Gran Canaria
Gran Canaria
Gastronomia

Recipes from an Islandmix. Chef Gloria Rodríguez. Gran Canaria.

This is how Cold Beetroot Cream with Artenara cheese foam and olive oil from Las Tirajanas, by chef Gloria Rodríguez, is made



INGREDIENTS
For 6 people

For the cold beetroot cream:
3 cooked beetroots 
5 mid sized ripe tomatoes
1/2 cucumber 
1 red pepper
6 soup spoons of light olive oil
3 soup spoons of apple vinegar
a pinch of salt
1 soup spoon of Las Tirajanas olive oil


Peel and chop up the ingredients. Blend in with olive oil until reaching a rich texture. Add the three spoonfuls of vinegar, salt to taste, and continue blending until the mixture reaches the proper creamy texture. Press the cream through a strainer and allow to cool off.

For the foam:
200 ml milk 
400 ml cream 
200 g cheese from Artenara


Heat up the milk, and remove from heat before adding the grated cheese so that it melts in. Add the cream straight after. Put it through a sieve and pour it into a syphon. Then shake well. Allow to settle for around 3 hours in the fridge until completely cooled.

Cold Beetroot Cream with Artenara cheese foam and olive oil from Las Tirajanas


PREPARATION OF THE DISH

Place a round mould in the middle of the bowl. Put the foam inside with the syphon. Pour the cold beetroot cream in, and decorate with edible flowers, beetroot shoots and a shot of olive oil from Las Tirajanas.

Download recipe [PDF - 345 KB]


THE CHEF’S INSPIRATION

With this recipe Gloria Rodríguez attempts to pay tribute to the local land and products, reflecting a fine local cuisine based on honesty and authenticity.

She has chosen to cook with leafy vegetables with their characteristically earthy flavours, and with so many healthy properties, including beetroot, along with the specially selected Queso de Artenara, which is a high quality artisan product thanks to the richness of pastures up at the island’s summit providing a luscious larder for flocks of goats, cows and sheep, and facilitate the production process by the master cheesemakers.

Cold Beetroot Cream with Artenara cheese foam and olive oil from Las Tirajanas
Cold Beetroot Cream with Artenara cheese foam and olive oil from Las Tirajanas

Who is Gloria Rodríguez Acosta?

Gloria is a Gran Canarian chef, and manageress of restaurant services group Sabor a Gloria.

Gloria vocation for cooking shone through from a very young age. Having done her first period of training in Germany, Gloria started a professional career which would see her become a key member of staff in a chain of top restaurants, including that of the great master Martin Berasategui (3 Michelin stars) and the Restaurante Alderabán.

After a journey around several restaurants in mainland Spain, where she held the position of head chef, Gloria decided to come back to Gran Canaria to join the team at the Restaurante Gurufer, run by fondly remembered chef Fernando Navarro, another of her main mentors.

She later went on to work at the restaurante Mararía, where she reached the position of group chef Manageress.

In her desire to bring back and preserve flavours from yesteryear she decided to start up her own business venture, called Sabor a Gloria, meaning ‘glorious flavours’ with a play on her name, where she pours everything into her gastronomic creations, enhancing and updating the island’s traditional cusine.

Our 14th 'dish-enhancing' secret ingredient

For years now, the southeast region of Gran Canaria has been promoting activities to re-establish olive production, and thus bring back a farming tradition that goes back many generations.

The region is strongly backing olive oil for future prosperity. Its production has been rising steadily and has led to a growing number of brands selling extra virgin olive oil. This locally produced oil maintains a smooth flavour as well as a slightly bitter ‘home-grown’ version. It is a truly unique characteristic of the variety grown here in Gran Canaria.




The making of 'Islandmix' also features the collaboration of Gran Canarian potter Gustavo García Cruz.
You can learn all about his work on this fanpage plus his INusuall brand and his comtemporary pottery pieces.

Further information about local craftsmen and women can be found on the FEDAC official website.