Visit Bilbao with Holiday Inn Express Bilbao Airport

Potatoes, tomatoes and peppers didn´t arrive in the Basque Country until the XVIII century.

Before discovering America, Marmitako was made with water, fish and some kind of fat, mostly porks, and bread. 

According to the stories of the arrantzale, every member of the crew had to add a piece of bread to the dish during the preparation. The bread would then be removed once the dish is ready.

For 4-6 people:

• 1 kg of tuna
• 1 kg of potatoes
• 3 green peppers
• 1 onion
• 4 cloves of garlic
• 1 spoonful of chorizo pepper
• 2 tomatoes
• Virgin olive oil
• Salt
• 2 cayenne pepper
• Chopped parsley

For the fish soup:

• Leeks
• 1/2 head and tuna skin
• 1 l water
• Salt
• 2 sprigs of parsley

For the soup, put the leeks, the parsley and the head and skin of the tuna to boil in a pot with water and a pinch of salt. It should be ready in 20 minutes

Chop the onion, the tomatoes, the green peppers and the garlic and fry it in a pan with a bit of oil.

Once it is well poached, add the peeled and chopped potatoes and fry them for a couple of minutes

Afterwards, add the chorizo peppers and the cayenne peppers. Add the strained soup. Leave the heat on until the potatoes are cooked. This should take 15-20 minutes. After that, add the diced tuna. Boil it for another three minutes, add salt and parsley, leave it to rest for one minute before serving.

The Porrusalda is a soup made with leeks, pumpkin and potatoes. It´s a well-known dish of Basque cuisine and a good choice during the winter. Depending on the region, people may add other ingredients such as carrots, garlic, cod or pork.

For 4-6 people:

• 6 leeks
• 3 potatoes
• 1 onion
• 2 carrots
• 2 chicken skeleton
• Water
• Olive oil
• Salt
• Parsley

To make the soup, put the chicken bones in a pressure cooker with a lot of water. Add the parsley and a pinch of salt and cook for 4-5 minutes once boiling starts. Degrease the soup, coat it and set it aside.

Peel and chop the onions and fry over a low heat with a bit of oil, without letting them get brown. Pour the soup and add the clean, chopped leeks. Add, the carrots and the peeled and chopped potatoes. Salt it and leave it to cook for 18-20 minutes. Serve the Porrusalda in a bowl.

The "gupilada", which is the act of moving the cod casserole, is the rite that defines "Pil Pil". In this way, the previously desalted and boneless fish releases gelatin, this thickens with the oil, water and garlic, forming a fine sauce.

For 4 people:

• 4 slices of unsalted cod
• 5 garlic cloves
• 1/2 cayenne pepper
• 300 ml. of virgin olive oil

Place the oil on a low and wide stewpan. Peel and fry the garlic. When brown, take them out and set them aside. Clean the cayenne pepper and cut it in four pieces, fry for a bit and then set them aside.

In the same oil, fry the cod slices (first with the skin upwards). Fry each side for four minutes and put them aside. Put the serum they release into a bowl.

Move the oil to another bowl and leave the cod to cool down for a bit.

With the help of a strainer, gently mix the warm oil with some of the cod serum. Pour it little by little until the “Pil Pil” sauce is thick. Afterwards, add the cod and heat it.

When the oil is warm, put a bit in the casserole with a bit of the cod serum and mix it with a strainer moving it softly. Add the rest of the oil little by little. When half the oil has been added, add the rest of the serum without stopping the strainer. Add the rest of the oil, keep moving until the pil pil is thick. Add the cod and heat it.

Serve the cod slices with the sauce and decorate it with the garlic and Cayenne peppers.

The Canutillo is made with puff pastry and cream.

For 4 people:

• Puff pastry
• Cream
• Icing sugar

Spread the puff pastry out on a working surface until thin. To give them some shape, roll them on thin metallic tubes while leaving the extremities open. Place them in the oven. Remove from the oven once they are ready and remove the tubes.

Serve them hot, filled with cream and covered in icing sugar.

• sheep milk
• rennet

If it's raw milk first, it is necessary to boil it. Wait until it has cooled to the recommended temperature by the rennet manufacturer.

If the milk is pasteurized, heat it until it reaches the desired temperature

In a pan, put the rennet (6 drops per person) and add the milk. Wait a while until it solidifies in the fridge. Once cool it will be ready to eat.

• sheep milk
• rennet

If it's raw milk first it is necessary to boil it. Wait until it has cooled to the recommended temperature by the rennet manufacturer.

If it is pasteurized milk, heat it until it reaches the desired temperature.

In a pan, put the rennet (6 drops per person) and add the milk. Wait a while until it solidifies and leave it in the fridge. Once cool it will be ready to eat.

The sukalki is a dish made with meat and potatoes.

The meat must first be sautéed to create a protective layer, this way it doesn´t lose its juices during the cooking.

In the summer, the sukalki is a favourite dish at many parties. Competitions involving families, friends and food societies are organised to pick out the winning sukalki dish. Essentially, all those who love Basque cuisine join in.

The idea is to create a team event, taking place outside one’s home which involves high-quality food products to create exquisite dishes. Every year, there is a big effort to improve the quality of the dishes.

For 4 people

• 2 red onions
• 1 green pepper
• Half a leek (optional)
• 1 small carrot
• The pulp of chorizo peppers
• 1-1,5 kg Zancarron beef
• 1 glass of white wine or splash of cognac
• 1,5 kg small potatoes
• olive oil and salt
• Chop and fry the onions.

The day before, leave the chorizo peppers to soak.

Add a chopped up green pepper, the leek and the carrot. Once everything is poached add the chorizo peppers. Leave to fry for a while.

Add the large chopped beef pieces and add the wine or the cognac.

Add the beef (chopped in big pieces). Fry to seal the meat and add the wine or cognac. Boil.

In a pressure cooker, leave to cook for 3 hours until the meat is tender. Generally, it is not necessary to add water because the meat releases its own juices. If you have to add water, add a very small amount.

Remove the meat and grind the vegetables. Remove the fat and nerves from the meat and chop it into small pieces. Put it again in the pan. 

Cut up the potatoes and puncture them with a fork. Add to the pan and boil them very gently. Once the potatoes are half cooked, add the salt.

Leave it rest for 10-15 minutes.

For 4 people

• 1 kg. Hake kokotxas
• 3 garlic cloves
• 1 chili pepper
• 1 tablespoon flour
• 1 white wine glass
• water
• virgin olive oil
• salt
• chopped parsley

Clean the kokotxas (kokotxas is the fleshy underpart of the fish jaw) thoroughly and cut the extra skin. Spread them on a clean cloth to dry. Salt them and leave them aside. Pour two fingers worth of water in a casserole and add a sprig of parsley, some salt and the kokotxas. Leave it to cook.

Peel and laminate the garlic and chili and fry them in a wide pan with some oil. Cook over low heat and ensure the garlic doesn’t become too brown. Remove the garlic and chili and set it aside in a bowl.

Add to the pot, a spoonful of flour and sauté well. Pour a glass of white wine and a little broth.

Stir well, and then add the chopped parsley and the kokotxas. Cook for 2-3 minutes. At the last minute sprinkle the chopped parsley and confited garlic and chili. Serve hot.

Also known as Angulas a la bilbaina, it is served in a clay pot with garlic and chili.

• 250 grams of eels
• Virgin olive oil
• 1 garlic clove
• 1 cayenne pepper

Place in a small clay pot, some virgin olive oil along with a sliced up clove of garlic and a piece of chili over high heat. When it boils, add the 250 grams of eel, which should be stirred continuously with a wooden fork. After a short boil, serve directly in the pan.

The fresh ink is a poison that loses its neurotoxic action on heating during cooking.

About the size of the squid there are many discussions in the field of gastronomy, since, some prefer small, and other large or begiandis, sliced.

For 4 people:

• 16 squid
• 2 slicesof bread
• 3 onions
• 2 clovesof garlic
• 1 cupketchup
• Inkenvelopes1-2
• 1 glass ofwhite wine or txakoli
• water
• extra virginolive oil
• salt

Put the bread to soak with white wine. Allow to soak it up. Set it aside.

Clean the calamari and reserve tubes, tentacles, fins and ink. Strain and reserve the ink.

Chop the tentacles and fins and saute. Drain and reserve the filling.

For the sauce, chop the onions and the garlic. Fry in a pan with a little oil. add salt.  Add the tomato sauce, slices of bread soaked and inks. Pour a little water and cook over low heat for 15 minutes. Blend the sauce and pour it into another pot (if it is thick light it with a little water).

Salt the little squid tubes and fill. Put them in the sauce pan, cover and cook for 20-22 minutes over low heat.  

The sokonusko is the traditional nougat in Bilbao

It has three colours: white, beige and black, originating from the three pralines that it is made from. 

• White, with slightly roasted almonds and a white cover, 
• Beige, with roasted almonds covered in milk,
• Black, with roasted almonds and dark chocolate. This is lined with another chocolate coating.

Bacalao a la vizcaina is a dried cod dish which was discovered by the arrantzales or Basque fishermen, centuries ago while they were whaling on the cold banks of the North in Newfoundland and Iceland. Due to the large distances, these fishermen had to travel, methods of preservation had to be used to prevent the fish from going off. They achieved this by salting the fish. Thanks to this, dried cod has become a common dish in most Basque ports including Bilbao.

For 4 people:

• 4 cod loins 
• 1 dl of olive oil

For the sauce Biscay:

• The pulp of ten choriceros peppers
•  8 onions (4 red and 4 white)
• 4 cloves of garlic
• 50 gr of bacon
• Salt

Place the unpeeled garlic cloves in a clay pot with the cod, confit for four minutes. Remove and reserve separately. If the cod is pre-salted, ensure that you desalinate it by putting it in cold water for 36 to 48 hours and change the water several times.

In the same pan, add the ingredients which constitute the sauce (onion, garlic and bacon) and fry over moderate heat. When everything is very tender, add the meat and leave the peppers to fry for another 20 minutes.

If the sauce is dry, add fish stock. Check the salt levels. The sauce should be light.

Place the cod loins in the sauce, giving a slight boil and serve.

Restaurante Artebakarra

Carretera Derio-Mungia, km14 Derio tel. 94 454 1292

Derio tel. 94 454 1292

Derio tel. 94 454 1292

With a large parking, gardens and txakoli wine from their own vineyards.

Restaurante Oso Pardo

Gorbea Kalea,3 Derio tel. 94 454 0027

Asador Taskas

Parq. Empr. Aeropuerto (E.S. Avia) Derio tel. 94 674 1210

Taberna Pozgarri

Gernikako Arbola etorbidea,4 Derio tel. 94 454 3599

Restaurante San Isidro

Mungialde Etorbidea,25 Derio tel. 94 454 0798

Restaurante/ Cervecera Eneperi

Gibelorratzagako San Pelaio,80 Bakio te. 94 619 4065

Restaurante Urrutia

Aurrekoetxe Auzoa,11 Laukiz tel. 94 615 1367

Sidreria Andraka

Andraka Auzoa,14 Lemoiz tel. 94 687 9394

Sidreria Loiu

Zabaloetxe Etorbidea,18 Loiu tel. 94 453 0077

Restaurante Aspaldiko

Zabaloetxe Etorbidea, 14 Loiu tel. 94 453 1421

Etxanobe

Located near the Guggenheim Museum, Etxanobe is sited inside the second iconic building, the Euskalduna Palace.

Palacio Euskalduna, 4 avenida de Abandoibarra, Bilbao tel: 944 421 07

Zortziko

A few steps from the Guggenheim Museum, Zortziko restaurant is situated in a 19th century mansion. Three dining rooms are decorated in a different style but all offer a pleasant atmosphere.  With one Michelin star this restaurant is considered to be one of the best restaurants in Bilbao.

Alameda de Mazarredo, 17, Bilbao tel: 944 239 743

Guria

Guria restaurant in Bilbao is a short walk from Euskalduna Palace.

Gran Vía 66, Bilbao tel: 944 415 780

A Table

A table is a stylish little restaurant located behind the Abando train station in Bilbao. The service is excellent and the atmosphere pleasant. The menu offers outstanding dishes from the French and Basque cuisine. The courses are amazing and served in very generous portions.

Maiatzaren biko, Dos de Mayo 18, Bilbao tel: 944 154 766

Casa Víctor Montes

Victor Montes is a cafe / restaurant located on the Plaza Nueva in the heart of the old Town (Casco Viejo). The place is well known for its excellent tapas (pintxos) and its collection of empty bottles that decorate the shelves.

Plaza Nueva, 8 Casco Viejo, Bilbao tel: 944 157 067

Urbe Restaurant, next to the hotel

The Urbe Restaurant offers traditional Spanish dishes and is opened every weekday from from 13.00pm to 16.00pm and from 20.00pm to 23.00pm. Saturdays and Sundays from 13.00pm to 15.30pm and from 20.00pm to 23.00pm. 

The Urbe restaurant offers a Menu of the day for lunch and for dinner, a la carte, weekend and kids menu. The restaurant menu changes every day to keep our dishes seasonal and fresh. For the menu of the day you can choose from:

• 3 starters
• 3 main dishes
• 3 home-made desserts
• 2 vegetarian options
• Bread, water, wine & coffee

For more information call the restaurant on +34. 94 454 09 86