On the occasion of Vicente Todolí’s participation in O pequeno é grande, held at Casa RIA in Santiago de Compostela, we had the opportunity to experience Iago Pazos’s cooking at A Cantina, the dining space that complements Fundación RIA’s public programme.

Iago Pazos is the chef behind A Cantina and one of the founders of Abastos 2.0, a restaurant located in Santiago de Compostela’s Praza de Abastos. Since founding the project in 2009, he has developed a cuisine closely tied to the market, local produce and seasonality, shaping each day’s menu around the ingredients offered by nearby producers. Abastos 2.0 has become a benchmark of contemporary Galician gastronomy.

Dinner at A Cantina extended this connection with the territory through a citrus-focused menu built around local, seasonal ingredients. Among its dishes, this whipped butter expresses Pazos’s philosophy with particular simplicity: few ingredients, precise technique and close attention to the subtleties of the produce.

The richness of the butter is balanced by the acidity of lemon, the fragrance of mandarin shoots and the fresh, green character of water chickweed. A delicate preparation to serve as an aperitif, accompanied by good bread.

Ingredients

200 g good-quality butter

40 ml cold water

1 lemon Fine

Mandarin shoots

Water chickweed (Montia fontana)

4 g fine salt

Method

Cut the cold butter into cubes and whip it with the water, adding the water little by little while whisking, until light, creamy and aerated.

Add the salt, a few drops of lemon juice and finely grated lemon zest. Adjust the acidity to taste.

Serve the whipped butter on a plate or in a bowl, finishing with the mandarin shoots, fresh water chickweed leaves and a little more lemon zest.

The aim is a delicate whole, in which the richness of the butter contrasts with the herbaceous freshness and citrus aromas.