There is a dish that represents a before and after in the life of the almond. It is the vegetable stew in textures that Ferran Adria and his team ‘gave birth’ in 1994. This dish of The Bulli It is an iconic creation in which, Between the different preparations, strain a handful of young almonds.
This recipe serves as a starting point to claim a dried fruit that is the purest representation of our gastronomic culture, with an obvious anchorage in the Mediterranean. In times when thematic menus are always organized around ‘gourmet’ products such as bluefin tuna, truffle or caviar, initiatives such as those of the restaurant are stimulating balusta (Hotel Palacio Solecio, Malaga), which dedicates a month to almonds with a thematic menu that ends on October 3.
Jose Carlos Garcia as a gastronomic advisor, together with Sergio Solano as head chef, they make up balusta a menu that includes almond porridgeraisins to Pedro Ximénez and mango and green apple tartar, followed by a cod with garlic and almond oil with bean and pumpkin stew. It also sneaks into the pepitoria of the picantón chicken and, as it could not be otherwise, it is present in the dessert, the almond, honey and fig curd. From start to finish: an almond menu.
The ages of the almond
“The possibilities, not only in pastries, but in the savory field, are almost infinite,” he explains. Ruben Catalancook of the Relais & Châteaux with a green Michelin star visco tower (Fuentespalda, Teruel). He points out that autumn is a good time, because it is the time when almonds are harvested. “But we already worked with it before and pickled it when it was still green.”
In the case of Catalán, the maturity of the almond leads him to change his pace. When it is still tender – just as Adrià used it in his revolutionary dish – what he does is use it “to accompany a tomato and cucumber ceviche, with the dried fruit raw, finishing with a splash of extra virgin olive oil”.
in chopped
It also highlights its use in chopped, those sauces in which dried fruit always has a special role. “We prepare a dish that is a kind of pesto in which The main ingredient is almond, which is completed with olive oil, sage, parsley… and that it comes in handy to marinate fish or meat,” adds Catalán. “It’s a kind of lightened green romesco,” says the chef, recalling a sauce in which, once again, almonds play an essential role.
But if there is A recipe in which almonds are essential is ajoblanco., where we have already gone from frozen sauce to cold soup and where, in addition to the dried fruit, oil and garlic intervene. It is also a recipe that can be found throughout the country.
The Asturian chef Ricardo Sotres (a Michelin star in El Retiro, Pancar, Llanes) strip of white garlic the palace (Gijón), where he works as a gastronomic advisor. “I love it, not only as a dish in itself but also for its combination possibilities, forming part of other recipes, such as beet in ‘tartar’, with pickles, mustard and white garlic that we serve at El Palace. Or in the scallop marinated in anchovy water with almond garlic that can be had at El Retiro in Pancar.” Sotres adds that the good thing about almonds is that it is possible to add more or less depending on the texture we want the dish to have.
Almonds, a good companion to seafood
On the menu of great classic restaurants, ajoblanco has traditionally played an important role as an accompaniment to seafood. This is how it continues to be in an heir to those traditional houses (and that also has a Michelin star), such as the restaurant A’Barra (Madrid). There, the chef Sergio Manzanoplays at the plate with shrimps and a double almond and pistachio ajoblanco. Ginger-garlic oil and blood orange ice cream complete the recipe.
“It is possible that this association has its origin in the need to combine ajoblanco, which is a more humble recipe, with high-level raw materials such as lobster or crayfish,” summarizes Manzano.
A’Barra’s chef also uses almonds for two other preparations. “Toasted almonds are perfect to go hand in hand with truffles and mushrooms.. I usually use it in the form of praline”, comments Manzano. Another alternative is to put it, minced, in a fish vinaigrette such as grouper, turbot or mullet.: “As long as they are fish with personality, it works wonderfully,” he explains.
almond snow
In the restaurant Tancat Citrus (Alcanar, Tarragona) also use almonds “frying them together with parsley, bread and roasted garlic, and then crushing everything and making a praline from a traditional Catalan mash, which is used to emulsify the previous broth, in what would be the juice of the ‘suquet’”.
Another preparation that, although it seems complex, can be done even at home to ‘dress tapas’, is to use a ‘microplane’ grater to “create a kind of almond snow that looks great on any cover” and that Manzano uses to top a Joselito loin appetizer.
Javi Estevez (La Tasquería and El Lince, Madrid) is another of the chefs who uses it, taking advantage, in this case, of its texture. “The crunch of the dried fruit goes very well with the offal, which usually has a gelatinous touch to create a contrast. Laminated or toasted in the oven, I use it for my pickled tongue salad“, for example,” highlights Estévez.
‘Snack’ and ‘friend’ in vegan diets
To enjoy an almond it is not essential to go into ‘kitchen robot mode’ either. Catalan really enjoys it fried -or toast in the oven- with salt, alone or as an accompaniment to mojamas and other salted dishes, cured meat and even “a Teruel ham with some infiltrated fat.” Of course, the chef encourages not keeping it for a long time “to prevent it from going rancid.”
Related news
Finally, Sotres remembers that “a fifth of the almond is protein, so it is very good for vegan or vegetarian diets “who are looking to replace ingredients of animal origin or simply because we want to prepare dishes of this style.”
The Asturian chef gives as an example “almond ‘milk’, also a good option for vegans looking to replace dairy or eggs“, as well as to update traditional recipes such as stews.” The almond, connecting past and present, as it always has.