Sunday lunch

Went out for sunday lunch to one of my favourite local restaurants A Caldeira on the headland to the west of Gijon. It has a fantastic view over almost the whole of the city.

Although now a big building with several bars and restaurants, at its heart is an old panera. This is a traditional food or grain store constructed on six two-metre high staddle stones to keep the contents out of reach of vermin. The area underneath this panera has since been walled in and now forms the central bar, with the original floor timbers of the panera still visible above, along with the insides of the staddle stones.

The food is in galician style, reflecting the name of the restaurant, A Caldeira, Galician for 'The Cauldron', typically used for boiling octopus.

So for lunch it was...

Pulpo a la Gallega - Slices of boiled octopus tentacle, sprinkled with paprika.
Lacon con Cachelos - Cuts of boiled ham, with boiled potatos, drizzled with olive oil and sprnkled with paprika.
Pimientos del Padron - Small green peppers pan fried and sprinkled with sea-salt.
Croquetas - Fried fingers of bechamel with pieces of ham coated in breadcrumbs.

On this occasion we didn't drink with the meal, but normally we would have Galician Ribeiro white table wine, served in a jug and drunk from shallow white porcelain bowls.

The sea-urchins in the picture aren't just for display by the way, they are a very typical dish in Asturias. Not so in Galicia where they were considered a poor-mans food and left to the Asturians.

Aproveche (bon-apetit)