Spanish food - Asturias

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Few are the places in Spain where the traveller can eat as well and where so little fuss is made about the exquisite quality of the food. In fact, one of the most universal dishes of the Spanish cuisine comes from here: the famous fabada, which is so successful that it is tinned and exported to all parts of America, it can also be found in our online shop, and is well worth a try! Alternatively should you wish to make your own we have a fabulous recipe on our recipe pages for fabada.

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Fabada is genuinely Asturian and some would say that its hard to imitate (although we have made it at home very succesfully). It consists of white beans called fabes in the region, which are especially mild and exquisite, and different pork products: cured and salted ham bones, bacon and morcilla, a type of black pudding. The touch of genius in this glorious stew are the fabes, after which the dish is named, and the dry, wrinkled Asturian morcilla which miraculously comes to life in the fabada. It is a one-course meal served in huge quantities, which also goes for all the other dishes in the North of Spain. Apart from the extraordinary fabada, Asturias has other stews in which the peerless fabes are a major ingredient. There are the delicious fabes with clams, chicken, hare, partridge or other game. All these dishes are typical, though of more recent origin.

Caldereta

The fish dishes are based on some really tasty recipes in Asturias with mild and unmistakable flavours. At the top of the list, there is the caldereta, a combination of seafood in a harmonious mixture. In the towns and villages of the coast, this dish is prepared best though it is not as easy to find as the fabada, which is served in almost every restaurant. Hake in cider, merluza a la sidra, on the other hand, can be found with relative ease. Its secret lies in the quality of the raw material, ie the exquisite hake of Cantabria and its accompaniament, the cider, which is the typical drink of Asturias, made from apples. The ideal companion at table in Asturias is the light, dry cider, which is also the most popular drink in the local bars. Drinking it is almost a ritual because it must be served by raising the bottle high and letting the liquid drop slowly into the glass without spilling a drop.