Travel Series: Campo de Montealegre, Spain, "Restaurante Fatima"

Montealegre (Valladolid) 

C/ Nicolás Rodriguez Nº 64.

34 902 88 6094

So this is the setting of Restaurante Fatima.  A beautiful, isolated, small village in Montealegre, about an hour outside the city of Valladolid.  We arrived at around 1pm and there was not a single person.  The people in these small villages take siesta seriously I suppose. 

Pork loin with sesame sprouts (?) and apple vinaigrette

Potato soup with bacon wrapped green beans.

A lot of people didn't like this dish but it was quite amazing.  Lamb offals (liver, heart etc) with egg and crispy crispy delicious bacon.

I personally preferred this pil pil to the one we had at Inigo Lavabo.  At first I thought my cod was undercooked but it was because it was so gelatinous (cod chins I think?).  The sauce was amazing!

Pigeon with barley.  The barley was absolutely amazing.

This restaurant reminded me of something I could probably find in Japan.  I love these restaurants located in the middle of nowhere that serve outstanding food! Chef Fatima was quite the character and I thoroughly enjoyed our lunch there.  The weather was perfect and we hung out in the garden afterwards.

Travel Series: Valladolid, Spain, "Quesos Campoveja"

Herederos de Félix Sanz S.L. Serrada (Valladolid). España

C.I.F. B47459979

informacion@quesoscampoveja.com 

+34 983 559 405

 We visited an artisinal cheese producer, Campoveja, located about 30 minutes away from central Valladolid.  They use raw sheep's milk cheese and have just three types: semi cured, aged and smoked.  They collect sheep's milk from different farms in the area and do not have their own sheep.  They use natural rennet from sheep stomach and coagulate the milk until the curds are the size of garbanzo beans.  They need approximately 5 liters of milk to produce a kilo of cheese!


After the curd has been transferred into a mould, they press it for one day to squeeze out the liquid.  The cheese is then submerged in a brine for one whole day as well.

 It was amazing to see their storage/aging area.  They produce 120,000 kg of cheese annually.  They are stored on wooden shelves, which impart some flavor and aroma to the cheese, and are flipped every 3-4 days.  After three months, they brush the cheese (now with a harder surface) with olive oil. 

 All the cheeses were really good but my favorite was the smoked one- you could definitely smell the smokiness and taste it but it was not overpowering.  The aged cheese had a lot of umami and was amazing as well.