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Carlos Teixeira: "We do the obvious, the natural, we adapt to our environment.

Sandra Hernández

Chef Carlos Teixeira brings to Las Palmas the essence of the Portuguese Alentejo, a land he works with extraordinary respect and dedication.

Terrae temporarily changes territory to travel to new landscapes that inspire other cuisines. In this case, the restaurant Herdade do Esporão** (Portugal), which has one Michelin star and another green star, thanks to the masterful and hyper-sustainable cuisine of its chef, who trained at world-class establishments such as Nolla (Finland) and Blue Hill at Stone Barns (USA).

In order to meet his high standards of sustainability, Teixeira relies on two maxims: proximity and seasonality, with which he manages to transfer the territory to the plate with creativity, creating a modern cuisine. "Esporão is located in the middle of a vineyard, on a farm where, in addition to wine, we produce olive oil and craft beer. In fact, in the restaurant they only serve their own wines, also from two other estates they own in the north of Portugal, and their firm commitment to sustainability is demonstrated by the fact that "8% of the organic wine produced in Portugal comes from Esporão. And it's the same in the kitchen. But we do not invent anything. We do the obvious, the natural, we adapt to our environment. I believe in a cuisine where everything starts with the product," he says.

The farm, which covers more than 2,000 hectares, also has an orchard, which they started six years ago, "on the one hand to preserve traditional seeds and make the most of what our territory gives us, but also to look for new ones that could be adapted". They also work with local suppliers to create "a cuisine characterised by doing a lot with little, the result of the past when it was a very poor area". Therefore, their mentality is to make the most of the product, "using fresh produce, but also working on ways to preserve it, such as sausages, pickles or fermented products".

Texeira has introduced dishes based on freshwater fish to the Terrae kitchen, such as pike-perch in tartar sauce with apples, a skewer of crab on an olive stick with pickled fennel from his garden, and barbel under a layer of cured bacon and cooked, dried and fried fish flakes.