El Portal del Echaurren, Francis Paniego (eBook)

El Portal del Echaurren is the dream of Riojan chef Francis Paniego. A dream in two phases, since first came the restaurant and now the book published by Montagud Editores. That first dream the chef had, even when he didn't know how to materialize it, comes to life over 256 pages in which the chef guides the reader through the paths of La Rioja that have allowed the family restaurant to be erected as a first-rate gastronomic destination. A delicate and intimate review of his career through his origins, his surroundings, his dishes, and his achievements.

Francis Paniego's cuisine cannot be understood without the Oja Valley in general, nor without Ezcaray in particular. Both landscapes are a source of inspiration and a setting for gastronomic action, and this is reflected in the reading of a work stripped of any superficiality to better highlight the clarity of the chef's discourse and personality. The book is not merely an author's biography. Structured in six blocks, it also allows an understanding of the foundational idea and evolution of El Portal del Echaurren; of how the restaurant has shaped the chef's character over the years. Family as a legacy, guts as a metaphor for life itself, and soul as the significance and common thread of a story that not only chronicles the author's comings and goings but also those iconic dishes that marked a before and after in what the restaurant is today.

SUMMARY

ONE. THE MAN

TWO. THE MOTHER

- Croquettes, which we took from my mother.

- Hake a la Romana, confit at 45ºC, on roasted peppers and rice soup.

- Roasted hake, on potato pil-pil with a slight hint of vanilla.

THREE. THE SOUL

- Home. The Oja Valley. Ezcaray

- Toast of Cameros cheese with apple and honey ice cream

- Grilled lamb chops?

- Peeled tender walnuts, risotto style, with cheese ice cream and peach julienne

- Marine fossils

- Seeds, prawn, avocado, cherry, quinoa and ajoblanco

- Fresh herbs with grilled Munilla cheese and milk foam

- Under a blanket of dry leaves

- Wool, a small tribute to Ezcaray's textile tradition

- Smoke bread, ash and a piece of Tondeluna

- Vine shoots

- The river fish that dreamed of the sea

- Under the nest. Travel to return

- Red shrimp carpaccio, on tomato tartare, ajoblanco and red wine vinegar caviar

- Mediterranean, cucumber concasse, yogurt, apple, bread, picual olive oil and fresh almond powder

FOUR. THE SKIN

- What's around

- Asparagus cooked sous vide, for 6 hours at 65ºC, with slices and perrechico mayonnaise

- Mushroom 25 minutes

- Black olives

- Boletus cube

- The wine, 'Tierras de viña'

- Grapes under the ice

- What shapes it

- Salt-cured pigeon roasted on a pear concasse and bread puree

- Roasted beetroot, cuttlefish, yogurt sphere and earth

- Garlic prawns with trampant-AJO (garlic illusion)

- Cod slices with a slight grilled taste, everlastings, lamb brains and charcoal

FIVE. THE GUTS

- Giblets. Lamb giblets, Manchego gazpacho or mole poblano?

- Lacquered brains, emulating foie gras, made from lamb brains

- Creamy rice, with marinated pig's ear and aerated tarragon juice

- Cocochas, from lamb ears

- Pig snout gyoza, with squid tagliatelle

- Pig skin tripe

- Lamb heart tartare

SIX. THE DREAM