Plaza Mayor, 2
47230 Matapozuelos, Spain
+34 983 832 942

After taking a tour of a pine nut factory, we drove to Matapozuelos (around half an hour outside of the main center of Valladolid) to have lunch at La Botica. I knew nothing about this restaurant so I had no expectations. The restaurant itself looked like a rural, traditional asador (where they cook meats in brick ovens) so I thought we would finally get to eat roasted suckling pork or lamb! We were supposed to walk down to the field with the Chef but it had rained the night before and it was too muddy.

So instead of going out on a little field trip, Chef Miguel Angel showed us a powerpoint presentation to explain his philosophy and cuisine. As the name of his restaurant may suggest, he has a keen interest in wild plants. The restaurant originally belonged to his father, who used to serve just traditional cuisine (they still do the roasted suckling pigs). He now serves very modern dishes, taking advantage of the seasonal and local vegetation in the area. He is most well known for using fresh green pine cones in his cooking. I had never heard of anyone using it for food. He explained to us that you can use pine cones as you would a lime or lemon. This made a lot of sense to me because earlier when we were sampling Spanish pine nuts, I got a hint of lemon zest. He actually freezes pine cones and juices them too! He also sometimes plants seeds and leaves them to grow in the wild and later forages for them.