The region of Navarre has borders
with the Basque Country and France and much of its food is
undoubtedly influenced by these areas. Having no coastline,
Navarre relies on seafood imported from its neighbours. Navarra is
famous for its trout, apart from the Pyrenees mountain streams, some
of Spain's largest fish farms are located in the Navarra region and
trout or "trucha" features high on many of the area's
restaurants. Some of the most popular dishes of the region are
vegetable based specialties such as ministere, a vegetable stew, or
stuffed red peppers. The local produce includes a wide variety
of game, cheese and meat. The Pyrenees villages produce
excellent lamb and the Pamplona region with its bulls has a variety
of beef dishes. Pintxos are tapas served throughout the
Pyrenees area. Like the Basque Country, Navarre has
gastronomy clubs, where local men prepare dishes which are served to
other members seated at long tables. Stories are told, songs
are sung and lots of local wine is consumed.
Paella
Paella is the
Spanish national dish and is eaten throughout Spain. Sunday
lunchtime is the traditional time to eat paella and all the family
troop down to their local restaurant and spend most of the afternoon
eating and drinking. Paella varies from region to region.
Paella originated in Valencia and the Valencian paella is still
regarded as the authentic version. It usually consists of a
mixture of seafood and chicken with either beans or peas. If
you'd like to try paella,
I've put my recipe here.
Making Pintxos
Navarra Style
Navarra is famous
for its red peppers, this video shows some of the production
process.
