Talking about the gastronomy of the Canary Islands is talking about the product, affection and know-how. With exquisite ingredients such as its cheeses, its wines and its fish, native and exclusive products such as gofio and its sauces or mojos make gastronomy one of the attractions of any visit to the fortunate islands. Today we tell you what they are The 11 best recipes of Canarian cuisine.
Eating well in the Canary Islands is something simple. On each island we can find dishes identifying its culinary tradition. In Canarian cuisine, we find tasty preparations that the visitor will not forget. Yeah its climate and the friendliness of its inhabitants are attractions that justify its great tourist potential, as well as its gastronomy It is interesting and is a reason to travel to any of the islands that make up this Autonomous Community. If you can think of dishes that we should include on this list, help us by leaving a comment to complete our recommendation of the best of the gastronomy of the Canary Islands.
The cuisine of the Canary Islands It is quite different from the one on the peninsuladue to the different cultural influences that have influenced one and the other, the presence of emigrants, many from South American countries and the use of seasonings.
1. Watercress stew
The watercress stew is a Canarian dish, from popular cuisine. It is a simple and cheap dish, based on the Cooking of vegetables and vegetables with pieces of meat or pork rib, with abundant leaves of watercress and beans. It is a spoon dish based on legumes, which you can make easily by following our traditional watercress stew recipe.
We left the cinnamon beans soak as for any legume recipe. The next day, we begin by browning the pieces of meat so as not to cook them raw, as this will add more flavor to our Canarian stew.
While they are browning, we prepare the rest of the ingredients, chopping the watercress into pieces, peeling and chopping the pumpkin and peeling and cutting the potatoes into irregular pieces.
Add the potatoes, the pumpkin, the ears of corn, the watercress and the bay leaf, covering everything with water and putting it on the fire. if you use quick pot, it will be ready in 45 minutes after the two rings come out. If you prefer traditional cooking, it will take you approximately two hours.
Once the stew is finished, we remove the bay leaf and give it the special touch, preparing a scalded gofio with a bit of our stew’s own broth, although in some areas this operation is not done but is served with the powdered gofio separately.
2. Wrinkled potatoes
Wrinkled potatoes are perhaps the most well-known dish of the gastronomy of the Canaries. Some cooked potatoes that are saturated with salt to cause the skin to wrinkle. They are eaten very hot with the skin, dipping the potatoes in the green mojo or in the red mojo or picón mojo. An authentic exaltation of a humble ingredient like the potato to make a truly luxurious dish.
3. Green mojo
The green mojo is one of the two most famous on the islands and usually always accompanies potatoes, but it is not the only application that we can give it. Green differs from red because does not have tomato or pepperand is usually led by parsley or avocado.
4. Red Mojo
As we said, the red mojo is characterized by its color that it obtains from the tomato or from varieties of peppers, and it is usually spicy. It accompanies other foods with a more intense flavor: all kinds of meat, offal, sardines, mackerel, among others. If you don’t like spicy, you can leave it sweeter.
5. Rabbit in salmorejo
When reading salmorejo, do not think that the rabbit in salmorejo is made using the popular Cordovan cold soup traditional in Andalusian cuisine. The rabbit in salmorejo is a tasty stew with a powerful flavour, which is eaten accompanied by potatoes or wrinkled potatoes and enjoyed with Tenerife wines for greater delight.
6. Roast leg
Roast leg is a way of preparing pork, -usually with the leg or ham- that achieves a meat with a delicious texture. Although the result can be eaten cold like cold cuts -similar to ham-, it is common to serve this meat cut into slices and accompanied by its sauce, like any other roast. It is worth trying this recipe, which you can learn here.
7. Canarian ranch
A spoon dish par excellence, the Canarian ranch is similar to Madrid stew or other legume stews and just as forceful: it is made with pork and beef, chickpeas and noodles, with a wonderful stir-fry and a few strands of saffron, which They give the final touch.
8. Octopus Old Clothes
The octopus ropa vieja is a classic Canarian recipe that is still a variation of the cocido ropa vieja -which in the Canary Islands is also made with the ranch-, which is made by substituting the meat of the stew or stew with pieces of octopus Cooked. A delight.
9. Choco in sauce
Choco en salsa is very common in the Canary Islands, but it is also consumed in the southern Atlantic part of the peninsula, especially in Huelva and Cádiz. The recipe, in essence, does not stop being a Seafood stew of potatoes with cuttlefishI crash in this case, that you already know that they mean the same thing and define the same animal, but they differ simply by name depending on the area in which we are.
10. Crazy potatoes
This dish, of Latin American origin, is very popular in the Canary Islands. Crazy potatoes are prepared and served in fast food establishments, bars and beach bars. Everyone has their own way of making and presenting them, but basically it consists of a mixture of fried potatoes with many sauces and meats, which are usually taken with a beer.
11. Feast Meat
Few names are as premonitory as that of the fiesta meat recipe, a very traditional preparation of Canarian gastronomy that consists of pieces of pork (generally loin, but it can be made with pork tenderloin) that are marinated overnight in a canary marinade with a little bit of spice and that the next day they are fried and stewed.
12. Blanched gofio
He gofio is a mixture of roasted and ground beans to the stone to which a pinch of salt is added and its use in Canarian cuisine is very common. From adding a spoonful of this powder and using it to wrap foods such as nuts to using it to make sauces, kneading into cakes or pellets, gofio is an intrinsic part of Canarian cuisine. One of the most interesting preparations is the scalded gofio, which is made by adding the gofio to the fish broth and stirring until a thick cream or puree is obtained.
Corn Pineapple Gofio 1 Kg
13. Canary powder
The gourmand polvito is a very popular dessert in the Canary Islands, which is also called polvito uruguay, despite the fact that its relationship with Uruguay is not clear, except for the use of caramel sauce. It is very easy to prepare, we can have it ready in 15-20 minutes and it admits variations to taste.
In the original recipe the Moya’s sighs, some dry Canarian meringues that are incorporated between crushed and chopped. Hence, probably, the “dust”.
14. Carnival Tortillas
Apparently originating more from the island of Gran Canaria, in reality Carnival tortillas are prepared on all the islands even out of season of parties, although they are a typically carnival and Easter sweet. In some houses they are made every Sunday at family meals, and the leftover dough can be used for breakfast pancakes or crêpes.
15. Honey soups
Typical recipe from the island of The Palm, honey soups are also traditional for Carnival. The most typical thing is to make them with molasses or cane honey, which provides a toasted touch, but with quality honey they also come out exquisite.
Its origin is found in the old cane fields and sugar mills of La Palma, established on the island during the 16th century. The honey leftovers, which were called “foaming”, were used by the operators and workers, who made bread soups in sweet syrup. All this led to this humble but rich recipe that is prepared in all the families of the island.
16. Frangollo with palm honey
Frangollo is one of the richest desserts in Canarian gastronomy, along with quesillo, a variant of flan that they usually prepare on the islands and it is also highly appreciated. The frangollo recipe is a coarse, unroasted cornmeal-based dessert, also known as roll that can be made with or without eggs. If you have never done it before, I recommend you try this delicious genuinely Canarian dessert.
Surely you will have missed many traditional recipes from the Canary Islands in this selection. If you have a moment, leave us a comment with your suggestions and we will complete this selection.
In DAP | Tenerife Gastroguide: what to eat on this Canary Island (and which restaurants you shouldn’t miss)
In DAP | This is Gofio, the restaurant in Madrid that has made Canarian cuisine known to the Goths (which is not just potatoes and mojos)