La Cocina Vasca · The Spanish Table

Spanish Cooking Without Vegetable Oil

From the cazuelas of Castilla to the asadores of the Basque coast, these are the dishes cooked the honest way, with green olive oil, sweet butter, and rendered lard. Real ingredients, real fire, real flavor.

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Olive Oil• Butter• Lard & Tallow
Marmitako, a Basque tuna and potato stew simmering in an earthenware pot
✦ Marmitako
From the recipe collection
No. 01

Olive Oil First

Every cazuela starts with a good Spanish olive oil, the green gold that has anchored this pantry for centuries.

No. 02

Butter, Lard, and Fire

From the asador grills of the north to the slow stews of the meseta, we cook with butter, lard, and live coals, never refined oil.

No. 03

Never Vegetable Oil

No seed oils, no shortcuts. Only the honest fats the abuelas of Spain and Euskadi have always trusted.

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From Our Kitchen

Spanish & Basque Recipes

Six beloved dishes from the Spanish and Basque table, each cooked with honest fats that bring out the very best in every ingredient.

Meat Cordero al Chilindron, lamb braised in pepper and tomato

Cordero al Chilindrón

2 hr•4 servings•Medium

Tender lamb braised slowly in a chilindrón of sweet peppers, tomato, and dried ñora, a hearty Aragonese classic from the foothills of the Pyrenees.

Ingredients

  • 1.2 kg lamb shoulder, cut into chunks
  • 4 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 onions, sliced
  • 3 red bell peppers, in strips
  • 2 dried ñora peppers, soaked
  • 4 ripe tomatoes, grated
  • 4 cloves garlic, sliced
  • 120g cured Serrano ham, diced
  • 1 cup white wine
  • 1 bay leaf and a sprig of thyme
  • Salt and black pepper

Instructions

  1. Season the lamb and brown it well on all sides in olive oil in a heavy casserole, then set aside.
  2. In the same pot, soften the onions, peppers, and garlic in the olive oil until sweet, about 12 minutes.
  3. Add the diced ham and the scraped pulp of the soaked ñora peppers and stir for 2 minutes.
  4. Pour in the white wine and let it reduce, then stir in the grated tomato, bay, and thyme.
  5. Return the lamb to the pot, cover, and braise gently for about 90 minutes until fork tender.
  6. Uncover for the last 15 minutes to thicken the sauce, adjust the salt, and rest before serving.
Fish Bacalao al Pil Pil, salt cod in a golden emulsified sauce

Bacalao al Pil-Pil

45 min•4 servings•Hard

The crown jewel of Basque cooking, salt cod gently confited in olive oil until its own gelatin emulsifies the oil and garlic into a silky golden pil-pil sauce.

Ingredients

  • 4 thick pieces salt cod, desalted 36 hours
  • 1.5 cups good olive oil
  • 6 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
  • 1 dried guindilla chili
  • Flaky sea salt to finish
  • Chopped parsley to garnish

Instructions

  1. Pat the desalted cod completely dry and bring it to room temperature.
  2. Gently warm the olive oil with the garlic and guindilla until the garlic is pale gold, then lift them out.
  3. Lower the heat and lay the cod skin side down in the warm oil, confiting it softly for about 8 minutes.
  4. Lift the cod onto a plate and let the oil cool slightly so the gelatin can release.
  5. Swirl the pan in a slow circular motion, adding the oil back little by little, until it thickens into a creamy pale sauce.
  6. Return the cod to the pan, spoon the pil-pil over the top, and finish with the garlic, sea salt, and parsley.
Vegetable Pisto Manchego, a Spanish stew of peppers, courgette and tomato

Pisto Manchego

1 hr•6 servings•Easy

A slow, melting stew of courgette, peppers, onion, and tomato cooked down in olive oil. The honest vegetable garden of La Mancha in a single cazuela.

Ingredients

  • 6 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 onions, finely diced
  • 1 green bell pepper, diced
  • 1 red bell pepper, diced
  • 2 courgettes (zucchini), diced
  • 1 small aubergine (eggplant), diced
  • 800g ripe tomatoes, grated
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 tsp sweet pimentón
  • Salt, pepper, and a pinch of sugar

Instructions

  1. Soften the onion and garlic slowly in the olive oil until translucent, about 10 minutes.
  2. Add the green and red peppers and cook gently for another 10 minutes.
  3. Stir in the aubergine and courgette and let everything soften over low heat.
  4. Add the grated tomato, pimentón, salt, pepper, and a pinch of sugar.
  5. Simmer uncovered on low for 25 to 30 minutes, stirring now and then, until thick and jammy.
  6. Rest off the heat for 10 minutes and serve warm, often topped with a fried egg.
Soup Marmitako, a Basque tuna and potato fishermans stew

Marmitako

1 hr 10 min•6 servings•Medium

The Basque fishermen's stew of bonito tuna and potatoes built on a base of peppers, onion, and dried pepper pulp. Smoky, brothy, and deeply comforting.

Ingredients

  • 700g bonito or tuna, in large cubes
  • 4 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 onions, chopped
  • 1 green pepper, chopped
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 2 choricero pepper pulp, scraped
  • 900g potatoes, cracked into chunks
  • 1 tsp sweet pimentón
  • 1.2 litres fish stock, hot
  • Salt and parsley

Instructions

  1. Soften the onion, green pepper, and garlic in olive oil until sweet, about 12 minutes.
  2. Stir in the choricero pepper pulp and the pimentón and cook for 1 minute off the direct heat.
  3. Add the potatoes, cracking rather than slicing them so they release starch, and stir to coat.
  4. Pour in the hot fish stock to just cover, then simmer gently for about 25 minutes until the potatoes are tender.
  5. Season the tuna, slip it into the pot, and turn off the heat so it cooks softly in the residual warmth for 5 minutes.
  6. Let the stew rest 10 minutes, scatter with parsley, and serve in deep bowls.
Bread Talo, a rustic Basque corn flatbread

Talo Vasco

40 min•8 flatbreads•Medium

The ancient Basque corn flatbread cooked on a hot griddle, brushed with butter and folded around chorizo at every village festival. Rustic, warm, and golden.

Ingredients

  • 3 cups fine cornmeal (maize flour)
  • ½ cup all purpose flour
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1.25 cups hot water
  • 2 tbsp butter, melted, for the dough
  • 3 tbsp butter for brushing the griddle
  • Cured chorizo, to fill (optional)

Instructions

  1. Mix the cornmeal, flour, and salt, then pour in the hot water and melted butter and bring it together into a warm dough.
  2. Knead briefly until smooth, then rest the dough covered for 15 minutes.
  3. Divide into 8 balls and press each between sheets of parchment into thin rounds.
  4. Heat a heavy griddle and brush it lightly with butter.
  5. Cook each talo for about 2 minutes per side until set and lightly speckled with golden spots.
  6. Brush with a little more butter and serve warm, folding each one around grilled chorizo if you like.
Dessert Pastel Vasco, a Basque cake filled with custard

Pastel Vasco

1 hr 30 min•10 servings•Medium

The pride of the Basque pastry case, a buttery almond shortcrust sealed around a vanilla pastry cream and baked until deep gold. Comforting and not too sweet.

Ingredients

  • 250g butter, softened
  • 200g sugar
  • 2 whole eggs plus 1 yolk
  • 400g all purpose flour
  • 50g ground almonds
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • Zest of 1 lemon
  • 500ml whole milk
  • 3 egg yolks and 60g sugar (for the cream)
  • 30g cornstarch and 1 vanilla pod

Instructions

  1. Cream the butter and sugar, beat in the eggs and yolk, then fold in the flour, almonds, baking powder, and lemon zest to a soft dough. Chill 30 minutes.
  2. For the cream, warm the milk with the split vanilla, whisk the yolks with sugar and cornstarch, temper, then cook until thick and cool it covered.
  3. Press two thirds of the dough into a buttered tin, building up the sides into a shallow case.
  4. Spread the cooled pastry cream over the base, leaving a clear border around the edge.
  5. Roll the remaining dough into a lid, seal the edges well, and brush the top with beaten egg.
  6. Score a traditional pattern across the top and bake at 180°C (350°F) for about 45 minutes until deep golden. Cool fully before slicing.
A rustic Spanish kitchen with a cazuela simmering over the fire
Meet the Cook

The Kitchen Behind Hovrio Cocina

Hovrio Cocina is a small home kitchen devoted to the table of Spain and Euskadi, where dishes are passed from hand to hand and a meal is never rushed. We write the recipes down the way they have always been cooked, from the slow cazuelas of Castilla to the live coals of the Basque asador.

Our one house rule is an old one: green olive oil pressed from the fruit, sweet butter, lard rendered with care, and nothing refined. You will never find vegetable oil in our pots, because it was never in the pots we learned from.

Buen provecho, to the table.

✨ Wellness

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