
“Las Papas arrugadas (dried/wrinkled potatoes), is probably the most iconic food from this latitude. They are boiled with a little water and saturated sea salt, which, by osmosis, dries the potatoes, creates its characteristic shape, and thick flavor. Normally, spicy sauce (from endemic pepper), is used to adjust the plate, and dry salty fish, or fresh one, completes the total.”
After being boiled, the papas (this term is South American Spanish rather than the ‘patatas’of Castillano Spanish, hinting at the strong Latin American influence in the Canary Islands) are dry-fried in a pan which means you end up with a fluffy, salt-encrusted potato.
The sauce is made from local red peppers from La Palma. I’m going to recreate this recipe soon and post it up here.
More or less any restaurant in Gran Canaria does this well, but I ate them at a back street place in the old town, next to the main market.
Another local speciality in the Canaries is the Moray Eel (below looking like a leopard-skin snake) which is served deep-fried.
I visited the markets in both the new town (nearer the dock) and the old town of Las Palmas. There is a restaurant in the new town market where you can eat typical Spanish food such as churros con chocolate. In the old town market, the interior restaurant serves fried fish sandwiches ‘pescado a la plancha’.





Just before getting back on the boat, we went to the sandy beach opposite the port. Like Rio de Janeiro, Gran Canaria has a decent beach right in the city. I had Tinto de Verano (lemonade with red wine) and padron peppers in one of the cafes that line the beach.
I was invited as a guest of P and O cruises to Madeira and the Canary Islands.

Those potatoes are incredible and look so great against that Spanish tiled floor. Id eat them of that floor anyday!
I could eat them every day!
The architecture looks beautiful. I am SO glad I did not see the eels in Lanzarote (as I love them alive and under water) but can't wait for the papas arrugada recipe, as you saw on my blog, i loved them!