
There was no many people because we arrived when the fair was almost open, so we could have a walk with calm and watch the different stands with equipment, food, beverages, restaurant exhibitions...
There was a place for a Xocolates CREO exhibition, where it could be seen a little tour by this chocolate maker's history. We were lucky to find there Cinta, Xavi's wife, and listen her to talk about chocolate and life around it.
The main dish of the day was the set of showcookings prepared.
To start,the Escola Via Magna, with Joan Forcadell at the head introduced us to the Sephardic cooking (from the jews of Iberian peninsula and Northern Africa) with two recipes we could find on a table during Sabbat: Almodrote and Djadjik. The first one is a cold recipe where roasted egg-plant joins two kind of cheese, all dressed with olive oil and herbs. The second one, is a yoghourt and cucumber soup... Yes, like Greek Tztatziki..., but did not notice similarities when you read the name mentally?
Immediately, Carles Tejedor appeared on scene for talking about olive oil, because of a personal project that, it seems, started during a visit to Harvard pushed by Ferran Adrià: Oilab. I és que a l'universitat nord-americana va parlar sobre la difícil gelatinització de l'oli... This was the spark of a creative and researcher process that still continues. Fruit of this project it was a curious olive oil jelly.
The third showcooking of Dia Cuina also had number 3 as star, because David Caballero (who shared the morning with us) cooked three recipes from three areas that like cod: Cod à Bras (from Portugal), Bizkaia style cod (from Basque Country). While the three recipes were executed, Paco Sorolla, from Sorolla, guided us by the "cod world".
Miguel Ángel Roque (from Pimientos Verdes blog) gave the blogger touch of the day, cooking a pie with apple and a risotto with Romesco sauce. While he was cooking, he was talking about his experience in front of the stoves, the computer and as author of cooking books.
The ending of the day, as any meal, was sweet. On stage appeared Joan Forcadell again with the masters of Pastisseria Pallarés who cooked a mousse of Garrofetes del Papa and a Banda de Brossat.
With the mousse, they updated a typical product from Tortosa since s.XVI, made to feed Benet XIII d'Avinyò, the Antipope "Luna".
The Banda de Brossat, is a sweet bread filled with Brossat, a cottage cheese from Terres de l'Ebre. This time, it was released in two versions: one of Brossat, simply, and another of Brossat with violet, in which cheese was dressed with the scent and flavour of the flower.
No doubt: it was a day... to repeat.
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