- As every year, these gastronomic creations from local bars and restaurants will be collected in a recipe booklet that will be available free of charge on the 21st.
The Valencian proverb says that “faves d’abril, bones com el pernil”. And those of El Poble Nou de Benitatxell are high quality, the gem in the crown of local gastronomy, with a festival, the Mitjafava Fest, dedicated to this legume.
With it, the town’s bars and restaurants cook the traditional arròs amb fava in the Gastronomic Broad Bean Days, which have been held throughout the week; but they also bring out their creativity and ingenuity and prepare delicious and original tapas, named tapifaves, which will be available for tasting this Sunday April 21st in the Tapifava Festival. The main ingredient in all the recipes is the broad bean, and they are all included in a recipe booklet in which the restaurateurs share their recipes with the public.
“It is amazing that such sophisticated and original dishes can be made from such a humble legume. I am convinced that residents and visitors will enjoy the day and the creations in the shape of tapas that combine traditional cuisine with the most innovative”, said the councillor of Festivities, Mayte Roldán.
This Sunday, tapas as suggestive and original as those of Restaurante La Cumbre, with its tartlet with broad bean cream, cheeks and broad bean pesto and the “faves sacsades” scalded coca, or the meatballs with broad bean and dry broad bean sauce and the broad bean sandwich with onion, black and white sausage from La Trillaora will be available to taste.
Ca Toni Mònica is always a sure hit with tradition as its hallmark, this year with the mini burger with broad bean and the broad bean roll. Also traditional are the octopus with broad beans and the broad bean quiche from La Cuina de Xaro or the broad beans Salmantina style and the broad bean stew with artichokes and ham from Entreibéricos.
In other cases, the legume travels as far afield as Asia, with the Xiao-long-bao with pork and broad bean filling and the gyozas with chicken and broad bean filling from Beniasia restaurant.
The tapifaves will be on offer, costing 2 euros per tapa, on Sunday April 21st at Les Pesqueres square. On that day, Benitatxell will become a cuisine showcase with good music and an unbeatable atmosphere. The day will start at 10:00am with lunch and bar service provided by the Peña Taurina de Benitatxell. The tapifaves will start to be served from 11:00am, and there will also be workshops of esparto grass and palm broom key rings and an exhibition of tools of trades in danger of extinction and the world’s largest esparto shoe.
From 12:30pm, the tapas can be tasted with the musical accompaniment of Bass Duo. As the icing on the cake, at 1:30 pm the prizes will be awarded to the winners of the homemade wine contest and the fava més llarga (longest broad bean) and fava de més gallons (broad bean with the most seeds) contests.
Friday 19th and Saturday 20th there will also be numerous culinary and festive events. The weekend will start with the conference ‘La Cova de les Bruixes: new research’, by the Professor of Archaeology at the University of Alicante Feliciana Sala Sellés; the showcooking of the chefs Miquel Ruiz and Fran Burgos, and the concert of the duet Tàndem on Friday.
On Saturday morning there will be an Earth Market at Llebeig street, storytelling and workshop ‘We are what we eat’ for the youngest ones, and, for wine lovers, the guided tour to the vineyards of the Biomoscatell Association ‘Moscatell with the five senses’. The afternoon will begin with a children’s playschool service and a children’s show with Dani Miquel. Finally, in the afternoon, you will be able to enjoy music and tapas at Les Pesqueres square with performances by Pep Gimeno “Botifarra”, La Trocamba Matanusca, La Xe-ranga, Niuss and Dj Cate.