Eighteen Hours in Madrid

Madrid!

A good rule for traveling, and life in general, is take advantage of the time you have, no matter how short it may be. I try to follow that, so when I had an 18-hour layover in Madrid a few weeks ago, I hopped on the metro and headed for the center city to eat some Spanish food!

I have to admit, there are more ideal places to eat as a non-drinking vegetarian than Spain, land of beer and pork – rather, cañas y jamón (and salchichón, and morcilla, and chorizo, and morcón...). 

But no matter your alimentary gravitation, you’ll have no trouble finding plenty of other delicious things to eat, most notably juicy summer fruit, ice cream, excellent olives, churros y chocolate, tortilla española, fiesty sheep’s milk cheese, bocadillos de calamares, sweet and chewy almond turrón, fresh seafood, and a multitude of tapas. Or, you know, salted cod.

For some reason, I'm not quite sure exactly why, salted cod is a very popular traditional dish in Portugal and Spain. It was sold in this fishy-smelling though rather charming little shop.

I passed that one up and headed straight to Mercado San Miguel, not far from Plaza Sol. This place will be forever be emblazoned in my memory from the first time I was in Madrid. I’d flown in that day from Belgium, and, hungry and tired, had stumbled across the glass-walled market. I wandered through it, my eyes wide. For a (I’ll admit it) major foodie, it was heaven on earth. 

That day we sampled melt-in-your-mouth jamón iberica de bellota, cured ham from a heritage breed of pig fed only on acorns. 

Then sheep’s milk cheese on bread with blackberry jam, then a giant scoop of burrata with pesto and cherry tomatoes. 

If you’ve never heard of burrata, let me tell you what it is so as not to lose one more precious moment missing out on this most marvelous of dairy products: take fresh mozzarella and at some point in the mixing process, add a bunch of cream, resulting in a creamy, rich, soft, pure-white product of cheese wizardry. So that’s where I went first.

This time I chose a sweet one , blackberry jam and almonds, finished with a drizzle of olive oil. 

Dreamy.

Next, olive time!

One the way, I passed these. I believe they are goose neck barnacles. You can eat them. I did not.

I squeezed through the crowd to the olive skewer bar. I nixed everything involving ham and/or anchovies and settled on one with black olives, cheese, and sun dried tomato. It was faaaabulous! I’m mostly indifferent to black olives, which in the US tend to be either totally bland or bitter and unpleasant, but these were rich and full of complex flavor, pairing well with the cheese and savory tomato.

Finally, a spinach croquette. I don’t know what’s in them exactly, but it appears to be some combination of a small quantity of pureed spinach and a lot of melty, soft, creamy deliciousness, deep fried until golden and crunchy on the outside. 

 In Salamanca last summer I tried croquetas de chocolate too – imagine deep fried Nutella. Yep. 

Then I had to get out of there before I got full, BECAUSE IT WAS CHURRO TIME!! First I went to see the Chocolateria San Gines, a century-old Madrid landmark.

I say see, though, because while their churros are perfect, I was not a fan of their hot chocolate when I was there last summer – I found it one-dimensional and slightly bitter. I found another place advertising thick milk chocolate and decided to try that. 

I did sacrifice something in churro quality – they were warm but not piping hot – but that was made up for by the chocolate, thick, rich, and sweet. 

 Crunchy warm churros + thick hot chocolate = culinary bliss.
 
Full, tired, and happy, I headed back to sleep for a few hours before catching a plane home.

Hasta la proxima, Madrid.

Potatoes of Many Lands

This post has been three years in the making and is especially for my dad. The subject? The unique, versatile, reliable, delicious, marvelous…spud.

Bags of potatoes in a street market in Bolivia

I’ve found that everywhere I’ve traveled in the world, people like potatoes. There are different types, different ways of cooking, and different styles of eating, but the potato is ubiquitous. You can find them everywhere from the humblest street stands in Bolivia to the most luxurious épiceries in Paris. 

Vegetables in La Grande Épicerie in Paris (the potatoes are in the back on a lower shelf)

The story begins in South America. Three years ago I biked from Buenos Aires, Argentina, to Lima, Peru, crossing the pampas, the Andes, and the Atacama desert.

Sweet potatoes in a supermarket in Argentina

We saw dozens of varieties of potatoes. One of the most interesting was a form of dried potato popular in Bolivia and Peru. Apparently, they leave them outside on cold nights to freeze, then let them dry out in the warm day time sun. This process is repeated until you have effectively freeze-dried the potatoes, which are then easier to carry and store.

Naturally freeze-dried potatoes in South America

 Two years later, across the world in Belgium, I tried the famous Belgian fries. Well, actually I didn't try the Belgian fries, which are traditionally fried in beef fat. But they were delicious nonetheless, especially served with tangy mayonnaise.

Spain also celebrates la papa. I tried these lovely fried crunchy bits at a tapas bar in Salamanca.

Crispy potato shreds at a tapas bar in Salamanca

Spanish tortilla is wonderful too, a thick, savory omelet of fried potatoes and onions.

Spanish tortilla, an omelet-like dish of potatoes, eggs, and onions

Potatoes are found in myriad other forms in Spanish cuisine, such as the truffle-cream filled ones below, or in huevos rotos, fried potato cubes topped with a fried egg and lots of Spanish smoked paprika.

Truffle cream filled potato tapas at the San Miguel market in Madrid

The rest of Europe loves the potato, too. We had these delicious roasted potatoes on New Year's Eve in Poland...

...and saw multiple forms of potato chips in the Christmas markets in Prague.

In Italy a few weeks later, more delectable roasted potatoes were served alongside fresh mozzarella at a wine tasting lunch at an organic vineyard in Tuscany.

A similar version of roasted potatoes was served at a dinner I attended at the Spanish Institute of Tetouan, Morocco. They were once again the highlight of the meal, which included roasted chicken, squash, and stuffed baked tomatoes.

Hot, salty fries accompanied our vegan version of currywurst, a German staple that consists of a pork sausage topped with ketchup and curry powder. I have to say, the fries were the best part of the meal. Some things just can't me made vegetarian.

Overall, the best potatoes I've eaten were in Morocco. Fries accompany practically everything, even giant platters of fried fish.

They are stuffed into sandwiches too! At first I thought it was a weird combination, but it proved to be delicious.

One of my Moroccan friends had the brilliant idea to fry potatoes not in sticks, but whole, resulting in delicious, tender-on-the-inside-crunchy-on-the-out potato balls.

Tangerinos, with their proximity to Spain, also make a mean tortilla, which is usually served here with bread and Moroccan hot sauce.

After eight months of traveling, I'm super excited to be home and have the chance to actually cook some for my dad!! Some of our favorites are grilled sweet potatoes...

...roasted potato wedges to accompany sandwiches or grilled veggies...

...and fried potatoes with eggs for breakfast! Fried whole potatoes are definitely going to be replicated as well.