C/ Estafeta, 83 (Old Town)
Tel.: 948 22 20 91
Managed for over 50 years by Josetxo Urretabizkaia, a Gipuzkoan from the town of Legorreta, Casa Juanito is one of the earliest bars to open in the Old Town. Here breakfasts and a shot of ‘anis’ (aniseed liqueur) are served every day (except Sundays) from 5.30 in the morning to early workers and late-to-beds. Casa Juanito continues to do things as they have done for 50 years, a factor that appears to pose no problems for a faithful clientele who continue to regularly frequent the bar to taste its original products, such as snout, tripe, gizzards and Birika, a seriously moreish chorizo-type sausage made with the leftovers of slaughtered pig. Josetxo and Pamplona’s Mª Ángeles Elizalde also serve all sorts of options such as freshly and lightly scrambled eggs (garlic shoots, mushrooms, ham and mushroom, etc.) plus a selection of 10 platters.
INGREDIENTS
For the homemade tomato sauce:
PREPARATION
Cut the bread to size: 7.5 x 2.5 cm. Toast and set aside.
Cut the eel to the same size as the bread.
Soak the gelatin in water and dry well.
Add the black olives, chopped, to 30 cc of oil. Beat and set aside.
Chop the tomato finely in the Thermomix, with no temperature setting. Strain through a Chinoise sieve and return to the Thermomix, at high speed with a temperature of 40ºC, adding the sugar, oil, a pinch of salt and the gelatin. Pour the mixture into a mold 2.5 cm deep and leave to set.
TO SERVE:
Put some of the tomato gelatin mixture (previously strained) into a squeeze bottle and squeeze it over the little slices of toast. Top with a slice of eel. Beat the oil with the chopped black olives and drizzle over the eel. Cut the left-over gelatin into 2.5 cm cubes and place alongside the eel. Drizzle a little virgin olive oil over the cubes and add a pinch of Maldon salt.