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Any
one sitting down to eat in Navarre will soon forget those insipid products
with impossible flavours that can never be guessed, to discover the real
qualities of excellent produce that actually tastes how it should taste, and
an extraordinary cuisine. The cuisine is evidence of the love and care of
many artisans, farmers and chefs who prepare their products with the care
only tradition can offer. From
the market gardens in Navarre there are exquisite artichokes, peppers,
particularly those from Lodosa (with bread and wine at hand), delicious gem
lettuces from Tudela, tomatoes, asparagus (even King Don Juan Carlos
declared loudly that they were Cojonudos
(really great) after trying them). Peas, cardoon, lettuce.. just imagine
what the mixed vegetable dish tastes like. It’s a good moment to try the
borage, a green vegetable that is not well known in the rest of Spain. If
you like pulses, when you go through Sanguesa, you can try a rich dish of
fresh white beans or “pochas”.
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Navarre
is also the land of succulent meat such as veal, beef, steak, pork products
and particularly the txistorra a
popular fresh garlic sausage that many enjoy fried in a sandwich. We cannot
forget to mention the game dishes. In the right season, you should try the
wood pigeon, partridge, quail, pheasant or boar. Navarre has very good fish due to the proximity of the sea and also rich
river fish, cooked with originality, such as trout Navarre style (trout with
ham) and the Salmon from the Bidasoa river. Apart
from that, many a fiesta is held
with a calderete or stew cooked in
the open air with vine wood, made up of potatoes, lamb or rabbit and tomato,
or ajoarriero¸ dried cod cooked
with potatoes, tomatoes and peppers. In Ujué, you must order migas de pastor or shepherd’s breadcrumbs and almendras garrapiñadas – sugared almonds. For
desert, you could chose between the exquisite cheeses from the Roncal or
Idiazabal valleys, or the Junket or Cuajada
from Ulzama, the fruit of Navarre and, particularly, the cherries from
Milagro and the peaches. The wine is a chapter in itself. All the same, as the finishing touch to a fantastic meal, there is nothing better than a little glass of home-made pacharán from Navarre, an aniseed sloe-berry drink. |
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