Gastronomy

DRY BEANS

The beans from Barco de Ávila are dry beans from the legume family. Its cultivation has always been traditional in this zone.

The sow is made in the second two weeks of May, sowing all the varieties at the same time. Depending on the size and the weight of the variety, the people use between 80 and 100 kg of seeds in each hectare. The water for the plant irrigation, without lime, produces a very fine epiderm in the beans, which reduces cooking time and at the same time it makes its feel soft. The most ordinary harvest is the manual harvest, pod by pod, without uprooting. This method gives more quality to the product.

These beans are excellent with red wines.

Dry beans

Ingredients:

• 3/4 Kg dry beans.

• One cured ham tip of 100 g.

• 100 g fat.

• A bit pork tail.

• A bit pork leg.

• One pork ear.

• A head of garlic.

• A leaf of laurel.

• Salt.

Leave the beans in cold water for two or three hours. Remove them from the water and put them in a pot, then you put the beans with cold water in the fire. When they start boiling, remove them again out and put them in the pot again. Then you put them in cold water another time and add the other ingredients. Later when they have boiled by the second time, remove the foam and then you add cold water.

Cook them in a soft temperature for two or three hours. Check the salt at the end of the cooking.

Before serving , pour in a bit of oil to enhance its taste.

CASTILLIAN SOUP (GARLIC SOUP)

An energetic warm winter soup cooked mainly with hard bread and garlic.

Sliced bread is roasted. Garlic is mashed with salt. Oil is added on this mixture and everything is fried. Chopped sausage and paprika are added.

Then, everything is poured into boiling water. After a while, the bread is put into the saucepan and it is left to boil for some minutes.

Two eggs are poured in the saucepan and they are shaken so that they get mixed with the bread.

It is served hot and watered with red wine.

PATATAS REVOLCONAS (MASHED POTATOES)

Potatoes, two cloves of garlic, paprika, olive oil, bacon, dry hot red pepper and salt are needed.

Olive oil is poured in a pottery saucepan and sliced bacon is added.

When the oil is hot. when the bacon is fried it is taken out of the saucepan.

The cloves of garlic, previously chopped in four parts are put in the same oil and the paprika is added.

Then a small portion of the dry hot red pepper is added. Then the potatoes “chopped in small portions” are put into the saucepan and water is poured. When the mixture starts boiling it is shaken so that the potatoes got mashed.

Finally the pieces of bacon are put on top.

CHULETÓN (THICK VEAL CHOP)

A thick sirloin veal chop that is done on the grill and usually eaten rare done.

The meat comes from the cows in Gredos and in Amblés Valley.

The chop usually weighs 500 gr. Red wines are good partners.

YEMAS DE SANTA TERESA

A very sweet cake made with the yolks of eggs and sugar.

Arévalo is famous for its suckling pig, more known as “tostón”. It’s the best dish in a lot of restaurants. But there is also roast lamb, veal chop from Ávila and vegetables. The most important desserts are “Tortas de Veedor”, “Rozneques” and cakes.