Some notes on the restaurants, sights, and wines of Galicia, Spain, including a recipe for St. James...

1. RICHARD FRISBIE :: Galician Food & Wine
Some notes on the restaurants, sights, and wines of Galicia, Spain, including a recipe for St. James
Cake . . .
Typical desserts we encountered included a cow milk cheese (like a ricotta) drizzled with honey,
boiled chestnuts with warm chocolate sauce and whipped cream, and St. James cake, an almond
flour cake. HereâEUR(TM)s the recipe:
St James Cake
2 2/3 cups almond flour, or finely ground (peeled or blanched) almonds
3/4 cup flour
1 1/4 cup sugar
4 Eggs beaten together
1 stick or 8 Tbsp butter melted
½ tsp baking powder
½ cup water
zest of 1 lemon
Allow ingredients to come to room temperature, mix dry together, add melted butter, water and
eggs, mix until combined, pour into a 10 inch spring form pan and bake at 350 degrees until a
toothpick inserted into it comes out clean (about 45 minutes) Technically, this can be a gluten-free
dessert by omitting the wheat flour and increasing the almond flour to 3 ½ cups. A little wheat
flour added will help to create a crisper top and bottom crust. Traditionally, this is dusted with
powdered sugar leaving the shape of a cross visible on the cake.

2. Themarket in Santiago deCompostela (Mercado de Abastos de Santiago) is
the biggest on Thursday, with fresh fruit, flowers, seafood, meat and stalls of bread in all shapes and
sizes. Finally, after all these years of lamenting that being on vacation in a hotel without a kitchen
means I canâEUR(TM)t buy all that luscious food inthe public market and cook it, we found a
restaurant that caters to market buyers. Churro Mania, a restaurant next to the market, will prepare
the food you purchase at the

3. market for 10% of the price you paid for it. Just show your receipt.
Abastos, also around the corner from the market is a great little stand-up restaurant to stop in for a
good local wine and a delicious octopus snack served on Galician slate tiles.
ÂÂ
When Galicians talk about their bread they say, âEURoeYou canâEUR(TM)t buy any better bread
than Galician!âEUR
Some good wines to order:
Valdeorras DOC Qunta de Peso Mencia 2008
Valdeorras DOC Casal Noro Mencia 2008
Lagar do Cigur Gedello
Sabatellius Ribeira Sucra 2009
Rias Baixas DOC Pazo Senorans âEUR" we enjoyed their
Albarinos at the vineyard, putting to bed the common misconception that

4. Albarino has to be served young. In a vertical tasting of their 2004, 2008 & 2009 vintages we
learned that it ages well and matures to a fine wine.
Os Licores de Casal âEUR" a coffee flavored 52 proof liquor is a popular after-dinner digestive
drink. There are other flavors, including a tangerine one I particularly enjoyed. They are made with
a base of the grappa-style Galician liquor called orujo.
OâEUR(TM)dezaseis is a family-style Galician restaurant where we were seated at communal
tables and passed platters of food. It is like eating at a typical Galician home. OâEUR(TM)dezaseis
is where all the dignitaries went for dinner after sending us to some haute cuisine place. We balked
and went where the natives go for some Great food & service!
Yayo Daporta, a restaurant named after the young chef/owner, is in the town of Cambados outside of
Santiago. Yayo served us several great wines: Martin Codax 2008, Zarate Trus da Vina 2005, Casal
Novo (Valdeorras) 2009, and the nouvelle cuisine (scallop carpaccio, tempura mussels, oysters
ceviche) young, hip chefs prepare everywhere these days, but using the freshest local seafood
available âEUR" delicious, and beautiful to look at! Speaking of which:

5. Food as art - GastroLab is a catering kitchen in the art gallery / art cooperative
âEURoefactoriaâEUR, newly opened in Santiago. Miquel Gil, Goncalo Moreno, Antonio
Cervera, & Adrian Hiebra were gracious hosts at an opening I attended there. It has a nice concept
âEUR" artists can live and work there and contribute a percentage of the sales of their art the
gallery sells.
An odd architectural note, the scallop shell that is well-known as the symbol of the path the pilgrims
follow to Santiago de Compostela, is also abundant because of the consumption of the scallops
themselves. One use of the shell is as shingles, or siding for the buildings on the shore. It is a
reflective and unusually attractive use of the beautiful scallop shells.
While window shopping, really just walking through the streets, two things occurred to me; One:
that you could gain weight accepting the sample foods being offered by shopkeepers standing in
their doorways âEUR" primarily St James cake. Two: that the adult lamphrey eels writhing around
in a big fish tank (sometimes attaching their huge tooth-filled sucker mouths to the glass so we could
peer down their throats) were the most unappetizing seafood we saw on the trip, octopus included!
Every day as many as one thousand religious pilgrims travel ancient paths from all over Europe to
see the tomb of St. James in SpainâEUR(TM)s Northwest province of Galicia. They

6. seek salvation and the granting of a favor from the saint. To qualify for
these indulgences, they must travel at least the last 100 kilometers from Sarria to Santiago de
Compostela, visiting the many churches and cathedrals along the Saint James Way. During the year
when St. James Day (July 25th) falls on a Sunday (Xacobeo) it is a special, most holy, day, and the
most auspicious season in which to make your pilgrimage. 2010 is such a year. My article on the
pilgrimage is here.
Air Europa
San Francisco Hotel Monumento
Parador de "Hostal Dos Reis Católicos"
Turismo de Santiago de    Compostela
Richard Frisbie, FOOD Correspondent:
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