"In a village of La Mancha, the name of which I have no desire to call to mind [...]". This is how Cervantes started Don Quixote and in fact it might be the most recognisable feature of this Spanish region. Talking food, maybe Manchego cheese (Manchego = from La Mancha). Castilla-La Mancha is an autonomous community in Spain, neighboured with Comunidad Valenciana. Inner Spain is mostly unspoiled by tourists because there is no nearby beach, which means if there is any tourism it is mainly from Spaniards.
Gazpachos manchegos or torta de gazpacho is a typical stew from Castilla-La Mancha. I had always known gazpachos manchegos, and I never realised how niche they are until I moved out of Valencia. The version I will be explaining below is the meatless gazpachos, called widowed gazpachos. Do you want to know why they are called like that? Keep reading to find out.
1. Castilla-La Mancha (autonomous community) / 2. Albacete (province) / 3. Landscape from around my grandparents’ village in Albacete.
BACKGROUND
In the second half of the 20th century, and with the modernization of agriculture, many peasants lost their jobs and migrated to metropolitan areas to make a living. This was the case of my grandparents from my mother's side (photo on the right), who were born in a small village in Albacete (province of Castilla-La Mancha) and hoped to get a better life in Valencia. Like them, many others moved to the city and it is very common that many younger generations that live in bigger cities have family from less populated parts of Spain. This phenomenon still happens nowadays, where youths have moved to the city, to study and to get a more qualified job, and many small villages are being abandoned. They call them ghost villages. But I’m digressing. My point is, although I am Valencian, half of my family is from Castilla-La Mancha, and therefore, both cultures were influential when I was growing up. Many Castilian recipes are well-known in Valencia and shared in the inner part of Comunidad Valenciana. Gazpachos are cooked in more areas in Spain that I would have thought before I researched for this post. All recipes enrich and compose the beautiful cooking intersections between communities.
The bulk of gazpachos is a flat crispy bread named tortas cenceñas, which can be made into square crackers that are boiled like if they were pasta. Originally, this flat bread was round and simply made with wheat flour and water. The shepherds would take it with them to eat later, breaking it into pieces, adding some stock, seasonal vegetables and game (if any) into a pot and using an open fire to cook it in the mountains.
Nowadays, the crackers are sold already cut into squares and they are very easy to find in supermarkets in Comunidad Valenciana, Castilla-La Mancha and Murcia. I always buy two packs whenever I go to Spain. They are very cheap and I pop them into my carry-on bag with no issues. But if you are not planning to visit Spain anytime soon, you can make them from scratch. I like this recipe I found online, with a Youtube video but in Spanish. I have never made them from scratch, so if you do, please let me know how it goes:
- Ingredients: 110g water, 2 saffron strands, 1 tsp salt, 200g wholemeal flour.
- Instructions: bring the water to a boil with the saffron and salt, and let cool down, covered. Mix the flour and water slowly until you have a relatively dry dough. Let it rest for 30 minutes. Divide in 10 parts, making a ball of each. Roll out with a rolling pin until they are 1mm thick. Spray olive oil and fry them on both sides on a high heat like if they were pancakes. They should be hard and dry when finished. To use for gazpachos, break into pieces.
If you cannot be bothered to make them from scratch and you are desperate to get your hands on them, from the UK, you can buy them on Amazon, a bit pricey if you ask me.
The dish is typically prepared in a paella pan, but I’m sure that any other large and deeper pan would do, and you can leave some stock in if you prefer it as a stew. Unlike paella, the cooking and distribution is much simpler, so a paella pan is not that necessary. If you need any advice about paella pans, please read the paella post.
Lastly, gazpachos manchegos have nothing to do with gazpacho (in singular), which is the very well-known chilled tomato soup typical from Southern Spain. but like Celine Dion would say, That’s The Way It Is.
PLANT POWER, MAKE UP!
As I said, gazpachos manchegos are made with game meat, but there is a kind of gazpachos called “widowed gazpachos”, which means, there is a main component missing: the meat. These widowed gazpachos were eaten by the very poor, or when times were tough. This recipe resonates better with our plant-based community or whoever decides to eat less meat.
You can add all the vegetables you want, but my take is with potatoes and mushrooms. I added king oyster mushrooms because they have an excellent bite to them and in a way, especially if you are trying to eat less meat, it might remind you of that.
WIDOWED GAZPACHOS
Prep: 30 minutes
Cook: 45 minutes
INGREDIENTS
150g new potatoes
3 king oyster mushrooms or wild mushrooms
250g sliced or quartered mushrooms
3 garlic cloves, peeled
2 ripe tomatoes
1 tsp. paprika
2x 175g tortas cenceñas para gazpachos manchegos
2 bay leaves
1 tsp. dried rosemary
1 tsp. dried thyme
3-4 saffron strands
4 cups mushroom/veg stock + 1 tsp. miso paste
1 red spicy chilli pepper (optional)
Olive oil
INSTRUCTIONS
- Prep the potatoes and mushrooms. Blend the garlic and tomatoes and set aside.
- Spray some olive oil to the paella pan over medium-high heat and spread evenly. When the oil is hot, add the potatoes, season with salt and pepper and cook until golden. Then add the mushrooms and stir frequently for 3-5 minutes, de-glazing the bottom of the pan. Move the paella pan around if you see that it’s getting black or reduce the heat. Spray more oil or add a tiny amount of boiling stock.
- When all the veg is nicely golden, push the veg to the edges, spray more oil to the centre, let it get hot, and add the tomato and garlic. Stir for about 1 minute until the tomato turns orange. Add the paprika and stir for another minute.
- Add the 2 packs of tortas cenceñas to the pan and stir for 2 minutes. It may seem it does not fit, but it reduces in volume. Add the bay leaves, rosemary and thyme. If you like hot food, add the red chilli pepper whole.
- Add the saffron with the stock to barely cover the mixture. De-glaze the bottom of the pan and stir to mix well. Bring to a boil and spread the pasta equally over the paella. Reduce the heat and simmer for 5-10 minutes, until the pasta and veg are fully cooked. This is not like wheat pasta that it is desirable to be al dente. This needs to be very soft and mostly breakable.
Before serving, remove the bay leaves and the chilli if you used it, or leave it for your guests to find.
Serve immediately or keep in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
Bon profit!