Flirting with Gastronomy

The art and knowledge involved in preparing and eating good food.

There is a faint queasiness in my stomach as I tell my brain to calm itself, this does not have to be an unpleasant experience. I secure the slippery 8-inch fish in my left hand as I press my thumb and index finger from my right hand behind it’s gills. A firm twist, the vibration of breakage and a quick pull. The head comes off, the guts follow without choice, and I let out my breath. “Oh gross, this is disgusting” but I am determined. My palms are stained pink dripping with miniature fish guts. I flip the headless fish over in my hand and with my thumb, from its neck to its barely visible little butt hole, I slit the whole thing in half removing the last of its innards. My stomach eases. A good rinse under the tap and ‘voila’ I have my first Anchovy fillet. 9 more to go.

I promised myself I would be adventurous and try many new foods while in Valencia. I am not terribly picky, but there are some things I choose not to bite into. I do not enjoy cooking the way my mom, my husband and several of my girlfriends do. However, Anchovies had been my first tapa the evening we arrived here, and I loved them! They were smothered in olive oil and salt. Perhaps I could enjoy, even a little, preparing them myself. I grab the second fish and begin my ‘by hand’ filleting procedure once again, thinking of where we bought them from earlier in the day.

Strolling through the fish section at the Central Market is an overwhelming vision and an olfactory assault depending on your preference for the smell of raw fish. Yet each merchant has their Mediterranean offerings neatly displayed on refrigerated layers of ice. From yummy prawns, scallops, oysters, rock lobsters, sardines, anchovies and other ‘normal looking fish’. But then it gets weird. There are fish that will stare you in the face with large mouths agape showing spiny teeth and grey mottled tongues. Fish that look like giant chunks of white jelly and long slimy eel. It’s a bit of a horror show. Who eats these fish and how do they prepare them? I find out later that the white jelly looking fish is the skinned cuttlefish. It’s delicious.

Photo by Diane Helentjaris on Unsplash

The Anchovies we bought are quite cute as far as fish go. (See above) Silver and black, the shape of a Turtle Lake minnow but much larger. I feel a bit barbaric gutting them by hand, but my instructor insists it’s the easiest way. He is rather schooled in fish filleting, so I trust him. He, as in Michael, ordered up some tapas one afternoon earlier in our adventure and I said I would try whatever. Fried sardines were presented to us, like the anchovies we had had on night one, and the ones I was in the middle of gutting. The sardines were good, but each time I took a bite I felt a fine needle pinch in the roof of my mouth or my cheek. Not like the needle the dentist uses to freeze your mouth, more like the feeling of a tiny sliver you can’t see but can feel. It was the sardine bones sticking me in my pallet. Michael said to just chew them, no problem. Eating should not be that annoying. I persevered. Another dish had arrived, and it looked like fish stew. I attempted a bite; it turned to slimy mush in my mouth and had I had the option, I would have spit it right out onto the floor. It was eel. Not eating that again.

Back in my kitchen sink I move on to fillets 3, then 4 and I am starting to feel like a pro as the small heads accumulate in the bottom of the sink. I am excited to fry these little dudes up. I think everything in olive oil and salt tastes good. Especially washed down with a cool glass of white wine. Flirting with gastronomy is kind of fun.

We have had some very interesting food since we arrived in Valencia. The night of my birthday was a new experience. We went to a restaurant that we had to pre-book. All the guests for the evening arrived at the door at 9pm (these Spaniards stay up so late). We all entered the restaurant and then they locked the doors behind us. (Not creepy at all).

There were only 6 tables in the restaurant, 14 customers and 3 chefs. We had full view of the kitchen; everything was prepared in front of us and the chefs did all the serving and explaining of everything we were eating. It was a fixed menu, and the food was all local. Every week they replace one of the dishes with something new in season. If you went back in 6 weeks, it would be a completely new menu. Cool concept. They had an earlier seating at 2pm and they are only open 4 days a week. Not sure how they make any money, as it was very reasonable.

The chefs were highly skilled in gastronomy compared to my current anchovy filleting escapade. Here’s what we ate on that night. Some of it was crazy, but all delicious. To my Saskatoon Girls, the evening reminded me of the night we celebrated RB’s 50^th. So yummy!!!!

First up was Jerusalem artichoke in a type of frozen cottage cheese with tangerine. Sounds disgusting but was creamy and tangy. Next, which was one of my favorites, trout eggs, pomegranate seeds, some tiny green beans and radish peeled like flower petals, all in an almond milk base. Crazy combination of goodness. Then we had a small fillet of salmon with Swiss chard. Love Swiss chard!! Such an art to create these dishes and have taste and look so incredible. Next, we had a warm vegetable salad. Sounds weird and it was. If you saw the picture of it you may cringe, but it was spinach, pureed root vegetables and some strange type of cauliflower that was lime green and very pretty.

The next dish was blood red with white air bubbles on top of it. It was a rice cooked in beet juice with small chunks of cherries and capers. No idea what the white bubbles were, but it tasted fantastic. Then we ate ray fish and all I could think about were the huge manta rays and sting rays. They are beautiful. The chef reassured me the ray I was eating was a small fish with a similar shape but not what I was thinking of. I think I saw some in the market. It was served with pesto truffle and spinach in a macadamia milk.

Side note. I bought a truffle in the market the other day. It was the price of gold and looks like a dog turd. Lol. We grate it onto our eggs and have had it on some meat dishes. Just wanted to try it.

Photo by Big Dodzy on Unsplash

The final dish of my birthday dinner was dessert. It was a combination of Stilton ice cream that had a Stilton cheese flavor, along with chocolate mousse and pumpkin something? Delicious, but we were soooooo full!!

Assessing my very small anchovy fillets adding up on the plate, I consider that we may have to fill up on bread tonight. But we also have vegetables and rice. Speaking of rice, let me tell you about Paella. Or I’ll let google tell you.

From the website Britannica “Paella, in Spanish cuisine, a dish of saffron-flavoured rice cooked with meats, seafood, and vegetables. Originating in the rice-growing areas on Spain’s Mediterranean coast, the dish is especially associated with the region of Valencia. Paella takes its name from the paellera, the utensil in which it is cooked, a flat round pan with two handles; paella is traditionally eaten from the pan”.

My filleting instructor researched well before we arrived here, some of the best places to eat Paella. I’ll go along with anything, but our first feed of paella featured duck, chicken, rabbit and snails. It’s the traditional Valencian recipe. If I am going to have escargot, I want it smothered in garlic butter and covered by melted cheese. These little gems were still in their shells shining pretty in the pan. I was concerned they might start moving around, but they were well cooked. I fished one poor little dead guy out of his shell, chewed him up and then flicked the rest of the snails on my side of the paella pan towards Michael. Sometimes once is enough. The chicken, duck and rabbit all tasted similar. The next paella we had was with Iberian pork and mushrooms. Much more to my liking. It was rather fun to have that giant pan in the middle of the table.

I now peer down at the growing pile of fish heads in the sink. The eyes are staring at me, but no chance of them winking. They were dead when we bought them. I am rather proud of my work here. I just hope I can cook them properly. They are all nicely cleaned, laying on a plate waiting for the frying pan. A lot of frying has taken place in our little apartment. Delicious juicy lamb chops, veal steaks, prawns, truffle chicken burgers to name a few. Everything in olive oil. It’s all the chefs use, and it is on the tables at most restaurants and tapas bars. When the fresh bread arrives, we dump olive oil on it. Oh, the bread!! And the cheese!!

My frying pan is hot, the olive oil hot, and I place my precious fillets into the pan, skin side down to be cooked and crisped up before I turn them. Tonight has been slightly more sophisticated than when my brother, cousins and I used to fry the lake minnows in an old pan over the campfire, just for fun. We never ate them, just threw them in the bush for the birds.

My Anchovies sizzle away, fresh rye bread is cut, olive oil and salt ready to go. The rice is ready, fresh veggies oven baked, and the wine poured. I think my anchovy dinner has turned out fantastic. I won’t be running off to culinary school, but I will try and spend more time cooking with such an amazing abundance of fresh ingredients so close by.

Cheers!

Photo by micheile henderson on Unsplash

Stay curious and be kind!