Red shrimp in El Faralló
Serve this love letter, too, to pay heartfelt tribute to the man without whom none of this would make sense: Jose Piera, Pepe 'the Pegoli' , who died at the age of 76 in that Dénia that owes him so much.
This family baret was born there in 1943 and around the tables of him in Les Rotas knew how to build, shrimp by shrimp, a certain way of understanding gastronomy and life : attached to the sea, to the humility of the bar that believes in the warmth of the service and the dedication without measure to simple pleasures (some tellinas, cooked red shrimp and a banda rice).
There was never a need in his house for that kitsch so typical of our gastronomic present of “recovering the flavors of memory” because ** El Pegolí is memory, present and legacy.** Thank you so much, Don Pepe.
El Pegolí was (and is) a shelter for so many crazy men and women for that crustacean of the family Aristeidae that lives between muddy and sandy bottoms in chasms up to almost five hundred meters deep. That of Dénia, whipped by the currents of the Mediterranean that lead to Ibiza, abode of plankton and underwater life (another reason to take care of our environment) .
The red shrimp will be another casualty of this nonsense that is our selfish and unsustainable way of life. We'll cry, yeah.
Also exemplary pieces in Palamós, Garrucha or Águilas , but today we will focus on the provinces of ** Alicante , Valencia and Castellón .** To begin with, we are not moving from Dénia because it is ground zero of the Aristeus antennatus and because here there is firecracker to burst the palate: El Pegolí, El Faralló by Javier Alguacil and Julia Lozano, Fish & Brasseries by José Manuel López, Aticcook by Bruno Ruiz and of course the enormous Quique Dacosta , guarantor of the Mediterranean damsel.
Well of uric acid throughout the Marina Alta and beyond. Beat by Jose Manuel Miguel at The Cookbook hotel in Calpe, El Portal Taberna & Wines by Carlos Bosch and Sergio Serra, Piripi by the Castelló or Manero family in Alicante; Ca Joan de Joan April (although theirs is meat and long maturations, but watch out for those prawns) in Altea, the Hogar del Pescador in Vila-joiosa or Casa Toni in Benidorm (aha! Martin Parr is convinced by the kitsch symbol of tourism massive we are not going to be less) .
Inside, the salted prawn drives us crazy. Kiko Moya , much more than a plate, a turning point in the kitchen of L'Escaleta and in the treatment of the bug: "we subjected the piece to different processes until we realized that the answer was very close to us, right next to . Of course we have not invented salting in seafood but we had no references of the use of this technique on a product such as red shrimp ”.
Valencia has more than it seems to offer, my favorites? Gran Azul by Abraham Brandez (wonderful seafood and also good rice dishes), Casa Carmela by Toni Novo, Q 'Tomas by José Tomás, the Rausell or Maipi bar by Gabi Serrano, Pilsener by Manolo Haro and of course that branch of the planet Dacosta called Llisa Negra.
We are going north because in Peniscola queen since 1967 Casa Jaime de Jaime Sanz, which has a lot to cut beyond its Calabuig rice ’ in honor of the Berlanga movie: essential as essential are the sunsets at Casa Manolo de Manuel Alonso (on Daimuz beach); red shrimp and bubbles, nothing can go wrong.
And there is no product that speaks as well of the Mediterranean as the red prawn, due to its saline, intense, juicy and unforgettable flavour. Who hasn't died of pleasure sucking on his head?
Who hasn't died of pleasure sucking on his head?