Fiesta de la Urta

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Fiesta de la Urta

Fiesta de la Urta

Here is an updated reprint of an article from the "Rota Coastline" August 2004

Karen Lucas, Coastline Publisher

This year, Rota will celebrated its 37th annual "Fiesta de la Urta," on August 3 - 6. The festival is new, at least by Spanish standards here most festivals date back hundreds of years, but listed by the National Government Tourist Board as a festival of interest

The idea of hosting the "Fiesta de la Urta" first came about in 1967 in response to the growing number of vacationers coming to Rota for their summer vacations. Traditionally Rota had, and has, been a hotspot for people from the surrounding areas looking to escape the inland heat during the summer as well as for those not from the surrounding areas who are simple looking for a nice vacation spot. As the number of people coming to Rota during the summer grew, so did the need for more summertime activities to make their stay more enjoyable.

This, the "Fiesta de la Urta" was born, paying homage to the "Urta," a fish local to Rota, and the preparation method for the authentic dish, known as "Urta a la Roteña," which had already gained national acclaim.

In its first edition, the "Fiesta de la Urta" ended with a grand dinner of "Urta" soup, "Urta a la Roteña" and grilled "Urta." Everyone was given a recipe for preparing authentic "Urta a la Roteña" and witnessed the first cooking contest of the fish.

In addition to the cooking contest, which still take place during the festival, "Urtas de Oro" are presented to the local people who have done the most to benefit Rota, economically, commercially, socially or in so far as tourism. This year the "Urta de Oro" will be awarded to the Motoclub Roteña.

Pargus Hurta is the scientific name for Urta, which is a pinkish/reddish in color and primarily feeds on shellfish, hence giving the fish its shellfish flavor. It is found in the temperate waters of the Atlantic and Mediterranean. The Urta found in the waters of Rota are especially famous due to the variety of crustaceans found in its rocky areas.

Urta a la Roteña

Here is a classic recipe for Urta a la Roteña. I have searched far and wide to ensure that this is an accurate recipe, but I must warn the reader that those persons who know about this dish may well point out that this or that ingredient is missing, or that they make it a little differently. It is widely known in Spain that for every regional dish there are as many authentic recipes for a particular dish as there are cooks that prepare it and they are all excellent so who is to say which of them is the the genuine article. Any dish that will hold heat well may be used in the cooking of the Urta, but a clay baking dish is best.

Ingredients for the Urta	Ingredients for the picadillo

1 fresh Urta approximately 1 - 1.5 kilos	200 grams onion, chopped
200 grams onion, sliced	200 grams ripe tomato, chopped
200 grams ripe tomato, sliced	1 green bell pepper, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, minced	1 red bell pepper, chopped
½ cup olive oil	½ cup olive oil
1 laurel leaf	salt
salt	pepper
pepper	1 tbsp vinegar
1 fresh lemon	ground nutmeg

Preparation:

Have fish monger clean fish, at home wash Urta thoroughly and scale if needed. Make some deep cuts across the fish to facilitate cooking.

For the picadillo, mix all the ingredients completely with the olive oil, vinegar and season with salt and pepper container and put aside until needed.

Preheat oven to moderate temperature. Prepare a Spanish red glazed baking dish (cazuela) large enough to accommodate fish and added ingredients. Pour the olive oil into the bottom of the dish and add the finely minced garlic, and thinly sliced onions, sliced tomatoes. Season with salt and pepper.

Place Urta on top of these ingredients, squeeze the juice of the lemon to the Urta and cover generously with the prepared picadillo.

Place the baking dish into the oven baste with juices in dish and bake for 20 minutes per kilo of fish.

Serve hot.

Notes:

Optionally you may add sliced potatoes to the bottom of the baking disk at the beginning of the recipe in addition to the onion and tomato.
This recipe can be used with other white fish like Sea Bream, Spanish Bream, Gilt-headed Bream, etc.

For a printable version in both Spanish and English of the recipe <click here>

Here are a few photos from this Festival de la Urta: Most these photograph are courtesy of Crony Master Chief Dave and Trish, thanks for your photos guys, we appreciate your efforts and a few have been contributed by myself and others. Most of these photos are from the year 2004 and there are some from 2006.