Miquel Ruiz surprises with the possibilities of tomato in the fifth edition of 'Menja't la Marina'

Summer is synonymous with fresh, light and healthy food. The tomato is a clear example of the Mediterranean basic food in this season. This Friday, at the Municipal Market of Dénia, the chef Miquel Ruiz discovered the infinite possibilities of this product beyond the salad or the gazpacho.

It was within the framework of the fifth edition of Menja't la Marina, promoted by the Office of Creativity and Innovation of the City of Dénia, with the aim of promoting the commercialization and gastronomic use of the product of proximity and its varieties, to this precious vegetable.

Throughout the morning, the public could come to discover the proposals that Miquel Ruiz had created with this vegetable through eight different proposals: A cake with tomato skin; a plate of sun-dried tomatoes without skin, a treatment that gives them a honey-like texture, and their interpretation of that German tomato soup that decades ago served the first foreign restaurants that opened in the city and that he reinvents the tomatoes cooked over the fire with a sphere of bread made with Jesus Pobre wheat flour and gin. But also cherry tomatoes in brine with green tangerines from the bancal, its version of bread with tomato, a juicy tomato with anchovies, the marmalade that the chef makes with tomato, seaweed and honey remains and "tomato mistela", the elixir that comes from decanting the leftover tomato toast with oil, garlic and herbs.

An essential part of Menja't la Marina they are the producers, essential link for the product to reach the market to be commercialized. That is why in addition to the proposals of Miquel Ruiz, the exhibitor showed the fourteen local tomato varieties, grown by the Kiko Pastor producers, Hort Obert, and Vicent Sastre, from Hortasana. For the latter, the initiative Menja't la Marina It is very positive to disseminate local products, as is also the collaboration between producers and restaurateurs "to recover the local products and the more traditional varieties that make us maintain the flavor and our culture".

The Mayor of Dénia, Vicent Grimalt, stressed the importance of enhancing the product of proximity, which gives us back its true flavors and aromas, and announced upcoming editions, this summer, of Menja't la Marina.