The province of Malaga is a mecca for salad lovers, an open secret that San Sebastián Gastronomika has only confirmed with the three consecutive awards in recent years at the congress. Until now, because the new title of the best Russian salad in Spain remains this time in the north, specifically in the restaurant Castru Gaiteru of Asturias.
Located in Celorio (Llanes), the premises run by the young Pello Noriega It specializes in local grilled meat and fish, but that does not prevent the menu from also including rice dishes, stews and tapas that vary according to the season. Noriega, disciple of Jose Antonio Campoviejo of El Corral del Indianu (with a Michelin star), has thus conquered the palate of the jury with a salad that has nothing to envy to the long southern tradition of this bar classic, elevated to the category of haute cuisine.
The secret is in the potato
Arguiñano already said it and we have also pointed it out in WTP on many occasions when referencing our favorite salad recipes: one of the keys to embroidering it is in the potatooften neglected for its humble and cheap character.
Not only must it be of quality -and the choice of its variety will depend on the area, the season and the taste of the chef-, it must also be cooked well. The secret of the Pello Noriega salad is to use Ágata potato, which has little water, oven roasted to which you add the mayonnaise while it is still warm, because you should never season a potato when it is already cold. Thus, the chef prepares a kind of very creamy mashed potatoes.
The award-winning salad is also completed with a bit of candied piquillo pepper, manzanilla olives and, to round off the plating, good tuna belly and pickled piparratwo products from the north that ennoble a dish so closely linked to Andalusian cuisine, but of which other equally tasty variants can be found throughout Spain.
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Images | San Sebastian Gastronomika
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