This place was my No.1 must do in Barcelona. The very old, very famoud Mercat la Bouqueria. A city market in operation since 1214! It certinly lived up to all expectations.
I entered from a side way not the main arch(coz i kept getting a bit lost in this tumbling town) a beautiful corrodor flanked by ancient pillars.
Pintxos- a Catalanian tapa, served on sticks ready to be cooked on the spot and eaten and so healthy. These aregreen pimiento and potato and straight pimiento.
These strange beasts that look like chicken feet are known as goose barnacles. Sadly I never tried any.
Im amazed at the lack of destruction of public property, there is very little graffiti and public goods and ancient public artifacts seem to remain intact.
This stall sells only offal and organs, the English translates into the 'inside bits' stall. Tongue, stomach, trachea, whatever you fancy you can find it here.
My favourite peaches - the donut peach- abound here at this time of year. The many varietals of produce here is quite incredible, not just one melon, or one or two peaches, ype of prawn or fig. There are many varieties of each kind of produce. The wealth is staggering.
These melons are similar to a honeydew but appear more favoursome, sweeter and are shaped like an Aussie rules ball. These melons are good.
Berries..plenty! hey look so stunning. I did wander around with my jaw hanging and just wished i had a few days to think, shop and cook here using some of this amazing produce. So many people I sure did piss alot of people off getting these snaps. Tourists getting in the way of people doing their daily shopping. I cant imagine having to fight the hordes whn Im shopping.
So many varieties of dried funghi- morels, browns, chanterelles , the list goes on. Additionally they are not sold in 50g stingy plastic envelopes.
Mushroom pintxos
I visited la Bouqueria at about 3pm with no breakfast or lunch under my belt. I couldnt resist some of the donut peaches followed by one of these pintxos- prawn and baby squid plunged into hot oil for 10 seconds and handed straight over.
Note the tomatoes in the picture below. They are HUGE! Never seen anything like them.
There were stalls devoted to only tomatoes of every variety. It was certainly summer heaven.
The seafood variety was dead impressive and I wanted to try the razorfish below but wil have to wait until I get home and go razorfish 'hunting' In Australia we waste these delicious molluscs as fish bait.
My favourite pic is below- it sums up the markets and eating style here. You can find anything and everything is eaten. Sheeps head anyone? No problem
5 comments:
has a similar jaw-dropping stroll through the Pike Street Markets in Seattle a week or so ago
also muttering things like "wish i had a kitchen to cook in"
we bought Buckwheat honey [dark and delicious], Rainier cherries and Alaska Crab legs for the road - and they were very very good indeed
yes- lack of ability to cook anything, something was almost unbearable but then i thought well, what recipes do i relly have for razorfish and sheep heads. None, but i wanted to give it a shot. London is grim in comparison!
Must be heaven wandering through there, some very interesting things on that offal stall, I recognised tongue, tripe, lungs. Love the "no tocan" sign, I guess you have to rely on the stallholders judgement on whether something is ripe or not. I know what I would do with a pig's head but dunno about a sheep's head. Very envious.
What an incredible market! Thanks for all the pictures. I had my first 'donut' peach a couple of weeks ago. Why are they so good? There's a certain elegance to them, as if they should only be eaten upon fine china, although I ate it with nothing but a napkin nearby.
oh I literally just drooled - wet face thanks to your pics. I never went there all those years ago but I suspect if I make it back I will now! Makes you want a kitchen I bet!
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