Cellar Tastings

Marmitako is one of the classic Basque dishes, and you will see it on restaurant menus from San Sebastian to Bilbao. It is essentially a fisherman’s dish, very simple and easy to prepare when you are on the fishing boat and you don’t have many cooking utensils. The word “Marmitako” comes from “Marmita”, which is the recipient that the Basque fisherman use to cook the dish on the boats. The dish is spicy and juicy. This recipe for Marmitako was contributed by the Casa Armendáriz, a Professional cooking school located in beautiful San Sebastian in Northern Spain. Established in 1989, it is run by the Armendariz brothers. Among other events the school has participated in the San Sebastian Film Festival closing ceremony, has worked for important Basque companies and organisations such as the San Sebastian, Hernani and Lasarte City Councils. The head chef, Jose Ignacio Etxaniz, popularly known as Txuno Etxaniz, is also author of several books. One of them, “Nuestros pescados en la cocina” (Our fish in the kitchen) has been distinguished as the best Worldwide Fish Book in Spanish, and was granted an honourable mention in the Gourmand Cook Book Awards 2001 held in Perigeux (France). He is also the Vice-president of a Gastronomic Society in San Sebastian

Ingredients

• 1 kilo. bonito (tuna)
• 1.5 kilo potatoes
• 1 onion
• 1 green pepper
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 small hot pepper
• 2 ripe tomatoes
• 2 dl oil
• 1 bunch of parsley
• white wine
• salt

Preparation

Cut the onion, the green pepper and garlic cloves into small dices. Add the small hot pepper and remove until soften. Boil tomatoes, peel, take seeds off and cut them into pieces. Add them to the green vegetables and let boil. Peel potatoes and "cascarlas". Add them to the vegetables, remove lightly and cover the whole with the fumee of tuna. Add salt and leave boiling on small fire until potatoes get ready and make thicken bouillon. Cut tuna into square pieces, salt them and add to the potatoes. Set aside for five or seven minutes. When serving, sprinkle with parsley.

Try this dish with: Remelluri Reserva, La Rioja, Spain

“1995 Remelluri has matured beautifully and is drinking perfectly now, as it will continue to over the next few years. ‘..it appears to be the qualitative equivalent of the extraordinary 1994. It possesses a dense black/purple colour, a rich, black raspberry, cassis and jammy cherry-scented nose with hints of liquorice and smoky oak, extraordinary flavour intensity, full body, sweet integrated tannin and acidity, and a blockbuster, sensational finish that lasts for 35 seconds…It needs another 2-3 years of cellaring and should drink superbly through the first 10-12 years of the next century… “Remelluri's 1997 (3,000 cases available for the United States) is produced from 80% Tempranillo, with the balance Grenache, Graciano, and Mazuelo, and is aged in 90% French and 10% American oak… Remelluri has produced a fine effort. Soft, complex, spicy, cedary, cherry, and plum notes emerge from this dark ruby-colored wine. In the mouth, toasty oak adds to the lush, sexy corpulence. Low acidity and ripe fruit make for a lush entry.”- Rober Parker