Arrive at the Mercado de Los Angeles around 11am and start taking a look at the stalls. Do not expect to see an amazing market. However, this place is perfect to get anything you need at a very good price and quality. It’s a clean place located in a modest part of Almeria city but it’s also a warm market, full of life and of friendly sellers working hard and displaying proudly their products of the day.
The difficult part here is to manage not to buy more things than you need, but seeing incredible Raff tomatoes for a euro only will not help! So take your time and fill up your basket with super fresh fruits, vegetables, fish, seafood and of course some pickled olives and embutidos (cured sausages) to have a great aperitivo later on.
Once you are done with your shopping, stop at the bar at the entrance of the market called La Barraquilla and get yourself a chilled beer/caña or tinto de verano. The wonderful thing about Andalusia is the variety of tapas that you get to choose to go with your drink…for free! You can try the typical Migas (usually made of bread, garlic, chorizo or grapes), go for a classic Político (chorizo sandwich) or Obama (blood sausage sandwich) or choose the delicious deep fried a la minute small fish of the day. Enjoy the sun and relax, it’s the simple pleasure of going to the market in the morning and getting a little nibbling on a terrace afterwards. Needless to say that it can be very tempting to feed yourself with cañas and tapas everyday…
Gurullos
Last but not least, back home, have fun cooking the little treasures found at the market like a handful of extra fresh Gambas Rojas (red prawns) from Garrucha maybe? A small stall in the corner of the market (on the left has you enter) sells ingredients to make puchero -the traditional Andalusian soup. On the counter, in a discreet plastic jar it had some handmade “Spanish pasta” named: Gurullos. It’s a very typical ingredient to use in Almeria in stews. To make you need to mix flour, water, salt and a little oil and then shape it into small bits slightly bigger than a rice grain. The gurullos reflect a part of the story of Almeria: the Arabic influence it has and the past years of poverty where dishes were made of very basic ingredients and yet were not less tasty. Now, sadly it is not easy to be so lucky and find handmade gurullos since few persons make it. But while eating it at lunch, after such a perfect morning, I’m sure you can almost hear the abuelitas (grannies) chatting and gossiping about lots of little stories of the pueblo.
Mercado de Los Ángeles Rambla Belén, S/N04008 ALMERIA
Photo: Emilie Mounsaveng
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