Food & Don Quijote (El Mirador de la Mancha)

I have been doing some cooking but due to my hectic schedule, I don´t have much time to experiment or get too creative...barely have time to get something on the table and eat it,never mind take a photo of it and blog about it!I will be blogging about one of my Gran´s recipes,once I´ve tweaked it a bit and perfected it!!

It was my birthday a couple of weeks ago so my parents came to visit and we had a lovely weekend stuffing ourselves. We went to Villarubia de los Ojos with my parents and my boyfriend´s parents to a lovely restaurant called El Mirador de la Mancha, which is completely made of wood and is very cosy. It is nestled at the top of a hill in the sierra with windows overlooking the valley below so you have great views while you eat your meal. The first thing you see as you make you way to the restaurant is a giant Don Quijote made of wood and some great lookout points. There are plants and a little waterfall and the surroundings are stunning. The restaurant also has cabañas (wooden chalets) and a swimming pool so would make a lovely escapade for a weekend in the country.


We ordered various typical starters from the region (Castilla-La Mancha)which included migas -a dish made of breadcrumbs, garlic, green peppers,chorizo and sometimes grapes, duelos y quebrantos -a dish which is a bit like scrambled egg with Iberian ham and chorizo in it (I´m always a bit dubious about this dish as I think it sometimes also has brains in it!!)-, gachas- a paste made from flour ,with a consistency similar to porridge, with small bits of chorizo in it and goats cheese with caramelized onion (probably not so typical of the region but divine anyway -definitely my fav of all the starters!)


Most of us chose either cochinillo (roast suckling pig), which was accompanied by roasted red pepper and potatoes or paletilla de cordero (lamb shoulder)which was also accompanied by potatoes and red pepper,if I remember correctly. I went for the cochinillo, which was tender and succulent on the inside and had a golden,crispy skin on the outside-perfect! The portions were fairly generous and unfortunately I was too full to do it complete justice. We skipped dessert as we were all too stuffed! The main dishes were reasonably priced too, at 15 euros each. Definitely worth a visit if you are ever passing through Castilla-La Mancha! There is also a little chapel a little farther up from the restaurant which is good to visit for the views (the chapel itself was closed when we went so I can´t comment on whether it is worth entering!)