At the southern point of Lanzarote you'll find a saltworks: an original, centuries old one, still in use, of which the Lanzaroteans are extremely proud. It's huge and not exactly meant for tourists wandering around the sawah-like landscape. To accomodate visitors they've built a huge corrugated iron shed, and in the door opening stood a small table with the local produce.
So I treated myself --- bought a wonderfully tasty fleur de sel (flor de sal, Spanish isn't that difficult) and in total a kilo of their coarse seasalt, packed in beautifully designed small boxes - great for gifts!
The view at the Salinas towards the ocean is rightly famous: the ocean rolls in and beats against high basalt cliffs, the spray flying over the cliffs on the rocks behind them. The waves are of the clearest, most wonderful bright-blue. Even from hundreds of metres away you hear the thundering ocean, all in all very impressive.
There is a road leading to the beach near the basalt cliffs but unfortunately we haven't found it yet.
We were charmingly (ie. not too persistently) lured into a restaurant called Mar Azul.
Two in the afternoon - these Mediteranean eating times are spot on for us - a terrace, shielded from the trade winds by glass panelling, view to the volcanic beach and some 50 metres away from the same, bright blue, foamy white ocean.
We had ordered paella and waited contentedly for the rice to be ready while sipping a Malvesia Seco, our first culinary discovery. We only know the Malvesia (Malmsey in English, Malvezij in Dutch) as a sweet dessert wine but here they served a sort of pre-Malvesia: a dry, friendly, uncomplicated white wine with a strong hint of the Malvesia it becomes in the sweet version.
The paella was a true feast. The balance between saffron and other herbs, very fresh clams, calamari, mussels (a 7 cm. large shell with a tiny, lovely briny mussel in it!) and lots of other shellfish.
The food was clearly home cooked, clearly prepared on the spot with quality ingredients: true slow food and we loved it.
Talking about food (fav. subject!).
When you think of the Canaries the first that comes to mind are the mojo's.
They're famous: cold sauces made of oil, vinegar, hot peppers (the mojo picante), sweet peppers (the mojo rojo, red), and two green mojo's: the mojo verde with parsley and the mojo cilantro (coriander). You get them with every meal and we've never ever seen them outside the islands.
Then there are the papas arrugadas, the potatoes cooked in their skin in very salty water, so the little, waxy spuds look like wrinkled little things with a lot of salt on them but you've never tasted anything better. Served with the mojos, of course. Great as a tapas as well.
Meat is hardly served in Lanzarote. No climate for breeding cattle - we haven't seen a single patch of grass on the island. Perhaps in the past the people kept goats, and they used camels and mules to get around - but I don't think they ate them.
So it's all seafood. The freshest imaginable. They pull them out of the sea, chuck them on the grill and serve them, high piled on a plate. With papas arrugadas and mojo's. And a dab of sweet, buttery, long grained rice.
Comfort food. To have to eat that for the rest of your life wouldn't be a punishment!
And the sweets! Spain is masterly when it comes to anything sweet, the Mediterranean sweet tooth combined with the strong Arabic influence. And here they have the bienmesabe, the sweet honey-almond spread, most times coupled with icecream for dessert.
Bienmesabe originates from Venezuela, reached the Canary Isles and is now widespread in Spain.
Ground white almonds, sugar, water, a bit of ground cinnamon, lemon zest and egg yolks. That's it. You put the ingredients, except the egg yolks, in boiling water, reduce the heat and stir till you have a grainy sauce. Let it cool, add the egg yolks, bring it to the boil and let it cool again. You eat it when cooled to room temp. Try this, and you'll love it.
Back to our lunch. We shared the terrace with Spaniards, mainly couples from Madrid - it's a two hour's flight from Spain's capital and you're at the fresh and unspoilt Ocean, instead of in a highrise at some Costa.
Would do the same!
So I treated myself --- bought a wonderfully tasty fleur de sel (flor de sal, Spanish isn't that difficult) and in total a kilo of their coarse seasalt, packed in beautifully designed small boxes - great for gifts!
The view at the Salinas towards the ocean is rightly famous: the ocean rolls in and beats against high basalt cliffs, the spray flying over the cliffs on the rocks behind them. The waves are of the clearest, most wonderful bright-blue. Even from hundreds of metres away you hear the thundering ocean, all in all very impressive.
There is a road leading to the beach near the basalt cliffs but unfortunately we haven't found it yet.
We were charmingly (ie. not too persistently) lured into a restaurant called Mar Azul.
Two in the afternoon - these Mediteranean eating times are spot on for us - a terrace, shielded from the trade winds by glass panelling, view to the volcanic beach and some 50 metres away from the same, bright blue, foamy white ocean.
We had ordered paella and waited contentedly for the rice to be ready while sipping a Malvesia Seco, our first culinary discovery. We only know the Malvesia (Malmsey in English, Malvezij in Dutch) as a sweet dessert wine but here they served a sort of pre-Malvesia: a dry, friendly, uncomplicated white wine with a strong hint of the Malvesia it becomes in the sweet version.
The paella was a true feast. The balance between saffron and other herbs, very fresh clams, calamari, mussels (a 7 cm. large shell with a tiny, lovely briny mussel in it!) and lots of other shellfish.
The food was clearly home cooked, clearly prepared on the spot with quality ingredients: true slow food and we loved it.
Talking about food (fav. subject!).
When you think of the Canaries the first that comes to mind are the mojo's.
They're famous: cold sauces made of oil, vinegar, hot peppers (the mojo picante), sweet peppers (the mojo rojo, red), and two green mojo's: the mojo verde with parsley and the mojo cilantro (coriander). You get them with every meal and we've never ever seen them outside the islands.
Then there are the papas arrugadas, the potatoes cooked in their skin in very salty water, so the little, waxy spuds look like wrinkled little things with a lot of salt on them but you've never tasted anything better. Served with the mojos, of course. Great as a tapas as well.
Meat is hardly served in Lanzarote. No climate for breeding cattle - we haven't seen a single patch of grass on the island. Perhaps in the past the people kept goats, and they used camels and mules to get around - but I don't think they ate them.
So it's all seafood. The freshest imaginable. They pull them out of the sea, chuck them on the grill and serve them, high piled on a plate. With papas arrugadas and mojo's. And a dab of sweet, buttery, long grained rice.
Comfort food. To have to eat that for the rest of your life wouldn't be a punishment!
And the sweets! Spain is masterly when it comes to anything sweet, the Mediterranean sweet tooth combined with the strong Arabic influence. And here they have the bienmesabe, the sweet honey-almond spread, most times coupled with icecream for dessert.
Bienmesabe originates from Venezuela, reached the Canary Isles and is now widespread in Spain.
Ground white almonds, sugar, water, a bit of ground cinnamon, lemon zest and egg yolks. That's it. You put the ingredients, except the egg yolks, in boiling water, reduce the heat and stir till you have a grainy sauce. Let it cool, add the egg yolks, bring it to the boil and let it cool again. You eat it when cooled to room temp. Try this, and you'll love it.
Back to our lunch. We shared the terrace with Spaniards, mainly couples from Madrid - it's a two hour's flight from Spain's capital and you're at the fresh and unspoilt Ocean, instead of in a highrise at some Costa.
Would do the same!
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