MasterChef contestants cook recipes from 'Don Quijote' 400 years after author's death
Tuesday, May 3, 2016 @ 10:35 AM
CERVANTES' fourth centenary celebrations did not stop on April 23, but are still happening throughout the country and even on popular TV – the ratings-grabber MasterChef dedicated an entire episode to the legendary author of Don Quijote de la Mancha.
Filmed in Almagro (Albacete province) in Miguel de Cervantes' native region of Castilla-La Mancha, dishes mentioned in the early 17th-century knight's adventure novel were whipped up more than 400 years after they were first described on paper by the author.
Alboronía de camarones – a casserole made with finely-chopped and fried pepper, aubergine, tomato and pumpkin with camarones, or shrimps – cazuela moxí, a tart made with cheese, breadcrumbs, apple, honey, eggs and pulses; and gachas, or dumplings.
The regional ministry for the economy said the dishes shown on MasterChef were 'a magnificent opportunity for millions of viewers worldwide' to get a taste for traditional Castilla-La Mancha cuisine – very traditional indeed, since it has survived more than four centuries.
Spain's version of MasterChef has been a source of amusing headlines for several months, starting with the famous León come gamba ('lion eating a prawn') – a potato in the shape of a lion's head with a prawn in its mouth which got 18-year-old Alberto from Valencia kicked out of the programme.
Read more at thinkSPAIN.com