Granada Coast In English
Everything you need to know

Recipes for what's in season

Simple, local recipes built around the fruit and veg growing on the coast right now — the way Andalusian kitchens actually use a summer glut of tomatoes or a winter tree of oranges.

In season now

🍆
Fried aubergine with cane honey Berenjenas con miel de caña
25 min · serves 4 · stars Aubergine

A Granada-province classic — crisp fried aubergine drizzled with dark cane honey, fittingly since Motril still grows the sugar cane it's made from.

Ingredients

  • 2 aubergines
  • milk and a little salt (for soaking)
  • flour, for dusting
  • oil, for frying
  • cane honey (miel de caña), to finish

Method

  1. Slice the aubergines thin and soak in salted milk for 20–30 minutes.
  2. Drain, dust in flour and fry in hot oil until crisp and golden.
  3. Drain on paper, then drizzle generously with cane honey and serve at once.
🍅
Gazpacho Gazpacho andaluz
15 min + chilling · serves 4 · stars Tomato, Pepper

A cold, blended tomato soup — the taste of an Andalusian summer, and the perfect answer to a glut of ripe tomatoes.

Ingredients

  • 1 kg very ripe tomatoes
  • 1 green (Italian) pepper
  • ½ cucumber
  • 1 small garlic clove
  • 50 ml extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1 tbsp sherry vinegar
  • salt

Method

  1. Roughly chop the vegetables.
  2. Blend everything with the oil, vinegar and salt until smooth.
  3. Pass through a sieve for a silkier soup, then chill for at least an hour.
  4. Serve cold, with a drizzle of oil and some diced veg on top.
🍋
Lemon granita Granizado de limón
10 min + freezing · serves 4 · stars Lemon

The classic Andalusian summer cooler — half-frozen, sharp and sweet. With lemons on the tree most of the year, there's rarely an excuse not to.

Ingredients

  • juice of 4 lemons
  • 150 g sugar
  • 750 ml water

Method

  1. Dissolve the sugar in the water, then stir in the lemon juice.
  2. Freeze in a shallow tray, forking through the ice crystals every 30–40 minutes.
  3. Serve as a slushy granita in chilled glasses.
🟣
Figs with goat's cheese & honey Higos con queso de cabra
10 min · serves 4 · stars Fig

When the fig trees are heavy in late summer, this is the easiest way to show them off — sweet, soft figs against fresh goat's cheese.

Ingredients

  • 8 ripe figs
  • fresh goat's cheese
  • honey
  • a few walnuts (optional)

Method

  1. Halve or quarter the figs.
  2. Top with soft goat's cheese, a drizzle of honey and a few walnuts.
  3. Serve as a starter or with drinks.
🍈
Melon with ham Melón con jamón
10 min · serves 4 · stars Watermelon & melon

The simplest summer starter in Spain — sweet cold melon against salty cured ham. Nothing to cook, everything to love.

Ingredients

  • ½ ripe melon
  • 8 slices jamón serrano

Method

  1. Deseed the melon and cut into wedges or cubes; chill well.
  2. Drape or wrap each piece with jamón and serve cold.
🥘
Pisto Pisto
40 min · serves 4 · stars Tomato, Pepper, Courgette, Aubergine

Andalusia's answer to ratatouille — a slow-cooked jumble of summer vegetables that uses almost everything the vega gives you at once.

Ingredients

  • 1 onion
  • 1 red and 1 green pepper
  • 1 courgette
  • 1 aubergine
  • 400 g ripe tomatoes (or passata)
  • olive oil, salt

Method

  1. Dice all the vegetables.
  2. Soften the onion and peppers in plenty of oil, then add the courgette and aubergine.
  3. When soft, add the tomato and simmer gently for 15–20 minutes until jammy.
  4. Season and serve warm — often topped with a fried egg.

The rest of the year

🥑
Guacamole Guacamole
10 min · serves 4 · stars Avocado

Local Hass avocados in winter are as good as any in the world — this is the simplest way to enjoy them at their peak.

Ingredients

  • 2 ripe avocados
  • ½ small onion, finely chopped
  • 1 tomato, diced
  • juice of ½ lime, salt
  • coriander (optional)

Method

  1. Mash the avocado with the lime juice and salt.
  2. Stir in the onion and tomato.
  3. Serve with bread or as a side.
🍊
Orange & cod salad Remojón granadino
20 min · serves 4 · stars Orange

A traditional Granada winter salad that turns sweet in-season oranges into a proper dish, cutting the richness of salt cod with citrus.

Ingredients

  • 2 oranges
  • 200 g salt cod (bacalao), desalted — or good tinned tuna
  • black olives
  • ½ onion, thinly sliced
  • 1 hard-boiled egg
  • olive oil

Method

  1. Peel and segment the oranges; arrange on a plate.
  2. Flake over the cod (or tuna), then scatter with olives, onion and chopped egg.
  3. Dress generously with olive oil and serve.