ALMERÍA CAPITAL ESPAÑOLA DE LA GASTRONOMÍA 2019 - TOUR DAY ONE
Almería was made Capital Española de la Gastronomía 2019 (twitter @Almería2019) and various gastronomic events will be taking place in the province of Almería over the course of the year.
We had the pleasure of being invited to these events by Fernando Huidobro (www.fernandohuidobro.com twitter @FHuidobroRein) Presidente de Academia Andaluza de Gastronomía y Turismo (twitter @andgastrotur)
We made our way, after our short three day trip to Ibiza, by plane to Alicante. We then drove down to Garrucha to meet the rest of the invited guests at the Garrucha fish auction house to learn about the famous Gambarojo de Garrucha.
On meeting up with the rest of the guests, we were given a short tour of the auction house by Gaspar Jiménez, senior patron of the Garrucha Fishermen's Guild
Above is the list of the minimum size per catch allowed to be landed.
After the tour, we were then taken to Castillo San Ramón / Las Escobetas on the outskirts of Garrucha.
The castle was built in 1769 by order of Carlos III as part of the line of coastal defences to protect the coastline of Almería from North African pirates.
In the Nineteenth Century, it was used as a police garrison but has recently been converted into an aula del mar (museum of the sea) which is open to the public.
On entering the Castle we were given a glass of cava and then had a tour of the museum of the sea.
After which, we took our places for the meal which was being prepared by the staff and chefs of three local restaurants
Paco Escánez from Restaurante Escánez (twitter @GarruchaEscanez) from Garrucha itself.
Antonio Carmona from Terraza Carmona and Juan Moreno from Restaurante Juan Moreno (twitter @restajuanmoreno) from nearby Vera.
There were tables of ten in the Castle dining room and we sat down to enjoy the following meal.
Terraza Carmona
Tortica de avío de Vera y ajo colorao
Wafer de avío de Vera and garlic colorao
Escánez
GambaRojo de Garrucha a la plancha
Grilled red prawns from Garrucha
Escánez
Pulpo en aceite de oliva virgen extra
Octopus in extra virgin olive oil
Terraza Carmona
Gurullos con lomo de conejo relleno de habitas
Pasta flour ball stuffed with rabbit loin
Juan Moreno
Estornino en escabeche de cítricos y hortalizas de Almería
Chub Mackerel in pickled citrus and vegetables from Almería
Juan Moreno
Delicias de almendra en texturas
Almond delicacies in textures
After the wonderful meal had ended, there was a small presentation ceremony for the three chefs.
The rest of the guests were going back to Almería City by coach to prepare for a tapas tour that evening, but as we had consumed quite a bit of wine at the dinner, we decided to stay local that evening and drive to Almería City the next morning to join up with day two of the tour.
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