An artesan art

Andalucia, is the home of flamenco and Tapas, of sherry, bodegas and bullfights. This is the Spain of castanets and flounced skirts. If you are wearing a thong and have sand in your fish and chips, you are most certainly in the wrong place. 
O cozinheiro finds the real Andalucia in the heart of Ayamonte.

When in Andalucia I shop as the Andalucians used to shop. Abaceria ( grocery ) Orta, established 1863, is pure buried treasure. You could walk the length of Calle Lusitania in Ayamonte and not even notice it. Its discreet facade with a window stacked with old tuna cans, hides some inner secrets and hidden delicacies. Pata Negra ham, Pate de jabugo (wild boar ) with Pedro Ximenez sherry, tins of artesan smoked Pequillo peppers, small boxes of Saffron,and Tortas de aceite, thin round olive oil wafers served at Casa Rosada as an accompaniment to ice cream, which I have re christened sweet Spanish poppadom. This old fashioned delicatessen with its fitted floor to ceiling wooden shelves is pure refreshment and I will cover that in a second instalment of this post. What does O cozinheiro suggest you do with a tin of Pequillo peppers? What slips out of the tin are long red satin gloves that bring the temptress out in you. They remind me of the red Balenciaga slippers adorning the popes feet on his recent travels. I feel a recipe coming on. Smoked red peppers and tuna are a match made in heaven and adding these two to some buttery mashed potato that has had some fried onion cut through it is celestial comfort food.

Take each pepper and with your finger prise the the glove shaped pepper open,
carefully fill it with a pre-prepared mixture of mashed potato, fried onion and tinned tuna.
Press the filling carefully right to the bottom of the pepper, I use the handle end of a small wooden spoon. Do not overfill it, and then lay them side by side in a ceramic oven proof dish,
cover with foil and bake until heated through 15-20 minutes.

Remove from the oven and a simple supper awaits you.