Getaria

The NYTimes has put Getaria on the 2013 Travel List

They say:

From San Sebastián, it’s just a 25-minute drive, mostly along a gorgeously winding waterfront highway, to Getaria. For centuries, this fishing village was all about a quiet maritime life, with boats bobbing in the small port, and seaside restaurants grilling excellent fish (and becoming renowned among gastronomically picky Basques). For centuries, Getaria’s most famous local son was the navigator Juan Sebastián Elcano, who sailed with Magellan and was the first to circumnavigate the globe in the early 16th century. But more recently, a local boy went out and became a fashion icon. After decades of squabbling over funding, the Cristóbal Balenciaga Museum finally opened in summer 2011, drawing a sophisticated design set to Getaria’s twisting medieval central streets, and filling its restaurants and hotels with travelers from Paris, Madrid and beyond. — Sarah Wildman

Near Getaria

Plaza de Abastos Market, Logroño, La Rioja

Plaza de Abastos market in Logroño, Rioja

Salt cod

Winter greens

Riojan beans

Pedro of Frutas Pedro

Fresh garlic

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

We recently attended an olive harvest and oil-pressing day Moreda de Álava, in the Rioja Alavesa region. The oil was produced from Arrónig olives, a little known olive variety common in the Rioja and Navarra regions before olives trees were ripped out or abandoned 30 to 40 years ago to make way for grape vines. Now some local farmers are reclaiming olive groves and putting them into production for extra-virgin olive oil. And many of the groves are Arrónig groves.

At the olive oil mill the bags and baskets of Arrónig olives were unloaded and the olives were quickly pressed into a green-golden liquid. Once the oil was bottled we tasted freshly pressed oil. We tasted it in the blue glasses used in olive oil tastings and we tasted it drizzled on freshly baked Spanish bread. The oil is spicy and burns slightly, similar to the oil made from Andalusian Picual olives. Given the limited production of olive oil made with Arrónig olives, we may not hear much about the oil outside of Rioja and Navarra, but it is worth seeking out. I'm thinking it would be a spicy addition to those alubias de Tolosa (Tolosa beans).

I found a recent article on olive oil written by Mediterranean food expert and cookbook author Nancy Harmon Jenkins, in which she discusses the role of the olive variety in the taste of olive oils. Olive Oil: Tasting the Differences, from The Art of Eating.

Spanish Basque Country

Basque country hills