Rioja : Food From the Spanish Wine Country

LABASTIDA, Spain —  One fall night, some three or four hours behind schedule, I drove through hard rain and thickening darkness up a hill behind the town of Labastida, a few miles from Haro in the northeastern end of Spain’s famed Rioja wine district. My goal was the estate known officially as la Granja Nuestra Senora de Remelluri, the Farm of Our Lady of Remelluri--producers of the excellent wine called simply Remelluri--where I was to have dinner and spend the night.

At last, I turned through a low stone gate and rattled up a rutted, gravel-strewn dirt road, curving through low hills covered with ghostly black clumps of vines, until I came into a large yard with a long winery building at one end and the Remelluri manor house straight ahead. I banged on the ancient wooden door. It opened, and there stood Amaya Rodriguez, who runs the estate with her brother Telmo (he as winemaker, she as director of sales and marketing). “Welcome!” she exclaimed. “We were starting to get worried about you!”

In I was led, through a warmly lit foyer casually furnished with antique tables, dried flowers and a few pieces of old pottery, and then directly into a large, extended kitchen. To the far right was an arrangement of modern appliances, complete with microwave. In the middle stood a long, irregularly finished oaken table, with chairs on one side and a long bench on the other. Behind the bench was a high, narrow table laden with bottles of wine, cheeses, a basket of nuts, a bowl of fresh fruit. On the left side of the room, behind the chairs, was a huge brick fireplace, roaring out a welcome of its own.

Within minutes, I was warm and dry, sipping the vino de la casa with my back to the fire, nibbling olives and slices of homemade sausage. I felt like a wayfarer saved from the road and taken in and catered to by some legendary abbey or inn. This was the first time I had met the Rodriguezes, but immediately I felt signal hospitality of the most honest, earnest and sensible sort.

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When the rain abated a bit later, I went off to the winery to taste barrel samples with Telmo. Remelluri is one of the newest wine producers in Rioja, and one of the area’s few family-owned concerns. Although the winery is recent, the property itself, high in the hills of the region known as La Rioja Alavesa (officially part of the Basque country), is ancient. The name Remelluri commemorates a 10th-Century Alavesan count named Erramel, who once lived on that spot; uri is a Basque word meaning villa. Later, the estate belonged to the monastery of Tolono, whose remains can still be glimpsed on the crest of the hill behind the property. Amaya’s and Telmo’s father, a successful property developer who specialized in golf courses, bought the heart of the place in the early 1960s, then purchased as many as 50 tiny parcels of land around it. The estate now covers 222 acres, 148 of them planted to vines.

The first Remelluri vintage was 1971, and from the start the estate earned a good reputation. Since Telmo took over winemaking duties in 1990, though, the wine has progressed from good to extraordinary: rich, superbly balanced, deeply flavorful--a wine few other Rioja producers, frankly, are making anymore. (Telmo’s first vintage, the 1990, has just been released.)

Returning to the house with Telmo after an hour or so of dipping into barrels, I sat down with the family for a perfect dinner of baby lamb cutlets grilled in the fireplace, salad, great bread from the local bakery, and then cheese and fruit, accompanied by an assortment of older Remelluri vintages. I slept upstairs in a room whose walls were slightly discolored by honey seeping through the adobe from a beehive outside one window.

Amaya and Telmo invited me to come back to Remelluri the next time I was in Rioja, and I made plans to do so last June. But this time, I asked, would they consider sharing some of the secrets of their hospitality with me--sharing, at least, some of the family recipes? Amaya replied that they would be delighted to do so, and with Victoria Martinez, the longtime family cook, she worked out a menu of traditional Riojan dishes and house specialties and invited me to haunt the kitchen as they were prepared.

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The cooking of Rioja is nowhere near as complex as that of Catalonia, the Balearic Islands or the coastal Basque country. It is based on lamb, an array of sausages, game birds (in season) and above all a wealth of vegetables--most notably the region’s famous sweet red peppers, which seem to figure in nearly every Riojan dish, in either fresh or dried form. Garlic and onions are common flavoring elements, but herbs are used comparatively sparingly, though they grow all over these hills in fragrant profusion. Above all, it is simple cooking, sometimes time-consuming but not technically demanding--the kind of satisfying, easy food that makes guests feel welcome and leaves them feeling well fed, no matter what the weather or the time of year.

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“This is considered one of the most prestigious dishes in Riojan cooking,” says Amaya Rodriguez. The exact composition varies seasonally, of course; at Remelluri, most of the ingredients are harvested from the garden shortly before cooking. (One unusual ingredient may be stalks of borage or borraja, particularly prized for its delicate flavor.) The vegetables, in this as in other dishes from the region, are vastly overcooked by contemporary standards (Victoria Martinez cooks them even longer than specified below)--but the finished product is nonetheless very flavorful.

RIOJAN VEGETABLE CASSEROLE (Menestra de Verdures)

4 pounds assorted fresh vegetables, at least 6 kinds, such as shelled peas, shelled fava beans (still in skins, but scored across middle, tops trimmed), small artichoke hearts (trimmed, cut in half lengthwise), 10 to 12 ribs Swiss chard (leafy part trimmed and reserved for another purpose), trimmed green beans, peeled and trimmed asparagus, yellow squash (peeled and cut into pieces about 1x2 inches), cauliflower florets, small lettuce hearts, carrot sticks, borage stalks (peeled and cut into 2- to 3-inch lengths)

Olive oil

1 onion, finely chopped

3 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 pound fresh brown mushrooms, finely chopped

Salt

Flour

1 egg, lightly beaten

Bring 3 or 4 pots of water to boil and cook each variety of vegetable separately at low boil about 1 hour, except for lettuce hearts and borage stalks, which should cook only about 20 minutes. (If using artichoke hearts, add flesh, not peel, of 1/2 lemon to water when cooking.) As each batch is done, remove from water with slotted spoon and drain in colander, reusing same water for next vegetable.

When vegetables have drained, arrange in 2 1/2-quart heavy-bottomed glass or earthenware casserole dish, setting aside several pieces each of artichoke heart, Swiss chard stalk, asparagus, cauliflower and/or borage.

About 15 minutes before last vegetables are done, coat medium skillet with olive oil and heat. Add onion, garlic and mushrooms and cook over high heat, stirring frequently, 8 minutes. Add enough water to barely cover ingredients and cook about 5 minutes more.

When all vegetables (except those reserved) have been arranged in casserole dish, pour mushroom mixture evenly over top and fill dish with water so that vegetables are about 2/3 covered. Season to taste with salt. Then place casserole dish over high heat on top of stove (use 2 burners if dish is oval in shape) and allow to cook, without stirring, about 20 minutes. Add more water if necessary, but finished dish shouldn’t be very liquid.

While casserole is cooking, heat oil in skillet over medium heat. Roll reserved vegetable pieces in flour lightly seasoned to taste with salt and pepper. Then dip in beaten egg and fry in small batches until golden-brown. Carefully arrange fried vegetables on top of casserole and continue cooking until done. Makes 4 to 6 servings.

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Victoria Martinez says that she has no special name for this dish “because I only cook beans this one way.” She cautions that it is impossible to give an exact cooking time for beans unless you know how old they are; the younger ones cook more quickly. (Since she cooks only beans from Remelluri’s own garden, she always knows their age.) The chile she uses is known as choricero; her chorizo sausage, for which there is no real substitute, is a Spanish sausage, short and stubby, about the length of a thumb, not the heavily spiced Mexican chorizo. It is available at La Espanola in Lomita and some other Latin delicatessens.

WHITE BEANS WITH CHORIZO (Alubias Blancas,

Estilo Victoria)

1 onion

1 pound dried white beans, preferably Spanish or Italian

1 leek, white part only

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1 tomato, peeled and chopped

1 sprig parsley

2 large dried mild red chiles, stemmed and seeded, coarsely chopped

2 Spanish chorizo sausages, each cut into 3 pieces

Olive oil

1 teaspoon mild paprika

1 teaspoon spicy paprika

Salt

Cut onion in half. Chop 1/2 finely, leave other 1/2 whole.

In pot soak beans in plenty of water 3 to 4 hours. Then place in larger pot and add about 3 times their volume of water. Cover and bring to boil over low heat, about 45 minutes to 1 hour. Uncover, add unchopped 1/2 onion piece, leek, garlic, tomato and parsley. Continue cooking, uncovered, until beans are tender but not overdone, about 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

About 30 minutes before beans are done, add chiles and sausages. Remove 1/2 onion, leek, garlic cloves and parsley.

When beans are almost done cooking, place olive oil in small skillet over high heat. Fry chopped 1/2 onion about 5 minutes. Stir in mild and spicy paprikas, then add mixture to beans, stirring well. Season to taste with salt.

When serving, make sure that each portion contains 1 piece of sausage. Makes 4 servings.

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Chicharro is a variety of fish known in English as horse-mackerel, generally not very highly regarded for its flavor. In northwestern Spain and Portugal, though, it can be quite good. Any kind of mackerel or other reasonably oily bluefish can be substituted.

RIOJAN-STYLE GRILLED MACKEREL WITH GARLIC SAUCE (Chicharro a la Brasa)

Salt

6 mackerels, each about 3/4 pound, cleaned

2 tablespoons olive oil

6 cloves garlic, finely chopped

2 large mild dried chiles, stemmed and seeded, finely chopped

Juice 2 lemons

Salt fish generously to taste inside and outside. Grill over hot fire, turning once, until cooked through but not overdone, 10 to 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat oil over high heat in skillet. Fry garlic and chiles until brown. Stir in lemon juice and cook 2 to 3 minutes longer. Remove fish from fire and place on plates or platter. Spoon sauce over. Makes 4 servings.

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Lamb is the meat of choice in Rioja. Beef and veal are rarely found, and pork is consumed almost entirely in the form of ham or sausages. Though the most common preparation of lamb in the region is asado or roasted, this braised version is also quite popular.

RIOJAN-STYLE BRAISED LAMB IN ALMOND SAUCE (Cordero Con Salsa de Almendros)

8 to 10 peeled almonds

1 onion, finely chopped

1 onion, coarsely chopped

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

3 tablespoons olive oil

4 pounds young lamb, bone in, cut into 8 pieces

Salt

2 carrots, peeled and cut into slices about 1/2-inch thick

6 ribs Swiss chard, cut into 1 1/2-inch lengths, leafy part trimmed and reserved

Mash almonds with mortar and pestle, adding few drops water to form rough paste.

Fry finely chopped onion and garlic in olive oil in medium-sized, deep skillet until lightly browned. Add lamb and fry, turning to brown on all sides. Cover pan, reduce heat to medium and cook 1 hour. Add mashed almonds. Season to taste with salt. Replace cover and continue cooking until lamb is very tender, about 30 minutes longer, adding small quantity of water if necessary.

About 15 minutes before lamb is done, saute coarsely chopped onion, carrots and Swiss chard in oil until tender. Season to taste with salt.

Place 2 pieces lamb on each plate and spoon reduced almond sauce over. Spoon vegetables around meat. Makes 4 servings.

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Some years ago, says Victoria Martinez, she saw a recipe for sliced oranges with candied orange peel in Hola! magazine. One day it occurred to her to combine that idea with a traditional Spanish dessert of pears poached in red wine. The Rodriguez family serves the resulting creation throughout the summer.

ORANGE AND PEAR SALAD (Postre de la Casa)

4 large navel oranges

Sugar

4 large pears

1/2 bottle red Rioja wine

1 stick cinnamon

Zest 1/2 lemon

10 ounces walnut pieces

10 ounces large raisins

Peel oranges, then cut zest of 1 orange into very thin strips, about 2 1/2 inches long. Slice oranges and set aside.

Place shredded orange zest in small saucepan with water to cover and add about 2 tablespoons sugar. Bring to boil, then reduce heat and cook very slowly until liquid has evaporated. Remove from heat and set aside.

Meanwhile, peel pears and cut each across middle, about 1 inch from bottom, to form 2 pieces from each pear--1 flat, round disk and 1 bell-shaped piece.

Place pears in large sauce pan with wine, cinnamon, lemon zest and about 1 cup sugar. Bring to boil, cover and simmer until pears are tender, about 20 minutes. Uncover and simmer until only thick syrup remains.

Arrange pears in middle of platter or wide, shallow bowl, then arrange orange slices around. Scatter oranges and pears with candied orange zest, walnut pieces and raisins. Makes 4 servings.

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This is a very popular dessert throughout Spain, also known as bocados de leche or “bites of milk.”

SPANISH FRIED MILK (Leche Frita)

1 quart whole milk

1 stick cinnamon

1/2 vanilla bean

Zest 1 lemon, cut in large pieces

Flour

Sugar

1 egg yolk, lightly beaten

Vegetable oil (not olive oil)

Zest 1 lemon, finely grated

Ground cinnamon

Combine milk, cinnamon stick, vanilla bean, large lemon zest pieces, 1 cup flour and 3/4 cup sugar in large saucepan. Stirring continuously, bring to boil over medium-high heat. Boil 4 to 5 minutes.

Stir in egg yolk and mix thoroughly. Liquid should thicken. Pour through strainer onto platter or rectangular glass baking dish at least 1 1/2 inches deep. Allow to cool until completely solidified, at least 1 hour.

Cut solidified milk into 3-inch squares. Heat enough oil to cover bottom of large skillet. Place flour in shallow bowl, then dredge squares in flour, brush with oil and dredge again. Fry in skillet until golden-brown, turning once. Drain on paper towels as they are cooked. To serve, sprinkle grated lemon zest, sugar and cinnamon to taste over pieces. Makes 4 servings.