#51 Andorra
- Jen
- Jul 22, 2022
- 3 min read
The Principality of Andorra is nestled in the Pyrenees between Spain and France. This tiny country shares cultural elements with Catalonia, an autonomous community in northern Spain. The official language is Catalan, although French and Spanish are also widely spoken.
You might be about to learn a new word.
Andorra is one of only a small number of places in the world to operate under a diarchy, i.e. it has two heads of state, or in Andorra’s case, two co-princes: the president of France and the Bishop of Urgell (Urgell being a historic county in the Catalan region of Spain).
Mountain cuisine
Andorra’s cuisine reflects its mountainous situation, making use of local and seasonal produce. The national dish of this upland country well known for its skiing, is a hearty stew called escudella. Escudella is a traditional celebration dish, particularly at Christmas, made with vegetables, beans, potato and meat…lots of meat. No celebration in Andorra would be complete without a great vat of chicken, veal, beef shanks, ham, chorizo, pig’s ears, oxtail…the meatier the better.
An equally well-known dish in Andorra is trinxat, which is very similar to what we might call bubble & squeak in the UK, in that it is a fried potato-based patty. Bubble & squeak is a traditional way of using up leftovers so can include all sorts of veg and potato; trinxat is typically made from mashed potato, cabbage and bacon. It’s a great side dish or equally great winter comfort food served with an egg on top.
Ingredients for many traditional dishes include locally available flora, fauna and fungi that can be hunted or foraged. Wild mushrooms often accompany game meats, such as hare or wild boar, cooked in red wine. Chicory also grows wild in the mountains and is often made into a salad side dish with bacon and nuts, when in season in the spring.
As well as hunting and foraging, the rivers in Andorra provide ample opportunity for fishing, including for trout, which makes it a popular dish. Trucha a la Andorrana is simply pan-fried trout wrapped in ham (see below).
Charcuterie in Andorra is important. Cured meats, or embotits in Catalan, in Andorra include hams, black pudding and lots of different sausages. One classic Catalan sausage is the botifarra, made from only high-quality pork, salt and pepper. These sausages are poached to remove most of the fat, leaving a light and delicate sausage, which can be used as an ingredient in soups and stews.
Catalan and French influences
Ingredients, methods, and dishes from Andorra’s neighbours have been integrated into its mountain cuisine over time, and many of the typical dishes in Andorra have Catalan or French roots. For example, it’s not just the French who enjoy a garlicky snail. These gastropods, known as cargols in Catalan, are enjoyed in Andorra too. Cargols a la lluna are oven-roasted snails usually served with a garlic mayonnaise and are considered something of a speciality.
A signature Catalan side dish is pa amb tomaquet, whichis simply crispy, golden, toasted bread, flavoured by rubbing it with raw garlic, and topped with grated juicy ripe tomatoes, and the tomato’s two best friends: olive oil and salt. This is sheer excellence through simplicity and quality ingredients. Pa amb tomaquet is served alongside most meals in Andorra and the Catalan region, and is also a common tapa throughout Spain, where it is known in Spanish as pan con tomate. In the UK, when you order breakfast bread/toast you typically get little pots of butter and jam; in this region, when you order bread with breakfast you get little pots of olive oil and chopped tomatoes, and I think that’s marvellous.
Trucha a la Andorrana
I followed this recipe for pan-seared trout with Serrano ham & chilli garlic oil and it was fabulous!
Place a slice of Serrano ham on the flesh side of a rainbow trout fillet and pan-fry in olive oil until the ham is crispy; flip and fry until the skin is crispy. Keep the trout warm in the oven while you briefly fry some chilli and garlic in a bit more olive oil and add a splash of sherry vinegar or apple cider vinegar to create a quick sauce to pour over the trout when you serve.
The delicate flaky trout flesh permeated with the savoury oils from that crisp ham was divine.
With chicory not being in season at the time, I served the trout with a dish of wilted spinach with apple, raisins, pine nuts and a tiny squeeze of lemon, inspired by an Andorran chicory salad. This was also bloody beautiful; such a nice balance of textures, and any vegetable dish that’s sweetened with fruit is always a winner in my eyes.
Gràcies Andorra! My next stop will be...DENMARK!
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