LA BORRA

 

 

Borra is one of the most characteristic and oldest dishes to be found in  the Alicante kitchen. Nowadays it is rarely eaten and can be found  sporadically in a few villages in the Marina Alta such as Murla and the villages nearby.

Borra is a method that allows the produce of the vegetable garden to be preserved. At times when too much is ripening, the superfluous vegetables are laid out in the sun to dry on bamboo mats, the same mats that are used to dry the moscatel grapes so as to transform them into the raisins that brought great prosperity to Denia and nearby inland villages in the days before the orange groves replaced the vinyards.

The vegetables that the family couldn't eat immediately were cut into halves or sliced thinly and laid on the bamboo mats to dry in the sun. The dried vegetables were then kept in sacks together with cloves of garlic to guard against moths and other insects. This way of preserving vegetables was called "borra" and was the method to ensure that the family ate vegetables during the winter, although other methods such as preserving in glass were also used.

To prepare a "borra", take a large handful of these dried vegetables and add them to boiling water; after a few minutes they will have absorbed enough water to be used in the preparation of various dishes.

The ethnographer Francisco G. Seijo Alonso gives, in his "Gastronomía de la provincia Alicante" (3rd edition, Alicante, 1977) a detailed list of recipes using "borra" to be found in the Vall de Pop and the surrounding villages. Basically it is a stew made from dried vegetables and dried fish, such as dried cod and dried "melva" although at times dried tuna or squid are also used. The borra eaten in Murla makes use of sea bass (or perch).

 

Borreta de melva
(recipe for 6 people)

Heat 1/4 litre of olive oil in a pan. Fry three onions cut into slices and a handfull of cloves of garlic in their skin. Add a teaspoon of paprika powder. Place four sliced potatoes on top and add a large handfull of "borra" that has been placed in boiling water for a few minutes.

On top of the potato slices, add pieces of sea bass that have been rinsed under the tap to remove superfluous salt and a goodly amount of fresh spinach cut fine. Cover all this with water and simmer till the potatoes are done. At the last moment, after you have tasted the mixture to see if extra salt is needed, add four pieces of morcilla de cebolla (blood sausage with onion) are added. Finally, break six eggs over the top, cover with a lid and leave till the eggs are firm.

This rich collection of calories is best eaten, accompanied by the famous Jalón wine, on a really cold winter day.