ON THE ROAD AGAIN

 

On the road again! Off to Ronda for lunch.

We drove to Ronda to meet some friends for lunch. It’s the first time I’ve been out of my own municipality since the beginning of the pandemic. Without thinking twice, I hugged the friend, shook hands with another. All of us vaccinated, hooray! 

We lunched at Restaurante Pedro Romero, right across from the Ronda bull ring. We sat at tables inside, with table cloths and proper napkins. Although QR symbols were posted for consulting the digital menu, we happily made our selections from real menus. We took off our masks when the bottle of wine was opened (Los Cipreses, a Garnacha rosado from Ronda bodega, Huerto de la Condesa). We ate very well and sat talking over coffee until late in the day. Life seems almost normal.

Ronda is an inland mountain town, once known for its smugglers and bandoleros  The road from the coast winds up through the steep hills of the newly proclaimed Parque Nacional Sierra de las Nieves, home to the Pinsapo fir tree, a remnant of the Pleistocene Age.

Rabo de toro at Pedro Romero restaurant.

Ronda is close enough to the sea to have fresh fish on the restaurant menu, but it’s especially known for its sierra cuisine—sturdy potages—some with wild greens such as tagarninas, thistles; small game such as partridge and rabbit; ibérico ham and fresh pork, and, in this town famous for its bullfighting (Antonio Ordoñez, et al.), rabo de toro, braised bull’s tail. 

We started with ajo blanco, Málaga’s emblematic white gazpacho made with almonds and garlic and here served with smoked sardines instead of the usual grapes; morcilla, blood sausage, a Ronda specialty, accompanied by roasted red peppers, and a carpaccio of thinly sliced beef. Best of all was a plate of magnificent sliced tomatoes of the heirloom Castellano variety. They were sweet and juicy. 

Here’s my rendition of the Cazuela de Conejo that I sampled in Ronda.

Pieces of rabbit are cooked in a sauce with wine. Spanish style, the rabbit is accompanied by fries and the first of the season's sliced tomatoes.

Aromatic rosemary, thyme, bay and cumin add flavor. I added a few small carrots for color (the rabbit cooked in less time than the carrots).

Rabbit is white meat, but the sauce is rich. Serve with a light, unoaked red or a crisp, cold rosado.

Rabbit in Cazuela

Cazuela de Conejo Estilo de Ronda

The rabbit’s liver thickens the sauce and deepens its flavor (chicken liver can be substituted). If you do not have liver or prefer not to use it, Use a slice of fried bread to thicken the sauce. Blend it with the fried garlic. Thin the sauce with additional water if it seems too thick. After cooking the rabbit, the sauce can be sieved or pureed in a blender, if desired. (I didn't; I like the texture of chopped onions, carrots and peppers in the sauce.)

In Ronda, the rabbit with its rich sauce is typically served with patatas fritas, fries, but rice goes nicely with it as well.

Cut rabbit in large pieces to avoid splintery bones.

1 rabbit, cut in serving pieces (2- 2 ½ pounds)

Salt 

Freshly ground black pepper

1/3 cup olive oil

1 rabbit liver (2 ounces) or slice of bread

3 cloves garlic, peeled

Sprig of rosemary

1 cup chopped onion

¼ cup finely chopped green pepper

¼ cup diced carrot

2 medium tomatoes (1 cup grated pulp)

1 tablespoon pimentón (paprika, not smoked)

¼ teaspoon cumin

¼ teaspoon coarsely cracked black pepper

½ cup white wine

1 ½ cups water

1 bay leaf

Sprig of thyme

Sprinkle the rabbit with salt and pepper and allow it to come to room temperature.

Heat half of the oil in a cazuela or heavy pan. Cut the liver into 4 pieces and fry it with the garlic cloves, turning, until they are browned on all sides. (If using bread instead of liver, fry it until golden on both sides.) Skim out the liver and garlics and place them in a blender.

Brown rabbit in oil.

Add the pieces of rabbit to the cazuela with the sprig of rosemary. Fry them on moderate heat, turning, until rabbit is browned on both sides. Remove the pieces of rabbit. Discard the rosemary.

Add remaining oil to the pan. Sauté the onion, green pepper and carrot until softened and beginning to brown, 5 minutes. 

Grate tomatoes.

Meanwhile, grate the tomatoes and discard the skins. Stir the pimentón into the onion sofrito. Add the tomato pulp, cumin, cracked black pepper, ½ teaspoon salt and wine. Bring to a boil and simmer until the alcohol is cooked away.

Add 1 cup of water to the liver and garlic in the blender. Blend until smooth. Pour this mixture into the pan. Return the pieces of rabbit and their juices to the pan with the bay leaf and thyme. Add enough additional water to partially cover the rabbit.

Liquid partially covers the pieces of rabbit.

Bring to a boil, then lower heat so the liquid bubbles gently. Cook, uncovered, 15 minutes. Turn the pieces of rabbit in the sauce. Cook another 15 minutes or until the rabbit is tender when pierced with a fork. If sauce is very thick, add additional water.

Remove from heat and allow to set 5 minutes. Serve the rabbit and sauce in the cazuela or plate it. 

More rabbit recipes:

Rabbit with Figs and Mudejar Spices.

Rabbit in Wine Marinade (Salmorejo).

Sheet Pan Rabbit with Garlic (al Ajillo).

Rabbit, Sierra Style.

Rice and Rabbit in a Skillet.

Notes from another visit to Ronda here.

Restaurante Pedro Romero, where we lunched in Ronda.

Lunch in Ronda with old friend, Gerry Dawes (left) and new friend, Tom Perry.

Gerry Dawes leads individually-designed wine, food, culture and photography tours of Spain. He is working on a book about his travels on the food and wine beat:  Sunset in a Glass: Adventures of a Food and Wine Road Warrior in Spain. Some of his stories have been published here.

Tom Perry is a marketing consultant for the Spanish wine trade and a wine educator. He writes about wine, La Rioja and travels in Spain at Inside Rioja.

Gerry Dawes, getting the shot, Ronda overlook.

Thanks to my driver,  my son, Ben Searl, here saying hello to Orson Welles, whose ashes are buried in Ronda.

Toro bravo sculpture, outside the bull ring in Ronda.

A SPRINGTIME TRIP TO RONDA

I´ve been away from my kitchen for a few days. A friend and I took a driving trip through the Sierra de las Nieves (“mountains of the snows,” although the snow is all gone now) to the inland town of Ronda. After spring rains, wildflowers bloomed on rocky slopes and fields were vivid green with new wheat.

Ronda's landmark "New Bridge" (1793) spanning the tajo (gorge) that separates the old quarter of Ronda from the new city. On the right is the Parador Nacional, a hotel right on the edge of the tajo. The building was once the townhall.

Looking down from Ronda's cliffs to green fields and olive groves.

Sure sign of spring--bikers touring Spain after the motorcycle Gran Prix in Jerez de la Frontera. Jerez is over the mountains to the west of Ronda. A dozen of them stopped for lunch at the Mirador el Campillo in Ronda's Old Town.

Ibérico ham--what we had for lunch. Ibérico-breed pigs are raised in the Ronda area. Although they are not de bellota--finished on acorns--the hams and fresh pork are excellent.

Ronda also is known for its morcilla--blood sausage. Here the sliced sausage is scrambled with eggs and potatoes in a revuelto.

Skinny spring asparagus for a revuelto (scrambled eggs).

The menu on the wall? A fish and a mare depicted by prehistoric peoples in the La Pileta cave, a short distance from Ronda. These are reproductions of the drawings, recreated in the Ronda Museum which is in the Mondragón Palace, a building that dates from 1491, with astonishing views from the cliff's edge to the distant mountains.

From the Church of Espiritu Santo, at upper right, a path descends to Arab Baths where the Moorish town was situated (end of 13th century).

Path to the Arab Baths.

Thistles line the path.

Poppies and wildflowers along the path.

A different wild thistle. These are tagarninas ((Scolymus hispanicus). The prickly leaves are stripped away and the stems chopped to cook in a revuelto with eggs. In villages of the Serranía tagarninas go into a cocido with potatoes, chickpeas and pork. Tagarninas taste a little like artichokes, to which they are related.

A fine place for sundowners or a sunset dinner--Restaurant Abades Ronda, located right on the cliffside, behind the Plaza de Toros (bull fighting arena). The restaurant opened only a month ago and the staff is still working out a few kinks (the waiter's device didn't communicate to the kitchen, so one of our main dishes didn't arrive). But the food was fine and the setting spectacular.

An updated version of a traditional dish, rabo de toro or braised bull's tail. Ronda is a famous bull-fighting town. The meat is served atop truffled potatoes and topped with crisp purple potato chips. We enjoyed a bottle of a red wine from a winery within the Sierras de Málaga/Serranía de Ronda dominación. with our meal at Abades. There are some 16 wineries in the Ronda area, all of which can be visited with prior appointment.

 

Cock of the walk in the gardens of the small hotel where we stayed. Hotel Jardín de la Muralla is built against the old walls of Ronda. Rooms and terrace have views over surrounding countryside.

Pinsapo, a species of fir native to the Sierra de Grazalema and Sierra de las Nieves around Ronda, has been around since before the Ice Age. This specimen is in the garden at the Hotel Jardín de la Muralla.

Breakfast--a thick slab of toasted bread topped with extra virgin olive oil and grated fresh tomato and freshly-squeezed orange juice. Sunshine on the hotel's east-facing terrace. (Photo by D.Ellefson.)

A recipe with tagarninas (wild thistle) is here. A recipe for rabo de toro (bull's tail) is here.

Hotel Jardín de la Muralla

Restaurante Abades Ronda

Tourist office Ronda

Strutting his stuff in a courtyard of the Casa del Rey Moro (18th century). Steps from the garden descend to the bottom of the cliff where a mina, or spring, once provided town water.