The Canary Islands is much more than our excellent coastal areas, the wonderful climate and the leisure offer of the islands. History, culture and, above all, gastronomy are reasons that move more and more people to visit the archipelago. In this article we will talk about the best recipes to prepare during the winter and spring in the Canary Islands.
As for food, Canarian cuisine has much more to offer than mojos and papas arrugás. In fact, throughout the year there are different dishes that stand out in popular recipe books. We review some of the best Canarian spring recipes, with seasonal products and a long history.
The best recipes to prepare in springtime in the Canary Islands
Watercress stew: tradition in its purest form
Stew is a very common dish in almost all the territories of our country when temperatures drop. Obviously, in each area typical and seasonal products are used.
When the summer season is over, in the restaurants of the Canary Islands -from the simplest to the Michelin Star restaurants- this exquisite dish appears, containing watercress, potatoes and white beans. To all this can be added pork, peppers, garlic and onions and even corn on the cob.
Watercress is the true protagonist of this preparation, which is ready in just 10 minutes and only requires an hour and a half of simmering to delight anyone's palate.
Rabbit in salmorejo: a dish that changes a concept
Rabbit in salmorejo is a slow-cooked spoon dish that can only be found on the seven islands of the Archipelago. Why? For starters, because the concept of salmorejo differs greatly from the cold tomato soup from the Cordoba area.
In this case, a chopped rabbit is used, which is stewed in a sauce made with garlic, chorizo peppers, vinegar and different herbs. It is a kind of marinade with a powerful sauce full of flavor and nuances.
It is usually served with wrinkled potatoes and fresh parsley. In addition, an excellent pairing can be a local wine produced in some of the most important wineries of Tenerife, Gran Canaria or El Hierro.
Chestnut cream: taking advantage of seasonality
Spring is synonymous with chestnuts and this fruit can not only be eaten directly from a street stall, but it is also possible to prepare delicious dishes with it.
One of the spring recipes, perhaps the most popular, is the chestnut cream. It is part of the popular recipe book of Tenerife and is prepared with very simple ingredients and in a short time. It is enough to boil the chestnuts and peel them, prepare a stir-fry with vegetables such as onion and leek and add water, broth or cream.
After cooking for barely an hour, the dish would be ready to taste as if it were a soup with chunks. However, it is much more common to find the whole mixture crushed in cream format, with more or less thickness, so that each bite is a perfect blend of flavors.
Gofio escaldado: history on a plate
Gofio escaldado is one of those shepherds' dishes that still survive in some areas of the country. It is made with gofio, a corn flour that is roasted and mixed with fish broth to create a paste with a texture similar to hummus. It is usually served with raw onion wedges and even a sprig of mint to increase its flavor potency.
It is common to use this recipe for spring as a side dish, appetizer or starter and it has traditionally been served after the summer, although it is now possible to find it throughout the year. This is a historical dish, since it dates back centuries, when before the arrival of corn from America it was prepared with other types of flour.
Mushrooms: another great spring ingredient in the Canary Islands
Although it may seem difficult to associate mushrooms with Canarian recipes, in this area there is a proliferation of mushroom foragers and restaurants that prepare them in many different ways.
Despite not being a particularly humid, cold and dark area, the diversity of the landscape of the archipelago is such that there are some corners where you can find up to 50 species of edible mushrooms used in recipes for spring.
From the classic scrambled and sautéed dishes to more elaborate dishes such as mushrooms with prawns or cream of mushrooms and leeks, you only have to look at the menus of some of the restaurants on the islands to see how versatile this ingredient is and how it appears in the gastronomic proposals of the autonomous community in spring.
These are just some of the dishes that are part of the selection of spring recipes in the Canary Islands. The islands have a great gastronomic tradition and eat well in any restaurant, bar or "guachinche" that raises its shutters at any point of the archipelago and at all times of the year, especially in spring, with all that the Canarian pantry offers to cooks and diners.
If you are interested in the world of the products elaborated in the Canary Islands and its gastronomy and you want to know more, we leave you below the link to our section of Gastronomy section.
