Neven Maguire returns to RTÉ One tonight with a brand new episode of his Spanish Food Trail, dazzling us with an ancient recipe for almond soup and a secretive gastro brotherhood.
Neven Maguire has been keeping summer alive for us all with his dazzling new series, Neven's Spanish Food Trails, providing plenty of holiday '19 inspo.
In the series, Neven explores Andalucia, a top destination for Irish travelers and a labyrinthine hub for culinary delights.
Neven has already sojourned around Granada, where he sampled authentic churros with thick chocolate sauce and will continue on to Seville and the mountainous Huelva region.
This week, though, he's in Cordoba, a grand city with a rich historical background. And as well all know, great history makes for even greater local delicacies.
In this episode, Neven delves right into the culinary history of the region, sampling and learning about the various types of olives used to make Cordoba's award-winning olive oil.
He also gets to try a cold almond soup, one of the city's oldest dishes, as well as salmorejo, the region's own version of gazpacho, the famous Andalucian tomato soup served cold. Theirs is a rich blend of puréed tomato, bread, garlic and olive oil - heaven in a bowl on a hot summer's day in Spain - and quite different to gazpacho.
The dish is so revered in Cordoba, there is a society committed to ensuring its preparation is kept authentic, called the Brotherhood of Salmorejo. In tonight's episode, we see them welcome a new member - our own Neven!
To wash all that down, Neven visits a bodega in Montilla to learn about Fino (which means "refined" in Spanish), the driest and palest of the fortified wines of the region, before ending this week’s programme cooking Vegetable Risotto using sherry vinegar.
Watch Neven's Spanish Food Trails tonight, Tuesday 25th September at 8.30pm on RTÉ One.
