The cooking of Zaragoza and Aragon comes from the meeting of the Pyrenean mountains, the cereal plains and the market gardens of the Ebro. It is produce-led cooking, little known abroad but full of flavour.
Typical dishes
- Ternasco de Aragón: young lamb with protected geographical indication, roasted with potatoes (a lo pobre) or grilled as chops.
- Pollo al chilindrón: chicken stewed with peppers, tomato, onion and ham.
- Borraja: borage, Aragon's emblematic vegetable, served boiled with potatoes and oil or in batter.
- Migas a la pastora: stale bread fried with garlic, chorizo and grapes, a shepherds' dish.
- Huevos al salmorejo, bacalao al ajoarriero and madejas.
- Jamón de Teruel, Aragon's ham with designation of origin, and melocotón de Calanda, the late Calanda peach, bagged on the tree.
- Ebro asparagus, artichokes and cardoons, with Christmas crema de cardo.
El Tubo tapas
El Tubo, the quarter of narrow lanes between calle Estébanes and calle Libertad behind Plaza de España, is the city's gastronomic heart. Each bar has its speciality: griddled mushrooms at the Bodeguilla de Santa Cruz and El Champi, madejas, croquettes, prawns, tortilla and creative tapas. Other tapas areas are La Magdalena and Plaza de los Sitios (see tapas).
Wines
Aragon produces wines mainly from garnacha: the Cariñena appellation, one of Spain's oldest, Campo de Borja, which calls itself the "empire of garnacha", Calatayud and Somontano, at the foot of the Pyrenees, with more international wines and modern winery architecture (see Spanish wines).
Sweets
Frutas de Aragón, chocolate-coated candied fruit, adoquines del Pilar, big cobblestone-shaped sweets wrapped in paper bearing an image of the Virgin and a jota verse, tortas de alma from Tarazona, Huesca's pastel ruso and guirlache, almond brittle. See also Spanish sweets and Spanish cuisine.