WELCOME TO SPAIN, home of delicious savory cured jamón! Everyone knows Spain for its tapas and paella. While these are worthwhile reasons to travel here, in truth Spain has much more to offer. Spain is composed of several regions, each of which personifies a different and unique culture in addition to Spanish culture. Each culture possess its own language, wine, and of course food. Though the basque region is well known for its food, a well kept secret of Spain is it's region Galicia.
Galicia is located in the Northwest of Spain and sits right on top of Portugal. I live in the capital, Santiago de Compostela. As you can imagine, it shares a lot of culture with it's neighbor, demonstrated by its love for kale and other hearty leafy greens. For those of you who haven't traveled to Spain, this is highly abnormal for the Spanish who pay homage to the meat, cheese, and bread gods. Lucky for me, Galicia is renown for its gastronomy, specifically its seafood.
Pulpo de Galicia is the local dish which happens to also be a National dish found throughout Spain. It is chunks of octopus slow cooked with potatoes in rich flavorful olive oil and sprinkled with Paprika. The octopus is perfectly cooked so that its as tender as butter, the potatoes are cooked so that they absorb all the flavor of the pulpo and olive oil, and the paprika adds just a hint of heat). In Spain, the quality of the ingredients tend to be much better and thus dishes need less seasoning to taste delicious so what may appear to be a simple meal is in actuality a masterpiece for your tastebuds. If you ever find yourself in Galicia, please do yourself a favor and order this. I've only been here a week and I've eaten it twice. :)
Attached is a picture of my last encounter with what has already become my favorite meal. (Thanks Rachel).
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