The Basque Country and its delicious pintxos

The Basque Country has its own particular take on Spanish "tapas"- the wide range of a tasty appetisers served alongside drinks in many bars across the country.

One of the best ways to get to know a new location is to explore the local cuisine, particularly in a place like the Basque Country where gastronomy plays such an important role. The Basques call the delicious miniature dishes served in the bars there "pintxos".

The social habit of going for tapas- a drink and a snack- is popular all across Spain.

The list of choices is as limitless as the chef's imagination and can be a little overwhelming- whatever you choose is likely to be delicious. Often you won't even need to know the names as the plates are laid out on the bar and you can just point to the ones that take your fancy. 

White Tuna salad with Anchovies

Today we have a typical Basque Pintxo that consists of a slide of bread loaded with white tuna salad with onion, mayonnaise, lemon juice, garnished with an anchovy fillet.

Ingredients:

2 small cans of white tuna

1 onion , medium size , very finely chopped

2 big tablespoons of mayonnaise

1 tablespoon of lemon juice or lime juice

½ teaspoon of black pepper

10 anchovy fillets

10 slices of long bread

10 toothpicks

The above quantities should be enough for 10 pintxos/ tapas

Preparation:

Before you start, put all ingredients and plates that you are going to use in the fridge to cool down for an hour or so;

Thoroughly mix flaked tuna, chopped onion, mayonnaise, lemon juice (or lime juice if you like) and ground black pepper to make a nice tuna salad;

Spread the tuna salad mix over the ten slices of long bread;

Garnish each pintxo with a strip of anchovy fillet;

The toothpick is part of Basque tradition!

You can find the main ingredients for this tasty pintxo at www.macarenasdelicorner.com