Pardon the Padron

all packed away and tidy…

… in true ‘Shirley Valentine’ style we met a lovely couple whilst on holiday… however they were no Dougie and Jeanette… although for the 48 hours we enjoyed together;  trading stories, nice places to visit, putting the world to rights and of-course recommending good restaurants to eat in… we did our fair share of sticking together like The British tend to do…  Tony and Allison very generously took us out for dinner to a lovely little restaurant tucked away in the narrow streets of old Pollensa town… they even suggested that we all order the vegetarian paella (The Big V was ecstatic…) as they had been recommended it themselves from a local who ate there regularly… and it was good.

The chef had clearly thought about making it authentic in essence, but without the meat or fish… something which the Spanish can be quite stubborn about… but this dish was excellent in texture and taste.  It had apple, raisins, walnuts, carrots and what I think was a black bean sauce to add that sweet but salty flavour that you expect from a paella.

We started with the obligatory Pimientos de Padron which are fat, mild, chili pepper from the Padron region of Spain that are fried and covered in salt… very very good…  I think I may be making this meal over the summer… so watch this space!

But what I think both the Big V and I loved most about this meal was the wonderful, generous company, the shared knowledge of a good meal and the fact that we now owe them a meal in some hidden place, somewhere in the world!

I did make a couple of meals at the apartment whilst we were there… we found some fabulous local asparagus and some great big fat plum tomatoes so I made a salad or two and I also cobbled together these toasted mini bruschetta using a strong local cheese, tomato and a home-made aioli…