Gilda Pintxo
La Gilda can be categorised as the first ever Basque pintxo. It’s strong, salty and pickled flavour bursts in your mouth like no other. A pintxo, that no matter where you go within the Basque Country, you will find it in most of bars. The pintxo was created in the 1940s by brothers Blas and Antxon Vallés in their newly opened Bar Casa Vallés in San Sebastian where wine was served with plates of olives, guindilla peppers or salted anchovies. It is down to a regular customer called Joaquín Aramburu ‘Txepetxa’, who started to combine all three together in a toothpick. The name Gilda comes from the 1946 film with the same name starring Rita Hayworth, where the femme fatale character Gilda has the same attributes as the pintxo…salty, green and spicy.
Ingredients
- Pitted manzanilla olives
- Cantábrico anchovies
- Guindilla picked peppers
- Extra virgin olive oil
Instructions
- Use some wooden toothpicks to make your gilda pintxos.
- I tend to follow this order: one olive, followed by one end of an anchovy fillet, followed by two guindilla peppers (tops off), followed by the other end of the anchovy fillet and finished with another olive.
- Marinade the gildas in good quality extra virgin olive oil.
- They work well with a glass of txakoli, beer or sparkling wine.
Notes
This recipe is sponsored by Mediterranean Supermarket