Posts Tagged ‘market’

Day 23 (11.06.08): Al Mercado del Fontan Originally uploaded by ladykat.

Liz, being healthy and wise in these matters, buys a lot of fruit and veg. And, wanting to support the local economy, often buys them from the old girls outside the market on a Thursday or Saturday. A few weeks ago, as she was leaving, laden with kale, cabbage, potatoes and leeks, the lady she was buying from popped an egg in her pocket with a sort of knowing wink.

I think this was a code and we’ve now cracked it. The selling of eggs by these ladies is very furtively done. They keep them out of sight and they look around before actually getting them out. We think it’s not really allowed, maybe they’re only allowed to sell veg, and not even the broadest definition of the local law (unlike, for example, my definition of fruit to include cheese – fruit of the cow) let’s them do it openly, so they just ignore the rules and get on with it.

Yesterday Liz bought some eggs from one lady and later, as we were leaving, another quietly said ‘¿Quieres huevos?’

Chestnut drop in centre Originally uploaded by itsjustanalias.

Along the paseo de los alamos (the boulevard in front of the park) there are a number of art nouveau style ice cream stalls. In the past month a few of them have changed their spots and started sporting ‘castañas asadas’ signs. It’s chestnut season and, much like in the UK, a bag of roasted chestnuts is a fine autumn treat.

The old ladies in the outdoor bit of the market (the part where the local smallholders come in to sell whatever they have) is a good bellwether of the current state of veg. Things are turning green, not so many figs now, not so many lettuce or tomatoes. Now it’s more in the way of kale, cabbage and greens. But they all have a tray or two of chestnuts (and apples and pears still). Liz prefers to get her chestnuts from one particular old lady who looks about 300, thin and crooked with a deep lined face that suggests a lifetime of hard work. She stands a little apart from the other sellers, under a tree, next to her tartan shopping trolley and her only goods for sale. A mountain of chestnuts. Liz asked for half a kilo and she ‘misheard’ and sold us a kilo, but that was okay because they were delicious.

Para el desarme Originally uploaded by itsjustanalias.

“Spinach?” I was wandering through the market, the part where local folk bring their market garden produce to sell, tying to choose just which apples, figs, onions, mushrooms and the like I wanted. “Spinach?” Repeated the woman, “For the disarmament”.

Of course I’m translating, but El Desarme is what she said. Erm, I said.

“Desarme, desarme. You need spinach?”

I’d seen signs up in a few restaurants, they said El Desarme menu, spinach chickpeas and cod (the lovely bacalao, preserved in salt and then washed before cooking), followed by callao (I think) which (I think) is a tripe based stew, one of my students described it to me a few months ago, followed by rice pud.

El desarme is a tradition, rather than anything organized. It commemorates one of the battles of Oviedo in the Carlist wars, or the second Carlist wars. It’s also part harvest festival food (although why they need to use the tripe I’m not sure, the rest of the pig’s available no?).

So of course I bought the spinach and some bacalao and (heretically) added onions and tomato… it was lovely.

Pictogram instructions are so yesterday… Originally uploaded by itsjustanalias.

I was idly browsing the stalls in the market, trying to overhear the way one would ask for a fish to be gutted (hey, it’s no joke, they have over a dozen fish counters, and they’re all full of fine looking fish) and I strolled past one of the veg stalls. I stopped and looked, what do I fancy for my tea, I thought. What would you like? The stallholder asked. Not sure, I said, have you got any spinach. She pointed to a bag of baby spinach and I started thinking, mmmmm spinach and cabrales with pasta. For what? She asked. I hesitated, I was making it up as I went along. For potes? Maybe, I said. You don’t want that for potes (potes is one of the fine stews in these parts, hopefully Jorge will correct me if I’m wrong on that count ;-) this is better for potes, she pointed at a large bunch of spring greens (acelga). Another shopper had stopped and expressed her agreement, it’s much better to use the acelga. I can’t remember any spring greens in the potes I’ve had in the past, but never mind. The stallholder then reeled off the other ingredients I’d need and I bought some of them. The problem is that when you’re on your own, just using a large onion and a large tomato can give rise to a dish of mythic proportions. I was being good at the weekend and cooked some beans for the week (the overnight soak and hour or three’s boil) and this lunchtime I made some, well, I won’t call it potes but it had onion, tomato, potato, garlic, chorizo, acelga, pinto beans, haricot beans and chickpeas in.

Nice as it is, I think it will last me until May!