Spain Food Nation

Feb 02 2023

GREAT BRITISH CHEFS - The Spanish Levante: Valencia and Murcia

Located on the eastern coast of Spain, the autonomous communities of Valencia and Murcia form part of the Spanish Levante and are known in particular for their rice and seafood. Discover more about these coastal regions

Published in GREAT BRITISH CHEFS

FEATURES

The ultimate foodie guide to Valencia and Murcia - The Spanish autonomous communities of Valencia and Murcia are often known together as the Levante and form the eastern part of the Spanish Mediterranean coast. That long coastline makes fish and seafood the centrepiece of both regions’ food traditions.

(...) Murcia is well known as the home of baked salted fish, especially baked sea bream, while Valencia has Alicante’s obsession with tuna. The fishermen of Benidorm in the province of Alicante were famous throughout the Mediterranean for their skill at tuna fishing and that love of tuna can still be seen in Alicante’s markets and restaurants. Further north, one of the best seafood products in the whole of the region is the Denia red prawn, so beloved of chef Quique Dacosta (...)

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Ingredient Focus: Valencia rice - Valencia is the spiritual home of Spain’s most famous dish – paella. Rachel McCormack visits The Albufera natural park to find out more about the rice it’s made from

(...) The single most famous dish from the whole of Spain is paella. Originally from Valencia, it’s a rice dish named after the pan it’s made in and was a fixed feature of the agricultural workers in the region, who would build fires from the wood of the fruit trees in the orchards that they were working in to make their meals. Using the vegetables of the region, snails and rabbit, the paella de la huerta (the vegetable garden) was the original Valencian paella (...)

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The wine regions of Spain : Alicante - Home to one of the oldest D.O.s in Europe, Alicante has a long history of wine production but since its vines were destroyed in the late-nineteenth century by the phylloxera bug, it has had to slowly rebuild its reputation. We take a look at three bodegas in Alicante helping the region to do just that.

(...) This highly prized wine region was decimated when the phylloxera bug destroyed the vines at the end of the nineteenth century; winemaking in Alicante went into decline as 100,000 hectares were destroyed, never fully recovering. The past thirty years however has seen a number of people and organisations in the region help to create a renaissance in the world of Alicante winemaking. The Vinalopó area surrounding the town of Villena was one of the first places within D.O. Alicante to take a return to winemaking seriously; what follows is a modern-day snapshot of three of the region’s significant bodegas (...)

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Quique Dacosta -A driving force behind produce-led dining in the autonomous community of Valencia, Quique Dacosta has revolutionised the region’s dining scene, and is now spreading his influence further afield.

(...) Quique Dacosta is a phenomenal force within the Valencian restaurant industry. His eponymous restaurant in the coastal town of Dénia, which only seats twenty-two, has held three Michelin stars for nearly a decade, and sits at number forty-two on the list of the World’s 50 Best Restaurants (...)

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RECIPES

Lobster Roe - This extravagant dish by Quique Dacosta is simply titled 'Lobster Roe', but contains well over a dozen different elements. The lobster is served with sea urchin, deep-fried snow fungus mushrooms, two different types of carrageenan and a creamy tomato and prawn sauce. In the restaurant, the whole dish is served in a combination of lobster shells and beautiful sea shells.

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Almond blossom - This striking dish consists of a savoury garlic, sherry and almond ice cream stuffed with a simple prawn tartare and creamy almond milk sauce. The ice cream is moulded in an intricate flower-shaped mould at Quique Dacosta's restaurant, but this dish would also work with a simpler mould.

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Piluka's Box - This dish by Quique Dacosta was inspired by his mother's jewellery box. It's filled with a jasmine and sandalwood sorbet to represent her perfume, and topped with edible 'jewels', such as yuzu marshmallow pearls. The whole dish is served in a real jewellery box, which plays a melody when opened. At the restaurant, the team finish the dish with edible rice paper lattices made with a Cricut maker, and then caramelise them with syrup. Another simpler edible decoration would work in their place. This recipe is a summary of the restaurant's process when making the dish - feel free to just try making one of the components, or use it as inspiration for your own dishes.

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Cacaus del Collaret peanut stew with foie gras and smoked eel - This peanut stew by Chef Quique Dacosta is made with a rare local peanut called cacau del collaret. Although the peanut is often used in sweet dishes like Valencian nougat, here Dacosta serves it in a deeply savoury broth made form a mixture of veal, chicken and eel. Be sure to use the garlic oil within two days, and keep it in the fridge.

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Arroz Alicantino - This traditional rice dish from Alicante uses D.O.P Valencia rice, which soaks up the stock and the flavour of the Iberian ribs. The dish is flavoured with salmorreta, a flavourful paste made using ñora peppers - a mild dried pepper from the east coast of Spain prized for its mild yet fruity flavour.

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