From the garden to the pot

A few months ago, friend Daniel told me that he was involved in a very cool project and that I was sure to like it. I mixed two of my passions, kitchen recipes and urban gardens, in addition to the one whose creator of the book was the famous gardener and cook Floren Domezáin .

This chef has planted an open field on the terrace of the Madrid Wellington hotel, where he successfully planted cucumbers, zucchini, teardrop peas, chard, buds, asparagus and even aromatic herbs on floating planters.

Already dissociated from this project you can find his kitchen in the restaurant that bears his name on Calle Castelló 9 in Madrid, which with the complicity of his wife, Mercedes Lázaro takes us from his garden to his kitchen.

The restaurant maintains the philosophy of the book that I present to you today, its green devotion to the small orchards (in the style of its other restaurant in Zaragoza, Raíces) which brings its way of doing to Madrid and which I assure you is a true sanctuary of the vegetables.

“Del huerto al puchero” is a book that helps you set up your own garden where you want or can, be it a garden or a small balcony, and the reader uses what he gives from the garden to cook.

The book brings 40 simple and easy recipes, recommendations from this Navarrese. An essential guide for those who want to cheer up with  #HuertosUrbanos with tips for planting according to the season and get great results to truly enjoy at the table. The plus of the book is a pleasant and affectionate prologue by Juan Echanove and the photographs of the friend Daniel Sánchez.

If you dare to plant your garden I assure you that you do not need large spaces, with a small terrace or a small space of land you can do wonders, such is the case that last year I used the small terrace (if you can call it that ) from the washing machine to grow my aromatics.

This year I have changed floors and I have a slightly bigger terrace that I have filled with cabins, some chilies, tomatoes and a lot of aromatics (chives, parsley, coriander, basil, dill, bay leaf, lemon thyme and rosemary), what just to remove the bug that my father put in my body with his famous orchard in the Ribeira Sacra .

Satisfaction of the taste of the food harvested from the garden is immediate, you will easily notice the difference with the products bought in the supermarket.

I do not add chemicals to my vegetables or aromatics and finally and the most important thing about having a garden makes one stay in contact with plants, this contact shows us how dependent plants are on the cycles of the year.

It also allows us to feel again the importance of spring, the great difference between summer and winter and finally the abundance of autumn.

For Floren Domezáin, living at the foot of the field or living in a fifth interior in the heart of the city only implies having to throw a little ingenuity to cultivate: “The tomatoes planted in Tudela taste the same as those in Madrid.

Perhaps the pollution of the big cities is noticeable in other aspects, but fortunately for the people in this one there are no differences. If you have little space on the terrace, planting lettuce is very appreciated. Or if the light is poor at home, the beans and peas do well in the shade. You just have to adapt what is planted to the characteristics of our house ”.

“ Del huerto al puchero ” is a book to reduce stress, raise your energy level, get more fit, get closer to nature, share a good tomato with your neighbor, family and friends, enjoy much more eating and in addition to healthier way.

I would say more, it is a simple guide on how to set up your own garden without having knowledge about it, how and when to plant the different vegetables, and how to cook them easily and within everyone’s reach.

From the garden to the pot

• Title: From the garden to the pot. The essential guide for the new country or city gardener. And forty recipes for you to savor what you grow
• Authors: Floren Domezáin, prologue by Juán Echanove and photos by Daniel Sánchez (@DansanPhoto)
• Number of Pages: 250 – Hardcover Binding. Format: 19 × 23 cm
• Price € 22.90
• Editorial: The sphere of books. Edition: 1 edition (May 26, 2015).
• ISBN: 978-8490603628
• Spanish edition

You can see all the photos of the step by step in the next album.