One of the highlights of Santiago de Compostela was taking a private cooking class. I did something similar with my friend whilst in southern Spain a few years ago in Granada and it was a great experience. The course in Granada was actually over 2 days and we did not make a trip to the market before each class (everything was already at the studio) but it was still great to cook some local dishes with a local chef.
Finding a course to take on this trip to northern Spain proved a little challenging as I was not with a group and most places wanted a minimum of two people in order to book a class. I was very fortunate to find The Spanish Touch http://www.thespanishtouch.com who were more than willing to accommodate my request. I want to thank Elna at The Spanish Touch who was very helpful providing information and answering all my questions as I think I changed my plans and dates a few times! I was put in touch with a local company in Santiago de Compostela called Hello Cooking http://www.hellocooking.es and it was absolutely fantastic I had so much fun and thoroughly enjoyed every moment! Maria and Elvira are wonderful and I would recommend to anyone wanting to take a day course to do some local Galician cooking to contact Maria – you will love the experience.
Maria met me at my hotel and we walked to the old town market close to the cathedral. This is the place where the local people shop for their daily fresh fruits, vegetables, meat, fish and seafood, nuts, seeds and dried foods as well as flowers and various hand made crafts.
Maria and I picked up the fresh hake fish we needed as well as some zamburinas on the half shell. Unfortunately the large scallops Maria was hoping to get were not available at any of the vendors but the zamburinas looked like they would be just as tasty!
The cooking studio was only a few minutes from the market and Elvira was already inside. A wonderful lady with many years experience as a professional chef, I was looking forward to cooking with both Elvira and Maria.
Our menu included making an appetizer of the zamburinas cooked the Galician way, on the half shell with a tomato-serrano ham sauce topped with a little fresh bread crumbs and baked until crispy and bubbly. Oh they were SO good!!
The main course was the hake fish dish with a white wine tomato sauce, topped with some white asparagus and parsley. A very nice combination of flavours, so easy to make and so tasty!
Dessert was a traditional Santiago cake made with almond flour. The almond flour provides more flavour than conventional wheat flour and the cake is much more moist as well. I was able to bring a couple small cakes away with me and they provided me with a nice treat along with cafe con leche on my train trip to Segovia the following day.
Muchas gracias Elna, Maria and Elvira and Que aproveche!
2 replies on “Cooking in Santiago de Compostela”
I loved your post! I can almost smell and taste from here the Galician flavors! Maria and Elvira do a terrific job, and our job was to put you in contact with the right people and provide you the best experience possible. So glad you had such a good time. By the way, if you are going to be around Spain (or planning to be) from December to March, we have a new food tour you may be interested in: 4-day itinerary Truffle Tour. Check our website for more information. Gracias!! FB.com/thespanishtouch
Gracias Elna! It was fantastic and thank you again for setting it up. Truffles sound wonderful I wonder if I might be able to sneak away and if I do I will certainly contact you!