If you go to Ezcaray, visit the culinary paradise of Paniego
Things change. Fantastic film by Joe Mantegna and David Mamet, and also an implacable truth that I understood not so long ago in this essential corner in the Oya Valley. Ezcaray . Here time passes slowly, the neighbors greet each other by name and the rock gets pretty for the Fiestas de San Lorenzo. Here, where poplar trees and meadows shelter the Sierra de la Demanda, where Armando Buscaini's crooked verse was born ("It's true that I suffer, but listen to me: what do I care if I'm a poet?"), where the snow disguises the rock and Francis Paniego's kitchen grows, changes and twists to the sound of the moons and the seasons.
I have known the kitchen of the Echaurren family for exactly eight years (August 2005) I have seen how it grew and amazed gastronomic Spain, from that first Michelin Star to the National Gastronomy Award . Always -always- tied in short to his terroir; its Ezcaray, its forests, its vine shoots and its croquettes. But this year is different. This year -yes- the whole is something more than the sum of the parts, the kitchen becomes creation and the dishes are disguised as speech. Stories, pleasure and gastronomy. Cuisine of terroir without being of terroir.
"What is this Francis?"
"This phrase was said by the gastronomic journalist Pau Arenós, as a result of an article he wrote about us", he indicates. " I'll explain, terroir cuisine or terroir is what they call in France the cuisine that is based on local and seasonal products. In our case, we always try to do that, but sometimes we don't have as many products as we would like (due to our geographical location) and that's where l or that the territory suggests to us: dishes such as fresh grass, fossils, or the blanket of dry leaves , are good examples of that cuisine that is inspired by the terroir, but sometimes does not necessarily contain terroir products".
Under a blanket of dry leaves, or a walk through the beech forest
The menu that links these stories is called Touring the Valley and start with dishes like fresh grass, or eat a high mountain meadow; The wool, a small tribute to the textile tradition of Ezcaray or The river fish that dreamed of the sea. Speech and gastronomy. Word and land. We talk about memories, about Pollock , his late friend Paco Bascuñán and the process of creating a dish “Already in 2008 he collected in the book ‘Echaurren, the flavor of memory’ the first version of a felt landscape rather than delineated. **Pasture (chard, lettuce, chives, basil, chervil, dill, tarragon), lamb (gizzards) **, air of smoked milk, cream cheese from Cameros – with the Fresh Grass I found a speech, communication with the environment. I tell things from here, familiar flavors and aromas.
The breeze blows and brings with it the smell of clean and green. The clouds move fast. In the beech forest, in the distance, the leaves remain on the ground, defending it. Under the vegetal cover, the new grows”.
Fresh grass (or how to eat a high mountain meadow)
The leaves on the ground. It perches on the table under a blanket of dry leaves, recreating a walk through the beech forest. Perhaps the most evocative dish of this immense Francis Paniego. Landscape, environment and family. A sautéed mushroom, a sphere of chestnut soup, truffle and dried leaf mulch (beet, cabbage, pumpkin, broccoli, rose petals, lollo rosa) cooked and dehydrated.
A note here about the outstanding work of Félix Paniego in theater. If you can, get a selection of his essential creators with his peculiar “Viticultores” wine list, a jewel -because this is never like that- written in the first person. No common places. With liters of love.
We continue. We finished with **marine fossils (barnacles, cockles, rock mussels, scallops and periwinkles) **, roasted hake on vanilla potato pil pil (“In this house hake is revered and could not be missing from this menu ") and grilled chops. Dinner was on a Saturday. Time on Sunday to kick your beech trees and understand -if you want to intuit- what this is all about. Ezcaray. On Sunday we had dinner as a family, in a tavern with weathered wooden tables. I ask him about new Stars; I ask him about lists, projects, trips, restaurants, echoes and happiness.
“What do you say, Jesus? Being with family, filling friends' glasses, more nights like this. Be aware of each moment, live serenely."
Amen.
A walk through Ezcaray ends up on the plate