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Cookbook
Listen up, kitchen!
The fishing tradition, local produce, and the chocolate industry have given La Vila Joiosa a vast array of traditional dishes that you can sample at some of the town’s restaurants and bars. But since we want you to continue savoring the flavors of this fishing village even after you return home, we’ve selected some of the most representative dishes.
Tapas, rice dishes, stews, and desserts that delight even the most discerning palates—and, in some cases, through them, we’ll discover some of the traditions of this town on the Costa Blanca, brimming with color, tradition, and flavor.
Ingredients (serves 4)
- 1 kg of flour
- 1.5 kg of Swiss chard
- 125 g of salted frigate mackerel
- Paprika
- Olive oil
- Salt
How to Make This Dish:
1. Knead the flour with boiling water and a pinch of salt.
2. Boil the cleaned and chopped Swiss chard in water, then drain it until it is completely dry.
3. Shape the dough into thin discs, about 12 centimeters in diameter, and top half of them with Swiss chard.
4. Sprinkle with paprika and a few crumbs of previously desalted skipjack tuna.
5. Cover with the remaining pasta rounds and seal the edges.
6. Brush with oil and cook the "bollos" on a "lloseta" or in a nonstick skillet.
Rice with Onions and Pumpkin
Ingredients (serves 4)
- 375 g of red mullet (or mackerel, dolphinfish, or another fish)
- 1 large onion
- 1 red bell pepper
- 250 g of wide green beans
- 250g of pumpkin
- 1 dl of olive oil
- 1 teaspoon of paprika
- A few strands of saffron
- 250 g of rice
- Salt
How to Make This Dish:
1. Dip the fish in the hot oil, set it aside, and sauté the onion over low heat.
2. Halfway through cooking, add the beans, and at the end, add the pumpkin, peeled and cut into pieces.
3. Sprinkle in the paprika, stir a couple of times, and add a splash of water.
4. When it comes to a boil, add the rice and saffron.
5. Add the fish back in at the very last moment and serve immediately.
6. It should have a broth-like or syrupy consistency.
Squid with Onions
Ingredients (serves 4)
- 1 kg of squid
- 1 dl of olive oil
- 200 grams of onion
- 1 chili pepper
- 1 teaspoon of oregano
- Salt
How to Make This Dish:
1. Sauté the onion over low heat with the chili pepper and oregano.
2. Add the chopped squid.
3. Turn up the heat and fry for about 8 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Almond Cake
Ingredients (serves 4)
- 1 glass of ground almonds
- 1 glass of sugar
- 1 glass of olive oil
- 1 glass of milk
- Grated lemon zest
- 1 teaspoon of cinnamon
- 3 whole packets of baking soda
- 6 eggs
How to Make This Dish:
1. Beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form.
2. Add, in this order, the sugar, egg yolks, cinnamon, lemon, oil, and ground almonds.
3. Every time we add an ingredient, we stir the mixture.
4. Finally, add the flour mixed with baking soda and the milk.
5. Once the mixture is smooth, bake it in the oven for 1 hour at 170º.
Fish sauce bottle
Ingredients (serves 4)
- 1.6 kg of fish (red mullet, whiting, monkfish, etc.)
- 4 medium potatoes
- 2 onions
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 1 teaspoon of paprika
- 1 dl of olive oil
- A sprig of parsley
- Salt
How to Make This Dish:
1. Place the fish in a cast-iron or earthenware pot with the potatoes and the peeled and chopped onions (preferably sliced).
2. Finely chop the garlic and parsley and sprinkle them on top along with the salt, paprika, and oil.
3. Cover with water and place on the stove.
4. Cook until the potato is tender.
Nardo
Ingredients
- 100 ml of iced coffee
- 30 ml of absinthe.
History of this dish:
The Nardo is a popular cocktail made with iced coffee and absinthe that has become the “signature” drink of La Vila Joiosa. It owes its name to a group of locals who, upon returning from Alicante after seeing a performance by Celia Gámez, stopped by the iconic Café Mercantil. Since mixing spirits is common in La Vila—and it was summer—they decided to mix absinthe with iced coffee to cool off. As they sang the song “Tenga usted, nardos caballero...” several times and liked the combination, they named it the Nardo.
Pebrereta
Ingredients (serves 4)
- 5 green bell peppers
- 500 g of pumpkin
- 2 kg of ripe tomatoes
- 375 g of santgatxo
- 1 dl of olive oil
- Garlic
- Salt
How to Make This Dish:
1. Sauté the chopped peppers with the whole garlic cloves: there’s no need to peel them; just give each one a light tap with the pestle or make a small cut in them. Set aside.
2. Sauté the squash, then add the peeled, seeded, and chopped tomatoes.
3. When it's almost done, stir in the sangatxo that was soaked overnight.
4. After a few minutes, add the bell pepper and garlic, taste, and add salt if necessary.
Stew and Arroz a Banda
Ingredients (serves 4)
- 1 kilo of potatoes
- Col
- Approximately 400 grams of rice
- 2 kg of fish (monkfish, ratfish, spider crab, mackerel, etc.)
- 2 dried ñora peppers
- 5 cloves of garlic
- 1 tomato
- Olive oil
- Saffron
- Salt
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How to Make This Dish:
1. Sauté the potato and cabbage in a pot, then set aside.
2. In the same oil, sauté the ñora pepper, garlic, and tomato, then mash them together and add salt.
3. Add oil and sauté the fish, then add the potatoes and cabbage.
4. Cover everything with water and add the mixture from the mortar; boil for about 15 minutes until the fish and potatoes are cooked through. We’ll use the strained broth to make the rice.
5. In a paella pan, sauté the rice and add the broth.
6. If you want to add some “texture,” you can include squid rings, baby squid, or pieces of cuttlefish that have been sautéed beforehand.
7. Add the broth (about twice as much as the rice) and let it cook for about 15–18 minutes.