Asturias Month

For the first time ever in the UK, we have fresh fava beans to make Fabada (they are actually frozen for transportation). Fava beans are exceptional, large creamy ‘bullets’ with a wonderful flavour. When dried, notoriously difficult to cook well.  The fresh ones are a joy. No pre-soaking. Just boil for an hour and a half and they’re done. Order your fava beans here (complete with a recipe card for a fool-proof Fabada Asturiana).

Just check out below what we have as part of this promotion. Asturias is a glorious region of Spain, unspoilt by tourism and with some of the best gastronomy in Spain.

Smoked meat pack for Fabada – a pack with smoked morcilla, smoked chorizo and smoked panecetta – everything you need to make a Fabada. Smoked meats of the very highest quality.

Moscovitas – these are sensational chocolate almond biscuits. This is not hyperbole, they are perhaps the best sweet treats in the world. Caramelly crunchy discos of crushed almond, covered in either dark or milk chocolate. Until recently a closely guarded secret in Ovideo, made by the superb Rialto bakery. Now available in Liverpool for distribution across the UK

Artisan Asturian Cheeses:

Gamoneu a cheese of Asturian folklore. Coveted by cheese connoisseurs across the world and available for the first time in the UK. A blue cheese that isn’t blue, or is it? On first taste, there is a beautiful sweetness, turning to a nuttiness with a spicey finish and a light blue after-taste. A blend of cow, sheep and goat milk, that is very gently smoked. It is truly exceptional and we don’t have much of it!

Ray Silo Pimenton. We are spoiling you with this. Created in the very early 1900’s for Asturian miners to eat in the mines. The mine owners supplied it free as it both kept energy levels up of the miners and encouraged them to drink the cheap plonk they also provided undergound. The miners would forget about the awful conditions, under the influence and work longer and harder! Now this is a unique artisan cheese. Soft and pasty on the inside, pink for the pimento rubbing on the outside. It is creamy and lactic to the initial taste, followed by a glorious smokey, spicy finish. This comes in individual round pyramids and is a show stopper on a cheese board.

Peralzola – a mild creamy blue cheese from the mountains in Asturias. Unusually for blue cheese, this is a sheep’s milk cheese which gives a sweet creaminess. It is an exceptional cheese

Cabarales Dulce – reputed to be the strongest cheese in the world. This is a slightly milder version. Still packing a strong peppery punch. This is beautiful with an Asturian cider and delightful meted on top of a rib-eye steak.

Vidiago – an unusual cow’s milk cheese. Medium hard, it has a beautiful and strong lactic tang. Perfect drizzled with honey.

Imperial hand churned butter – Asturias is cow country. Imperial butter has been produced by "mantequeria de Tineo" since 1920. This is hand churned butter produced during a slow process to retain the aromas of the slightly fermented milk. And then it is "massaged" to add an extra layer of cremosity. So it is butter as it use to taste!. It comes in the most beautifully decorated iconic tins and is utterly exceptional. We have it salted (fantastically heavily salted) and unsalted. Bet it with a loaf of our own sourdough and you won’t be able to stop. 

Eria de Valles honey. These small scale beekeepers move their hives around the natural national parks of asturias to obtain honey pollinated from different plants, giving each honey a very distinctive character. These are glorious. We have chestnut, eucalyptus and heather.

Sidra Alicia – produced by the famous Travanco sideria. This is a very elegant, lightly sparkling cider and is a wonderful accompaniment to our Asturian cheeses. Created to go with the best foods, it is on most Michelin starred restaurants drinks lists in Spain.

Trabanco black label – a traditional Asturian cider with a coupage solely from apples grown in Asturian orchards, dry and still, it is always poured from a height into the glass to bring out it’s natural fizz in aerating it.

Charity Fundraising

Our £1 on the bill initiative is proving a huge success. Over the last year, we will have raised close to £40,000 for local cancer charities. This makes a huge difference and has a real personal element to it, too. Thank you so much. At the moment, we are raising money for the Bloom Appeal, a Liverpool based charity that supports research and gives grants to people diagnosed with blood cancer.

Inspired by this, and Elaine’s response to treatment for Myeloma, I am cycling from London to Paris in September to raise money for Myeloma UK who are dedicated to finding a cure for Myeloma, the blood cancer which Elaine has. 

Now I take my own health seriously (for the first time at 59 – better late than never), I am fit enough and light enough (having got Diabetes into remission and lost 8 stone now!) to take this challenge on. 

Anyone who would like to support us, we have a Just Giving page and are trying to raise £10,000 through this bike ride. Thank you for anything you can give.

Last chance to book on next week’s quiz

Our food, drink and music quiz this month is themed around power ballads – with a music round of 10 power ballad songs played flamenco style. An opportunity to sing along in what is always a brilliant fun (and often raucous) night, with lots of food and drink to taste. You can book the last few tables here. On the night, there is a £2 per person entry fee. Friday 27th January at 7pm

Asturian Specials in Restaurant

For the next month, we have a number of Asturian inspired dishes in the restaurant. Available on our a la carte menu and for a small supplement, on our lunchtime menu:

·      Fabada Asturiana

·      Necora crab croquetas

·      Chipirones a la Plancha

·      Wild red gambas con gabardinas – beer battered prawns with a sweet cider chilli dip

·      Asturian cheese board

·      Imperial churned butter with our sourdough bread

And finally .....

Thank you again so much for all your incredible support, especially during these very tough times. Our team really appreciate the support you give us.

From all of us at Lunya, thank you and hopefully see you soon or we're packing one of your internet orders

Peter & Elaine x