“Cap Prim”, “Cala Sardinera” and “Cala Barraca” Walking Routes (Jávea), Artichokes “A La Brasa”, Air-Fried Yuca And A Grain Free Almond And Kumquat Cake (recipe included)

I don’t know what’s up with us lately. Could be age (still think I’m 23 but the body does its best to remind me that I’m almost double that). Maybe it’s spring asthenia (had to look it up to see how you say it in English). Or it could possibly be the fact we’ve had rather a lot of work on for the past few weeks and we’re a tad fatigued. Whatever the case, neither of us has had the energy for doing one of our 20km walks across local mountains during the last month or so.

I must admit, the first half of spring is the time of year I like the least. I have more energy the rest of the year, especially in the summer. Come “la primavera”, my “joie de vivre” diminishes ever so slightly. The weather’s all over the place. Scorchio one minute, teeth-chatteringly chilly the next. Lovely blue skies then drizzle for a few days. By April I’ve had enough of the cold weather. Temperatures would be 30ºC and above until November if it was up to me! Ok, I’ll shut up moaning, it’s not very becoming I know. I just don’t feel my best during the first few weeks of spring. There are lots of lovely things about this time of year, like the wild flowers slowly coming into bloom.

But the whole point of the last two paragraphs is to tell you all about a short local walk we had the pleasure of doing a couple of weeks ago. Seeing as we had a table booked in one of Jávea’s restaurants I had a nose around the internet searching for short walks close to said town.

Not wanting to overexert ourselves too much, we chose a couple of short walks that are marked by green and white lines. This means they are less than 10 kms long and not strenuous in the slightest. Perfect for our tired little bodies. The fact that they are along the coast was all the more reason to give them a go. A dose of sea air does wonders for your energy levels.

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The SL-CV 97 (Cala Barraca) and SL-CV 98 (Cap Prim and Cala Sardinera) walking routes commence on the Carretera Portitxol, at the “Mirador de la Creu del Portitxol” (“Creu” is cross in valenciano). If you go during the weekend or over a “fiesta” or “puente” it can be a bit tricky to park close by. We went during the Easter holiday and it was pretty full. We managed to park a few hundred metres along the road and walked back to the starting point of the routes. First we walked to the Cap Prim, followed by the Cala Sardinera, leaving the Cala Barraca till last (link to a Jávea site where you can check out a bit of info on both of the routes. It’s in English). Here are a few photos and a couple of videos of the beautiful walks.

The routes are short and very easy, the most strenuous part being the uphill walk back from the Cala Barraca. If I remember rightly it only took about 15-20 minutes though so you don’t get out of breath for too long. As you can see from the photos, all the tracks are well sign-posted and easy to follow, no need for any scrambling whatsoever 😊. It’s an incredibly pretty area and well worth a trip if you’re pressed for time or just fancy a (mostly) effortless walk. We’ll be going back soon, no doubt with a picnic and preferably when it’s not a national holiday.

Moving on to vegetables. Although we’ve been very busy with building, painting and goodness knows what else, our “huerta” cannot be neglected for too long, veggies definitely won’t wait. Pep planted just over 30 tomato plants and I helped him with the canes. This year I’m told we won’t be planting all the tomato plants at once. Instead we’ll be planting them over the course of a few weeks. This will supposedly put a stop to the tomatoes reaching ripeness all at once. In the end though we’ll still have around 80-100 plants knowing what Pep’s like. We’ll be spending many an afternoon bottling them like last year (post here on how we do it).

One vegetable that Pep and I utterly adore is the globe artichoke (alcachofa). Once the autumn arrives and they make their appearance in the shops we eat at least one each nearly every single day, until they’re no longer in season. We have a few artichoke plants dotted about our “huerta” and come the spring the delicious veg is ready to harvest. Another great thing about this time of year 😊. Although we eat them in a variety of ways (“a la plancha”, steamed then drizzled with olive oil, in risottos, paellas, etc, etc) our preferred way to consume them is “a la brasa”, cooked on the embers in our log burner.

Cooking the artichokes this way is often seen in Spanish households around this area. They cook them on an open fire or outside barbecue. We don’t have an open fire and it’s too cold at night to be standing outside cooking, hence why we use our log burner. They cook much quicker this way but they also get more burnt on the outside. You have to be extremely careful that you don’t cremate them.

All you need to produce this simple delicacy is artichokes (obviously), a decent olive oil and a small pinch of salt. And a fire of some sort. First of all cut off the stem from the artichokes. Then bang the artichokes upside down to open them up a bit. Prize them open a little more and sprinkle in the salt. Next pour in a really good drizzle of olive oil. By a really good drizzle I mean don’t skimp on it, you want to see the artichoke filling up nicely with the liquid gold. Count to 6 (at least!) while pouring.

Then on the embers they go. You don’t want any flames, they would burn this way. In our log burner they take around 15-20 minutes, depending on the size of the artichokes and the amount of embers. Just keep your eye on them. If you’re cooking them on a bbq or open fire they will take longer but won’t burn on the outside as much. Pep’s mum uses a special piece of equipment to cook them at the casita in Pinos. We can’t use it because we have to close the door on our log burner, if we didn’t there would be more smoke in our lounge than up the chimney.

Once they’re cooked you need a nice chunk of bread (or in my case a rice cake) that’s previously been rubbed with tomato. Sit the artichoke on top of the bread and pull off a leaf. Now comes the fun part. Each leaf gets dragged between your teeth, eating the tender part and discarding the tough part. The closer to the heart you get the more you’ll be able to eat. Once you get to the heart sit it on the bread (or rice cake 😁) and eat it (with the bread of course). All the oil from the artichoke will have soaked into the bread turning it into the most wonderful, edible invention ever. It must be for us to be able to eat them 3 quarters of the year without getting sick of them.

Before I move on to the cake recipe I just want to tell you quickly about another of my favourite food inventions, air-fried yuca (cassava) with avocado dip. A few years back Pep and I went to a Cuban restaurant in Denia. One of the delicious “tapas” we tried was fried yuca. They accompanied it with a very moreish avocado sauce. As soon as I tried it I knew I had to make it at home.

I personally prefer them cooked in the air fryer, but you can do them how you like. Here’s a few photos showing how I prepare them and also the dip. They’re super easy and extremely devourable. I highly recommend you give them a go. One word of caution though. You must make sure you thoroughly peel the yuca, removing every bit of skin. It should be cooked thoroughly too. Raw yuca and the peel of this tuber are poisonous. Don’t compost the skin either, bin it. Make sure you use sweet yuca and not the bitter type as the latter requires soaking for many hours before cooking. In Spanish shops I’ve only ever seen sweet yuca though, I don’t think you can get the bitter kind here.

Ok, on to the cake. Quite a few years back one of our shop’s customers (an avid cook) brought me in a recipe for an orange and almond cake. He thought I would like it knowing I didn’t eat gluten. It’s completely grain free. The recipe dates back quite a few years but at the time I’d never heard of it. You have to boil the whole fruit before blitzing it to make a pulp.

I have changed the recipe slightly, making it healthier and also substituting the oranges for kumquats (you can use oranges if you want). The reason I use kumquats is because a friend of ours brought me two crates full last year. I used lots for compote and also for today’s recipe. There were so many I boiled a load and froze them, ready for use in this cake whenever I feel the urge to make one.

The cake is very similar to the Tarta De Santiago I make in this post, but with a wonderful orange flavour. I also use coconut palm sugar instead of cane sugar but you can use either. The original recipe called for 250 grams of sugar but I reduce the amount to 200 grams. I’m not too keen on things being over sweet. I beat the egg whites too so the cake isn’t quite as dense but it’s not necessary. I’ve made it both ways and it’s lovely either way.

Start by boiling the kumquats (or oranges). Kumquats take about 1 hour to boil, oranges around 2 depending on their size. Once they’re squishy, remove from the water and allow to cool enough for you to handle them. Then comes the slightly tedious bit, taking out all their pips. They tend to have quite a lot.

Preheat the oven to 180ºC. Blitz the kumquats in a food processor to obtain a pulp. Set aside. Grind the almonds. You can buy them already ground but I just grind ours, skins on and all. Separate the eggs. Whisk the yolks with the coconut sugar. In a separate bowl whisk the egg whites till stiff peaks form. Mix the almonds with the baking powder. Add the egg yolk mixture and kumquat pulp to the almonds and stir until well combined. Gradually fold in the egg whites.

Tip the mixture into a greased and lined tin. I use a 9 inch round cake tin but the original recipe called for a bundt tin that’s been greased and dusted with flour. Place in the preheated oven and cook for 45-50 minutes but keep an eye on it to make sure it doesn’t burn. I have a very temperamental gas oven and if I’m not careful the cake is rather dark as you can see in the photos. It tastes fine though. To test if it’s cooked, insert a skewer or toothpick in to the centre. If it comes out clean, it’s done. Let it cool completely in the tin.

It’s lovely and moist and quite filling, no doubt it contains rather a lot of calories but they’re healthy ones so it’s ok 😊. Perfect for breakfast or an afternoon snack. Or pudding. Or a slice for tea. Who cares. I store it in an airtight container in the fridge and it gets better as the days go by in my humble opinion. You’ll find the complete recipe at the bottom of this post.

Ok my dears, that’s quite enough for one day, if I don’t shut up now I’ll go on forever! I’ll be back on Valley FM this Saturday lunchtime. You can listen to last week’s few minutes here if you fancy. I’m on around the half way mark.

If you’d like to subscribe to this blog and receive an email every time I publish a new post, you can do so by filling in the subscription form you’ll find at the top and bottom of this page. If you’re on a phone or tablet it’s at the bottom. You can also like or follow our Facebook page to see new posts.

As always, any questions or suggestions please feel free to get in touch, we’d love to hear from you. Take care all of you. Thanks for reading. See you soon. Lots of love, Georgie and Pep xxx

Grain Free Almond And Kumquat Cake

A delicious, moist cake made from ground almonds and pureed kumquats

5 from 1 vote

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Course Baked product

Cuisine Gluten free, Mediterranean

Ingredients

  

• 375 grams kumquats or oranges (or a mixture of the two)
• 225 grams ground almonds
• 6 eggs separated
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 200-250 grams coconut palm sugar (or cane sugar)

Instructions

 

• Boil the kumquats (or oranges) until soft. Kumquats take around 1 hour, oranges around 2. Allow to cool, remove all the pips and puree in a food processor.
• Preheat the oven to 180ºC. Grease and line a 9" cake tin
• Combine the ground almonds with the baking powder.
• Separate the eggs. Add the coconut palm sugar to the egg yoks and whisk until combined.
• Whisk the egg whites until stiff peaks forms.
• Mix the ground almonds and baking powder with the egg mixture and kumquat puree until well combined.
• Fold in the egg whites. Pour mixture into prepared tin and cook in the oven for 45-50 minutes, keeping an eye on it to make sure it doesn't burn. To test if it's done push a toothpick or skewer into the centre of the cake. If it comes out clean it's ready.
• Leave to cool in the tin. Serve
• Store in an airtight container in the fridge. It keeps for quite a few days.

Keyword almonds, kumquats,