At Al Campo yesterday they had this wonderful stand with all the vegetable ingredients for puchero – a traditional Spanish stew. Incidentally, for all you veggies, the translation of puchero as a vegetable stew is a huge misnomer because it contains beef and pork.
I thought it was brilliant that there was a special display to save you gathering all your own ingredients and it’s very typical of the habits of the masses here – it’s post Christmas, so everyone will be using up their leftover cuts of meat to make puchero.
The stand had all the ingredients except the meat and the chickpeas: cabbage, corncob, pumpkin, chayote, French beans, sweet potato, pears, marrow or courgette, carrot, leek, garlic, onion and tomato.
To make puchero, chickpeas, beef, pork, saffron and thyme are added to the above and the whole lot are simmered into a warming, fragrant stew which is usually served with fresh crusty bread.
For hikers, there’s nothing quite like a steaming bowl of puchero at the end of a long walk when the sweat is drying and the chill of the mountain air kicks in. And I have it on very good authority that the best puchero on the island is to be found at Casa Lala in Arico Viejo.
I have yet to try Casa Lala myself and will have to try out a new walking route that ties in with finishing there, but we’re planning a walk around the Erjos Pools soon and I might just pop into Bar Las Fleytas to try theirs…watch this space.
I can also highly recommend the puchero at the Restaurant Monteverde, on the road over the mountains, near the volcano Chinyero and the village of El Tanque.
Oh yeh, nice one Pam, I forgot about the Monteverde. I must try their puchero. Cheers for reminding me! 🙂
I am drooling just reading about it. Now I know what to make for tomorrows dinner.
LOL! Would you like the recipe? It’s what Jack and I call a one-pot-wonder, they’re our favourite recipes – hardly any washing up!
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I was just going to put it all together and hope I got something resembling what I have had before but now I have the recipe that is brilliant.
I don´t have a problem with washing up – I just get the dishwasher a new pair of rubber gloves from time to time – I know, I spoil him LOL.
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