Until meeting E, I thought the Irish were the only ones to make a real good Black Pudding (made with wheat) but that wasn't I discovered Baldanas from Tortosa...
E's hometown, Tortosa, is nestled in the river bed of the Ebro, only a few miles from the sea, near an area that they call the Delta which as you'll remember from your geography lessons is the alluvial plain of the river just before reaching the sea. What's special about this area is it's one of the main rice-growing regions in Europe. Yes! we actually have rice growing in Europe, it's not just a Chinese thing and there's a lot more varieties that just
Italian Abororio rice. Here, they grow several varieties: long rice, basmati, etc. but also a variety called Arròs bomba which is used to make the paellas in the area (I'll get back to the subject of rice in another post)..
With such abundance of rice, it's normal that they'd use it in more than just paella and rice
dishes. It's one of the main ingredients of the Baldana, among the other typical black pudding ingredients. How do they cook it you may ask? Simple, it's already boiled so it's just a matter of heating it up on the frying pan.. The typical accompanyment is Escalivada (roasted peppers, onions and aubergines soaked in oil) or even just in an Entrepà
with allioli (no, it's not just a French thing - actually more than likely was brought in by the Romans from Egypt).
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