In love with her adopted country, chef Lydia del Olmo has recreated three of the recipes that pay homage to the cuisine of traditional and humble Galician homes in Féminas.

Ceibe means free," says Lydia, and this is the philosophy she works with in her restaurant, which was born in the midst of the pandemic with the idea of betting on the product and traditional recipes, but reinterpreted without ties under the gaze of the 21st century. We must put an end to false Galician modesty and give value to the product, giving it the importance it deserves, as well as to the small producers, because Galicia has everything", he asserts. This is what he does in his charming restaurant in the old quarter of Orense, which has been awarded a Michelin star. There are only six of us, and the centre of everything is the kitchen, which is open to the dining room so that we can interact with the guests and see what they are eating.

Born in Valladolid, Lydia gave up top-level sport to pursue her other great passion, training in kitchens such as Culler de Pau, Disfrutar and Casa Solla before opening her own project, in love with the richness of Galician cuisine. Her proposal at Ceibe is a simple cuisine based on the product, trying to respect its natural flavours and textures. To prove her point, she has created two exceptional dishes from the sea and another from the interior, "because Galicia is not just the Rías". At Ceibe we like to travel all over Galicia, always starting and finishing in Orense,' he says.

Hake, scallops and bollito de cocido

The first brought a Cambados scallop 'cured for 20 minutes in seawater and sliced', which he served on a miso made with the coral, mixed with a stew of onion, pepper and wine 'with a lot of flavour', and a version of ketchup 'made with tomato, onion, ginger, kefir lime, lemon and fruit'. On top of the three slices of scallop, he has placed a little smoked coral and finished off with a herbolada and a beurre blanc sauce 'made with elderflower vinegar and ginger instead of white wine'. The second dish is called 'Hake in white' and consists of a loin of hake 'matured in our chamber for 9 days and cured in sea water for 20 minutes. This gives it softness and a veined, almost transparent colour. It melts in the mouth", he described. He accompanied it on the plate with textured mussel juice, a little bay leaf and white wine.

Finally, he presented a cocido 'that is a mixture of Castilian and Galician', for which he filled a 'homemade' sweet roll with a stew of all the ingredients of his version of cocido, that is to say, ear, snout, rib, pork shoulder, pork shoulder, chickpeas, potatoes and cabbage, all finely chopped and then stuffed into the roll with a sleeve, topped with a 'paprika and kimchi emulsion'. And to go with it, a glass of broth from the stew made with 'the Galician umami that we are lucky enough to have made by the mother of Xosé Magalhaes, his partner at Ceibe'.