Spanish Recipes

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Classic Spanish recipes for soups, starters, main courses and desserts

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SPAIN

Living is Spain certainly has its advantages when collecting recipes.  We have collected hundreds of recipes from locals in the towns and villages surrounding us, the bars and resturants in the local towns and from the depths of our databases.  The local people are only too pleased to give you recipes for their food.  They love you to take an interest and find out how the recipes evolved and from which culture they originated.  The Moors and Arabs had a great influence on Spanish cuisine and that comes across quite strongly when you look at the use of almonds, oranges, garlic and olives in the preperations.  On this page we provide you with some of our favourite dishes that we have tasted and watched being prepared over the last ten years.  On linked pages are some of the more rural and rustic recipes - still excellent dishes but far too many to present in the way we have presented this collection.

Learn how to make genuine Galician Empanadas
Cooking behind monastery walls
Spanish Cheese - Mahon
Spanish Truffles and a recipe using Hake
Alioli and Tomato Bread
Home-made Spanish Desserts

Paella

This has to be the most well known of all traditional Spanish dishes.  The word paella actually means the dish in which the food is cooked.  There are so many variations of this dish that we just don't have room for them all.  The Valencian version includes caracoles - snails.  We prefer a more straightforward mixture of meat and seafood.  This is a typical recipe for a 'standard' paella.

• 10 chicken wings
• 500g clams
• 2 teaspoons coarse cooking salt
• 500g uncooked prawns
• 500g uncooked small mussels
• 1 teaspoon saffron threads
• 1 1/2 cups dry white wine
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 chorizo sausages, sliced
• 1 large red onion, chopped
• 3 cups calrose rice
• 1 large red pepper, chopped
• 4 medium tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped
• 1.125 litres chicken stock
• 400g green beans
• 500g scallops
• 1 cup frozen peas
• 250g butter beans (optional)

Remove and discard wing tips from the chicken.  separate first and second joints.  Rinse clams under cold water; soak 1 1/2 hours.  Discard water, rinse and drain clams.  Shell and devein prawns, leaving the tails intact.  Scrub the mussels and remove the beards.  Combine saffron and wine in a glass jug; stand for 30 minutes.  Heat oil in a large pan, add chicken, cook until browned and tender; remove from the pan.  Add sausage to the same pan, cook, stirring, until browned; drain on absorbent paper.  Add onion to the same pan, cook, stirring until soft.  Add the saffron mixture, rice and pepper, cook, stirring until wine is absorbed.  Add tomato and about 1 cup of stock.  cook, stirring, until stock is absorbed.  Add remaining stock, stirring until mixture boils and rice is almost tender.  Place clams, prawns, mussels, sausage and beans over rice mixture, simmer, covered for 5 minutes.  Add chicken,scollops and peas, cook covered, about 10 minutes or until scallops are just cooked through.  Stand covered, for another 5 minutes before serving.

Spanish Food: How To Make The Perfect Paella

Looking for a traditional Spanish recipe? Without doubt, thebest-known is going to be the prodigious paella ... that tasty,adaptable, gregarious dish famed throughout Spain and the World.

And, what an impressive choice of recipes exist for a pleasurablepaella: seafood, chicken, rabbit ... or a mixture of all three! Perhaps you are non-meat eating ... well, just opt for one of the several vegetarian paella recipes. Bit of a health fanatic? Then substitute white rice for whole-grain rice or wild rice.

Got a large family and not much money to feed them on? Use plenty of rice and imagination along with a tasty stock, plus whatever you can find in the cupboard! I have certainly enjoyed many paellas where there have been more bones/shells than meat/seafood! And, very tasty they have been too, the richness of the company more than compensating for any paucity in the ingrediants.

So ... how do you go about making the perfect paella? First of all, you need to choose your rice. The short-grained rice from Valencia - where most Spanish rice originates - is fine for making paellas. However, the "bomba" rice grown in the neighboring region of Murcia, is the "king" of paella rice: again, short-grained, it has the ability to absorb the stock whilst remaining firm.

Another "must" is to use saffron ("azafrán") to create the gentle, yellow color for which this delectable dish is renowned. Yes, it is possible to buy cheaper, artificial colorings but ... go for the traditional - it will bestow a wonderful aroma and unique flavor.

Many Spaniards swear a perfect paella can only be achieved when using a tasty, home-made stock. Whatever you decide, allow at least double the amount of liquid to rice. If, during cooking, the dish becomes a little dry, just add a dash more water or stock.

Another tip I have been told, on more than one occasion, is to gently fry the rice for a few minutes before adding the stock, ensuring that it is well-coated in oil. I think all Spaniards would agree that, once cooked, it is best to leave your paella to stand for a good five minutes before serving.

Perhaps the most important ingredient for making that perfect paella, is to use lashings and lashings of love whilst preparing it - for surely, that is something we can all afford - and to enjoy to the full the marvellous company of those who will share it with you.

I shall now have to choose a paella recipe to offer you as an example! I think I will opt for a seafood paella, typical of the region of Valencia, where I live. The ingrediants are for a hearty four servings. If you are not a hefty eater, or on a diet, then reduce the amount of rice/stock slightly.

Paella Valenciana - Paella From Valencia

Ingredients:

- 4 cups rice. - 8 cups fish stock. - 8 king-sized prawns/langoustines. - 8 mussels. - 200 gr shrimps. - 200 gr peas (fresh or frozen). - 2 tomatoes, skinned and chopped. - 2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced. - 3 strands saffron, crumbled. - Olive oil for frying.

Method:

1. Sauté garlic in a paella-type pan.

2. Add tomatoes, peas, shrimps and saffron.

3. Cook for a few minutes.

4. Add rice and stock.

5. Simmer for approximately 20 minutes.

6. Decorate with prawns and mussels.

7. Cover paella with a lid.

8. Poach the seafood for a few minutes.

9. Decorate paella with lemon quarters.

10. Enjoy!

Seafood Casserole

• 1kg small mussels
• 1kg uncooked prawns
• 500g calamari hooda
• 500g uncooked lobster tail
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 medium leek, sliced
• 4 cloves garlick, crushed
• 425 can tomatoes
• 3/4 cup dry white wine
• 1/4 cup of sweet sherry
• 2 cups fish stock
• pinch of saffron threads
• 2 medium carrots, chopped
• 1/3 cup of chopped freh flat-leaf parsley
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme
• 350g scallops

Scrub the mussels, remove beards. Shell and deveign the prawns, leaving tails intact.  Cut calamari open, score shallow diagonal pattern on inside surface, cut into 6cm pieces.  Shell lobster tail, cut lobster meat into 5cm pieces.  Heat oil in large pan, add leek and garlic; cook, stirring, until leek is soft.  Add undrained crushed tomato, wine, sherry, stock, saffron, carrot and herbs; simmer, covered, 30 minutes.  Add mussels; simmer, covered, 2 minutes.  add prawns, calamari and lobster pieces; simmer, covered about 2 minutes.  Add the scallops; simmer uncovered, about 2 minujtes or until seafood is just cooked.  Discard any unopened mussels.

Chicken with Almond Sauce

• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/2 cup orange juice
• 3 cloves of garlic, crushed
• 6 single chicken breast fillets
• 1 tablespoon olive oil, extra
• 1 medium fellel bulb, sliced
• 1 bunch spring onions, halved

Almond sauce

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/4 cup stale breadcrumbs
• 3/4 cup ground almonds
• pinch ground cloves
• 1 cup chicken stock
• 2 tablespoons dry white wine
• 1/4 cup thickened cream

Combine the oil, juice, garlic and chicken in a medium bowl; cover, refrigerate for 3 hours or overnight.  Heat extra oil in a large pan, add fennel and onion; cook, stirring, until onion is soft and slightly browned.  Remove from the heat, cover to keep warm.  Add drained chicken to heated greased griddle pan (or grill on the barbecue); cook in batches, until browned both sides and just cooked.  Serve chicken with fennel mixture and almond sauce.

Almond sauce:  Heat oil in a pan, add breadcrumbs, cook,stirring, until lightly browned.  Add almonds and cloves; cook, stirring, until lightly browned.  Gradually add combined stock and wine, stir over heat until mixture is smooth; bring to the boil.  Remove from the heat and stir in the cream.

Asturian-style Lamb & Vegetables

• 2kg leg of lamb, butterflies
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh mint
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 4 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
• 1 teaspoon ground sweet paprika
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1/2 teasppon cracked black peppaer
• 550f baby new potatoes, halved
• 1 medium red onion, sliced
• 1 medium leek, sliced
• 60g butter

Pound the lamb with a meat mallet until an even thickness all over. Combine lamb with herbs, oil, garlic, vinegar, paprika, sugar and pepper in a large bowl; cover, refrigerate for about 3 hours or overnight.  Place potato, onion and leek in a large baking dish; drizzle with butter.  Bake in moderately hot oven about 20 minutes or until potato is slightly tender.  Remove lamb from marinade; place, skin side up, over vegetables in the dish.  Bake in moderately hot oven for about 40 minutes or until lamb is tender.  Remove lamb, onion and leek from the baking dish, cover to keep warm.  Drain away excess pan juices then bake potato in very hot oven about ten minutes or until crisp.  Slice lamb and serve with vegetables.

Spanish Potato Omelette (Tortilla)

1. 5 large potatoes
2. 1 medium onion, thinly sliced
3. olive oil for shallow frying
4. 8 eggs, lightly beaten
5. 1 teaspoon ground sweet paprika
6. 1/4 cup olive oil, extra

Peel and cut potato into very thin slices, pat dry with absorbent paper.  Shallow fry potato and onion in hot oil, in batches, until just soft, but not browned.  Transfer potato and onion to a strainer and cool.  Place strained potato and onion in a large bowl, add combined egg and paprika, stand for 5 minutes.  Heat extra oil in 26cm non-stick pan.  Pour in potato mixture, press down firmly.  Cook, uncovered, over low heat, about 15 minutes or until potato is soft and the base of the omelette is browned.  Carefully invert the potato omelette onto a large plate; slide back into the same pan.  Cook uncovered, over a low heat for about 10 minutes or until the base is browned and omelette is set.  Stand for 10 minutes before cutting into wedges.

Lamb and Chorizo Empanadillas

• 2 cups plain flour
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice
• 2/3 cup milk
• 1 egg, lightly beaten

filling

• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 1 small onion, finally chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic, crushed
• 150g minced lamb
• 1/2 chorizo sausage finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 2 tablespoons dry red wine
• 1 tablespoon seeded black olives
• 1/4 cup chicken stock

Sift the flour into a large bowl; add juice and oil and just enough milk to make a soft dough.

Knead dough on floured surface until smooth.  Cover with plastic wrap, stand 10 minutes.  Divide dough in half; roll each half between sheets of baking or greaseproof paper until 2mm thick; cut each into 12x8.5cm rounds.  Place a rounded teaspoon of filling in the centre of each round; fold over and pinch the edges firmly together to seal.  Place empanadillas on greased oven trays, brush with egg.  Bake in a moderately hot oven for about 15 minutes or until browned.

Filling:  Heat oil in a medium pan, cook the onion and garlic, stirring, until onion is soft.  Add the lamb, cook, stirring, until well browned.  Add the remaining ingredients, simmer, uncovered, about 5 minutes or until thickened slightly; cool

Spanish Food - How To Make Spicy Gazpacho Soup.

Home-made soups are so good for you - all that nourishing stock and chock-a-block full of vitamins and minerals.

But ... who on earth could face boiling bones for hours on end during the scorching Spanish summer weather, not to mention preparing the soup once the stock is made? I don´t think it would tickle anybody´s fancy to then have to tuck into a piping-hot soup!

For this reason, the Spanish came up with their wonderful, ice-cold soup - gazpacho - beautifully colorful, packed with goodness, cheap and simple to prepare, no cooking and ... most important of all, an absolute delight to drink.

Traditional gazpacho originates from romantic Andalucia - that large, exotic southerly region of Spain which is home to such extensive Arabic influence.

The chilled, raw soup was originally made by pounding bread and garlic with tomatoes, cucumber and peppers but, nowadays, your electric blender renders this effortless! Olive oil endows it with a smooth, creamy consistency and vinegar adds a refreshing tang - just what you need when life gets too hot to handle!

The spicy soup should be served in true Spanish style with small bowls of accompaniments - finely chopped peppers, cucumber, onion ... even hard-boiled eggs and croutons, if you feel up to it! Guests will then sprinkle what appeals to them on the soup.

Traditional gazpacho is tomato-based, with most Spanish families having developed their own, unique recipes. However, nowadays, you will also find gazpacho recipes that have nothing to do with tomatoes - white, almond-based gazpachos, fruit-based gazpachos, etc.

Do you suffer from insomnia? Could be that drinking gazpacho is the answer, for in Pedro Almodovar´s 1987 film "Mujeres Al Borde De Un Ataque De Nervios", various characters help themselves to the soup and promptly fall asleep!

However, don´t fall asleep just yet as you haven´t read over the recipe!

Ingrediants for 4 servings:

- 4 ripe tomatoes - 1 onion - ½ red pepper - ½ green pepper - ½ cucumber - 3 cloves garlic - 50 g bread - 3 dessertspoons vinegar - 8 dessertspoons olive oil - Water - Salt/pepper - ¼ chilli pepper (optional)

Garnishings:

- 2 hard-boiled eggs - ½ finely chopped onion - ½ finely chopped red pepper - ½ finely chopped green pepper - ½ finely chopped cucumber

Method:

1. Break up bread and soak in water for 30 minutes.

2. Skin tomatoes, remove seeds and stalks from peppers.

3. Peel cucumber, onion and garlic.

4. Chop onion, garlic, tomatoes, peppers and cucumber.

5. Place in electric blender.

6. Squeeze out excess water from bread and add to blender.

7. Add oil and vinegar.

8. Blend well.

9. If necessary, add sufficient water for soup-like consistency.

10. Pour into a bowl with ice cubes.

11. Fridge for a couple of hours.

12. Serve in bowls, with garnishings in separate dishes.

Gazpacho is best enjoyed sitting in the shade, looking out onto an azure sea, blue sky and golden sun and sands!

MIGAS

“To encounter the culinary art of the stone age, it is only necessary to visit the Spanish mountain shepherds,” noted Count von Keyserling, the traveling philosopher, at the beginning of the 20th century. Simple dishes made from grain, and sometimes enriched with a little fat and meat, have been around for thousands of years, and even the first Iberian inhabitants of Spain are known to have prepared a cooked dish made from stale bread.

Migas in the exact sense of the word are actually only breadcrumbs. Shepherds and muleteers ate “ur”—migas on their travels throughout the land. Old bread was broken into small pieces, fried in sheep drippings or lard, and perhaps a little garlic, ground paprika, or a few herbs added.

On good days, there would also be a piece of spicy sausage, ham, or bacon. At sunrise, the men sat around the fire with a plate of migas, and it was undoubtedly the shepherds who gave the morning star its colloquial name of lucero miguero (breadcrumb star) after their first meal of the day.

A large number of migas variations on this basic shepherd’s meal evolved throughout Spain, and they are still devoured today by hunters in the early morning mist or on rainy fall days. Traditionalists insist that the bread used for migas should be at least four days old and as dry as a bone. Because of the hardness of the crust and the amount of strength required to cut it upinto small pieces, this job is usually left to the men.

In Aragon the traditional shepherds’ migas (migas de pastor) are usually served with chorizo and grapes. As well as bacon, the migas extremeñas of southwest Spain are always served with hot red paprika, either as a vegetable or a ground powder. For migas canas the breadcrumbs are first softened in milk and then fried, either with garlic or sugar. Migas de matanza (butcher’s migas) are fried in pork fat, and pork belly and spicy sausage added. A tomato sauce is also a popular accompaniment to these fried breadcrumbs (migas con salsa de tomate), and those with a really a sweet tooth choose migas negras (also known as migas de mulata), which are made with milk, sugar, and melted chocolate.

Traditionally, migas are eaten from a hortera, a deep, coarse wooden plate whose name has also come to mean a narrow-minded, uncultivated person. Nonetheless, this “poor man’s food” is also frequently found on middle-class tables, and in fact migas are often served on special occasions, such as a name-day or on religious fiestas.

MIGAS DE PASTOR - Migas shepherd style

Dice the bread the day before you want to use it. Place it in a bowl and sprinkle over some slightly salted water; do not let it get too wet. Mix well and leave overnight. Heat the lard or oil in a cast-iron skillet and fry the bacon. Add the garlic and fry until golden. Add the soaked bread to the skillet and, turning with a wooden spoon, fry until golden. Shepherd’s migas are often served with white grapes, chorizo or other spicy sausage, and/or fried eggs.

MIGAS A LA EXTREMENA - Migas Extremadura style

Dice the bread the day before you want to use it. Place in a bowl and sprinkle over the milk. Leave overnight to absorb. Heat the lard or oil in a cast-iron skillet and fry the bacon. Add the sausage and sliced bell pepper and fry Add the garlic and bread, and, stirring frequently, cook until golden. Season with salt and paprika, and serve while still very hot.

MIGAS CANAS - Sweet migas

Cut the bread into small dice. Place in a bowl, and sprinkle over the milk. Leave to absorb. Heat the oil in a cast-iron skillet. Fry the bread until golden brown, stirring frequently. Dust with sugar and cinnamon before serving.

Many more Spanish Recipes to come - please be patient with us