A taste of Spain. A few Spanish favourites

4 A taste of Spain A few Spanish favourites

T his isn t intended to be a comprehensive list of recipes, just a few that you may care to try.

Andalusian Vegetable Pot Serves 6 200g garbanzo beans (chickpeas), soaked overnight 110g salt pork, Jamón Serrano or bacon 220g pork 1.8l water 200g white beans or black-eyed peas, soaked overnight 450g chard or green beans, chopped 170g chorizo 170g morcilla (blood sausage) 2 cloves 8 peppercorns 3 garlic cloves 2 tspn salt 2 tspn sweet pimentón (Spanish paprika cayenne pepper can be used as a substitute but it much hotter) 450g potatoes, peeled and cut into large chunks about 40mm across 225g pumpkin, peeled and cut into large chunks If using both the chickpeas and beans, drain and put the chickpeas to cook first with the salt pork, fresh pork, and water. Bring to a boil, skim, then simmer for 30 minutes. Then add the drained beans. Let all simmer for about 1 hour, then add the chard or green beans, and the chorizo and morcilla. In a mortar, crush the cloves and peppercorns with the garlic, salt, and paprika and add to the pan. When the meat and chickpeas are nearly tender, add the potatoes and pumpkin. Cook for another 30 minutes. Cut the pork and sausages into small pieces and serve in soup bowls.

Ibérico Pork Sirloin in Orange Sauce 2 Ibérico pork sirloins (substitute a pork tenderloin) 2 tbspn oil ½ cup Pedro Ximénez (white grape juice) Marinade 2 tbspn oil Juice of two oranges and the zest of one 2 tbspn soy sauce 2 tspn vinegar Pinch of cayenne pepper Marinade: Mix the ingredients together. Season the meat and marinate in this mixture for 12 hours in the refrigerator. Sirloins: When it is almost time to serve, remove the sirloins from the marinade and drain. Brown on both sides in the hot oil. Remove from pan, add marinade and reduce for 10 minutes over a hot flame. Add the Pedro Ximénez and bring to a boil, mixing in all the pan juices. Caramelized Onion: Slice the onion into rings and cook gently with the oil and sugar, until caramelized. Cut the pork into slices and serve with the Pedro Ximenez sauce and caramelized onion. Caramelized Onion 2 onions 2 tbsp sugar 2 tbsp oil

Vegetable Stew Bottled mixed vegetables make life easier when preparing vegetable stews or a common dish in Spain that is known as Russian salad. This is made by adding a mayonnaise to diced, cooked vegetables. The salad is served cold with green or black olives and strips of piquillo peppers. 2 large jars of mixed vegetables 5 tbspn olive oil 100g onions 150g Serrano Ham 2 tbspn flour 1 vegetable stock cube and sweet pimentón (Spanish paprika can be substituted with cayenne pepper which is much hotter) 2 hard-boiled eggs Drain the mixed vegetables. In a deep frying pan, heat the oil and add the very finely-chopped onion. When it has turned golden brown, add the diced ham and the flour. Fry lightly then add the vegetables together with a little water in which the stock cube has first been dissolved. Season with salt and sweet pimentón and leave to cook gently. Serve decorated with the hardboiled eggs in slices or quarters. Hazelnut Cream Soup 4¼ cups chicken stock 100g hazelnuts 3 leeks ½ onion 6 tbspn oil and pepper 4 tbspn single cream Chives and chopped hazelnuts for decoration Roast the hazelnuts and chop. Set aside 2 tbspn and crush the others to a powder. Wash the leeks and onion and stew slowly in the oil (5 minutes in the microwave on high). When soft, add the hazelnuts, fry lightly and cover with the stock. Cook for 10 minutes. Blend, then check for salt and add the cream. Serve in cups sprinkled with the chopped hazelnuts and chives.

Picadillo (Chopped Savoury) 1kg lean pork 110g cured ham 250g fat bacon 1 onion 1 tomato 1 clove garlic 1 hard-boiled egg 2 tbspn olive oil 1 tspn pimentón (Spanish paprika - substitute with cayenne pepper which is hotter) Cut the pork, bacon and ham into small dice and place in a frying pan. Sprinkle with the paprika and then the oil. Chop the garlic, onion and the peeled and seeded tomato, and add to the meat. Season, then add half a cup of water and cook, covered, over a gentle heat until the meat is tender. Garnish with chopped egg before serving. Patatas Aborregas (Shepherd s Potatoes) A hearty old fashioned side dish for beef or lamb. 3 or 4 large potatoes 3 tbspn chopped garlic 1 large onion 6 tbspn extra virgin olive oil 1 tspn bittersweet pimentón de la Vera (smoked Spanish paprika) 3 tbspn rosemary Peel and dice the potatoes. In an earthenware dish, fry the finely chopped onion and garlic with the rosemary in a little olive oil until golden. Add the potatoes and toss mixture in the oil. Add the pimentón and enough water to cover the ingredients. Simmer until the potatoes are cooked. Can be served with meats and covered in your favourite dressing.

Baked Leeks with Ibérico Ham Wafers 1500g large leeks 475ml milk 3 tbspn oil 55g flour, pepper and nutmeg 55g butter 55g cheese 140g Ibérico ham (or Jamón Serrano) thinly sliced Cut off the roots and the green part of the leeks. Cut the leeks downwards in a cross shape from the top, remove the outside leaves and wash in plenty of water to remove any soil from between the layers. Cut into regular pieces and cook in boiling salted water for 10 minutes. Drain. Heat the oil, add the flour and fry gently. Boil the milk and pour over, stirring all the time to make a smooth béchamel sauce. Season with salt, pepper and a little nutmeg. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring all the time. Remove from the heat and add half the butter. Arrange the leeks on an oven-proof dish, leaving spaces between them. Pour the béchamel over and top with the rest of the butter in small pieces and grated cheese. Brown under the grill then place the Iberico or Serrano ham wafers between the leeks so that the fat melts with the heat of the dish, bringing out the taste of the ham. Serve immediately. Green Pepper and Shrimp Omelette In this omelette the eggs should be set in the Spanish style to make a large round omelette rather than folded as for a French omelette. 250g shrimp Pepper ½ onion 2 cloves garlic 3 fine green peppers 6 tbspn oil 4 eggs Oil to grease the frying pan

Peel the shrimp and season with a little salt and pepper. Finely chop the onion, peel and chop the garlic cloves and wash and cut the peppers into thin strips. Heat the oil in a frying pan, fry the shrimp for one minute then remove. In the same oil, fry the garlic cloves. Before they brown, add the onion and the pepper and fry over a low heat for 15-20 minutes (or covered for five minutes in the microwave). When soft, add the shrimp and cook together for a few minutes. Beat the eggs in a bowl, season and mix with the peppers and shrimp. Grease a non-stick pan of the right size, heat it and pour in the egg mixture. Set the omelette over a low heat for 4-5 minutes on each side. It should be golden on both sides but not burnt. This omelette can be served either hot or cold. Instead of shrimp, you can use king prawns or common prawns. Punta de Solomillo (Beef Sirloin with Garlic and White Wine) 4 sirloin steaks 3 large cloves garlic 1 wine-glass of fino sherry Olive oil Cut the steaks into bite-sized pieces and marinate them in salt and a chopped clove of garlic. Peel the remaining garlic cloves and cut into slivers, then cook them gently until golden in the oil in a frying pan over a medium heat. Add the meat, turn up the heat, and fry for two minutes. When the pieces are almost done, add the wine and allow the liquid to reduce slightly. Serve hot.

Braised Chicken This chicken dish is served with rice cooked with green peppers and paprika. 1 chicken weighing about 1kg, in pieces Pepper 150g streaky bacon 3 tbspn oil ½ onion 1 tbspn flour 1 cup white wine Water or stock Short grained Spanish Rice 3 tbspn olive oil ½ onion 2 green peppers 1 tspn paprika 200g rice 475ml stock or water Pepper Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Brown in oil in an earthenware dish together with the diced bacon. Add the chopped onion and, before it browns, sprinkle with flour and brown lightly. Pour over the wine and cook over a gentle heat until reduced to half. Pour hot stock or water over the chicken until it is almost covered; cover the pan and leave to simmer for 45 minutes. Rice: Heat the oil in a pan and gently fry the chopped onion and peppers for about 15 minutes until soft. Add the paprika, making sure it does not burn, then add the rice and stir. Pour the water or stock over the rice and vegetables and cook for 10 minutes over a high heat, then turn the heat down and cook for a further 7 minutes. Check the seasoning and leave to stand uncovered for a few minutes. Serve the chicken in its sauce alongside the rice. The best peppers for this dish are long, narrow ones because they are softer and have very thin skin.

Fishermen s Fresh Tuna with Pimentón Adobo (Marinade/Sauce) Serves 6 2kg of fresh red or big-eye tuna, skinned, boned and cut into 50mm thick slices For the adobo: 4 cloves of garlic 1 tspn of cumin 2 wine glasses of good wine vinegar 2 cups extra virgin olive oil (or enough to cover the fish) 1 level tsp sweet or bittersweet pimentón 1 bay leaf Castilian-Style Rack of Beef with Baker s Potatoes Serves 6 3kg rack of beef ribs 2 cloves garlic ½ cup oil 205ml water Oil for greasing the dish, pepper Parsley Baker s Potatoes 700g potatoes 1 onion ½ cup oil Make the adobo: pound the garlic, cumin, vinegar, and salt and mix them with the oil in a large flameproof earthenware dish or pan in which the fish fits. Finally, add the pimentón and bay leaf. Heat very gently for 8-10 minutes. Remove and cool. Cover and chill until required. Crush the cloves of garlic with the parsley, salt and a little oil in the mortar. Brush some of this mixture over the meat and leave for half an hour. Transfer to a greased oven dish then place in the oven at 165 C. When hot, mix the water with the rest of the mortar mixture and brush the meat again. Brush several times during roasting until the meat is brown.

To prevent the meat juices from burning on the bottom of the pan, add a few spoonfuls of water as required. When the mortar mixture is finished, brush the meat with the pan juices. When cooked - after 2-3 hours - remove the meat from the pan and cut into individual ribs. Add a little water to the pan juices to make a sauce, and serve the hot ribs with baker s potatoes. Baker s Potatoes: Peel the potatoes, wash and cut into thin slices. Peel the onions and slice finely. Place the potatoes and onion together in an oven dish. Season, drizzle with oil then cover with foil and bake in the oven with the roast meat. After 45 minutes or when cooked, uncover to brown. Easy Paella with Chicken and Chorizo 2 cubes of fish bouillon 2 cubes of chicken bouillon ½ tsp of saffron 1 tspn of smoked Spanish paprika 5 cups of water ½ large onion, chopped ½ red bell pepper, chopped ½ tomato, chopped 225g of cooking chorizo, in 6mm slices ½ cup chopped parsley 4 tbspn chopped garlic 170 roasted piquillo peppers (substitute with roasted red peppers) 6 cloves of garlic, peeled 2 cups Spanish rice (short grain) 4 chicken thighs Extra virgin olive oil for cooking Pre-heat oven at 175 C degrees. Fill a saucepan with the water and place on medium high heat. Add all four bouillon cubes, the saffron and the paprika.

With a cleaver, chop the chicken into small pieces. the chicken and rub with a small amount of paprika. On medium high heat, brown the chicken and chorizo in olive oil in a 325cm Paella Pan, about 5-10 minutes. Remove to a platter. Add the onion, bell pepper, chopped garlic and parsley. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the rice to the pan with the vegetables, along with the tomato and piquillo peppers. Cook for another 5 minutes, until the rice starts to brown. Pour the broth into the paella pan. Stir until it boils. Add the chicken and chorizo pieces, burying them in the paella. Scatter the cloves of garlic around the top. Place in the oven for 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes. After 30 minutes, taste the rice to see whether it is done. You can leave a little broth in the paella, or cook until the broth is fully absorbed, to your taste. Andalusian Gazpacho 1kg ripe tomatoes, peeled 1 green bell pepper, cut into 8 pieces 2 garlic cloves, peeled 110g white bread crumbs, using day-old bread, with the crusts removed 150ml extra virgin olive oil 2 soup spoons of sherry vinegar 2 tspn salt Garnish 1 small onion, peeled and finely chopped 1 ripe but firm tomato, peeled and finely chopped 55g green pepper, finely chopped 55g cucumber, peeled and finely chopped 1 diced boiled egg 110g day-old bread, diced Soak the bread crumbs in water. Squeeze off any excess water until the bread has a spongy texture. Pound the garlic with the salt in the mortar and liquefy it with a little water. If you are making it by hand, continue using a round

bowl. If you are using a blender, tip the garlic mixture in, add the other ingredients and patiently blend them together. Add the oil slowly so that it emulsifies and the mixture thickens and becomes creamy. Check the seasoning and add more salt or vinegar if needed. Pour the mixture into a serving bowl or pitcher. Cover it and leave it in the fridge. Just before serving, add ice-cold water until you obtain the desired consistency. Place the gazpacho in the centre of the table with the garnishes in individual small bowls around it. Asturian Bean Stew Serves 8 1kg butter beans (or fabada beans) 4 smoked chorizos (pork sausages) 4 smoked blood sausages (morcilla) 350g shoulder of pork 200g salt pork 100g Jamón Serrano on the bone 1 salted pork ear or tail tell me what it s like 1 medium onion with 3 cloves stuck in it 2 cloves garlic Soak the beans in cold water to cover well for at least 10 hours (preferably overnight). Singe the skin of the salted meats to remove any bristles. Soak the meats in warm water. Place the beans, garlic, and onion in a large pan and cover fully with water. Bring to a boil. Remove the froth. Add the other ingredients and leave to simmer for 1 to 2 hours, depending on the tenderness of the beans. The stew will be ready when the beans are soft to the

tongue. During cooking, the pot should be shaken occasionally by its handles, never using a spoon, which might break the beans. Remove the froth occasionally and check that the beans are always covered with liquid. Add small amounts of water if necessary (always cold water). When the dish is cooked, add salt if necessary. Let rest for a few minutes. Remove the meats and cut into 2.5cm pieces. Arrange on a dish and serve at the same time as the stewed beans in a soup tureen. Purrusalda (Leek and Potato Hotpot) 150g salt cod (Baccalà) 650g leeks ½ cup oil 2 cloves garlic 1kg potatoes Pepper Parsley Soak the cod in cold water for 24 hours, changing the water every eight hours. Drain and place in a pan. Cover with cold water and bring to a boil. Remove the pan from the heat and cover. When no longer hot, lift out the cod (keeping the cooking water), remove any bones and cut into cubes. Remove the green leaves from the leeks, wash well and cut into evensized pieces. Fry the peeled garlic cloves until golden. Add the leeks and fry lightly, then add the peeled and washed potatoes in medium-sized pieces. Add the cod and cover everything with the water used to cook the cod. Simmer for 35 minutes. Add salt and pepper if necessary and serve very hot, sprinkled with chopped parsley.

Paella a la Valenciana Serves 6-8 6 cups of very strong chicken broth (bouillon) ½ tspn of saffron ¼ tspn of smoked Spanish paprika (Pimentón de la Vera) 1 small onion, peeled 2 small chickens, about 1kg each ½ cup olive oil 110g of cooking chorizo, in 6mm slices 110g piece jamón serrano ham, diced 1 medium onion, chopped 4 scallions, chopped 4 tbspn chopped garlic 2 roasted piquillo peppers 450g small or medium shrimp, shelled 2 (Optional) live lobsters, boiled, split and divided into tail sections and claws(discard or keep the head and small claws); or 4 (Optional) Lobster tails, split lengthwise; 8 (Optional) King crab claws; or 8 jumbo shrimp, in their shells, preferably heads on 3 cups short grain Spanish rice 5 tbspn chopped parsley 2 bay leaves, crumbled ½ cup dry white wine 110g fresh or frozen peas 18 clams and/or mussels, scrubbed Lemon wedges for garnish Parsley for garnish Heat the broth with the saffron, pimentón and the whole onion. Cover and simmer 15 minutes. Remove the onion and measure the broth - you need exactly 5½ cups. Cut the chickens into small serving pieces - the whole breast in 4 parts, each thigh into two parts, the bony tip of the leg chopped off, the wing tip discarded, and the rest of the wing separated into two parts. Dry the pieces well and sprinkle with salt. In a metal Paella Pan, with about a 375mm base, heat the oil. Add the chicken pieces and fry over high heat until golden. Remove to a warm platter. Add the chorizo, and jamón to the pan and stir fry about 10 minutes. Add the chopped onion, scallions, garlic, and pimentos and sauté until the onion is wilted. Add the shrimp and the lobster and sauté about 3 minutes more, or until the shrimp and lobster barely turn pink (the lobster will cook more in the oven.) Remove the shrimp

and lobster to the platter with the chicken. Add the rice to the pan and stir to coat it well with the oil. Sprinkle in the 5 tablespoons of chopped parsley and the crumbled bay leaves. (You can make in advance up to this point.) Stir in the chicken broth, boiling hot, the wine, rice, and peas. to taste. Bring to a boil and cook uncovered, stirring occasionally, over medium high heat about 10 minutes. Bury the shrimp and the chicken in the rice. Add the clams and the mussels, pushing them into the rice, with the edge that will open facing up. Decorate the paella with the lobster pieces, then bake at 165 C, uncovered, for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and let sit on top of the stove, lightly covered with foil, for about 10 minutes. To serve, decorate with lemon wedges and chopped parsley. Lobster can be a little expensive, so replace it with a comparable amount of shrimp if you wish.

Sopa fria de melocotón de Calanda (Cold Calanda Peach Soup) If Calanda peaches are unavailable, substitute a sweet fleshy variety. 1kg fresh Calanda peaches 1 leek ½ onion 3¼ cups poultry stock ½ cup single cream 3 tbspn oil About 2 tbspn butter Pepper Nutmeg Cinnamon 3 cloves a little grated nutmeg, a pinch of cinnamon and the cloves stuck into a piece of onion (this makes it easier to remove them later). Cover and simmer for 10 minutes or until the peaches are soft. Remove the onion with the cloves, blend the soup, add the cream and bring to a boil. Check the seasoning, add the butter and leave to cool. At the last minute, sprinkle with mint and serve with peaches and ham. Garnish: Blanch and peel the peaches. Cut into thin slices. Cut the Iberico ham into strips. Garnish 2 peaches 150g Ibérico ham Fresh mint Chop the onion and the white part of the leek and sauté gently in the hot oil in a saucepan. Wash the peaches, cut in half and remove the pits. Cut into pieces, add to the onion and leek mixture, and fry gently together. Cover with the stock, season with salt, pepper

Santander Stew 300g dried white beans 1 fresh knuckle of pork 60g pork fat 1 offcut of ham, or pig s ear, or sparerib 120g shank of beef 1 onion 2 cloves garlic 1 small cabbage 5 tspn sugar 1 chorizo 1 onion-flavoured blood sausage 1 potato 1 rice-flavoured blood sausage 3 tbspn oil 1 tspn sweet paprika Soak the beans in warm water with a pinch of salt for 12 hours. Drain then place in a large pan and cover with cold water. Add the knuckle of pork, the pork fat, the offcut of ham, the ear or the sparerib (all washed), the shank of beef, onion, and one garlic clove. Bring to a boil, skim and lower the heat. Wash the cabbage, slice finely and cook in boiling salted water with the sugar. Drain and add to the beans. When the beans have been cooking for 2 hours, season and add the chorizo, the onionflavoured blood sausage and the peeled potato in pieces. Fry the other garlic clove in the oil. Remove from the heat, add the paprika and pour over the stew. Continue to simmer. Just before the end, add the rice-flavoured blood sausage and check the seasoning. Unlike chickpeas, with dried white beans if water has to be added, it should be cold.