painterhombre

I have never been happy with any spanish dish that ive made, even the simplest potato dish.

Please get your gourmet heads on. I am well up for any advice.

Casa Santo Estevo

We cook Spanish meals all the time..but are you a good cook as Spanish meals usually have simple recipes...there is no tricks to the Spanish kitchen
If you do a search there are plenty of recipes on line..or when you are here purchase a book or two, But that depends on your level of Spanish.

Nige

One of the best recipes for these hot days is the drink REBUJITO. You need a tall glass and some ice, plus a bottle of dry fino or manzanilla plus a bottle of soda or lemonade like Sprite. First fill the tall glass with about 2/3rds ice. Then pour in about 1/3rd to a half Sherry then top it up with soda. You can add some lemon as well. You could experiment in the mix. I like it half and half with freshly squeezed lemon juice.

painterhombre

All my failures have come from the real spanish cooking books,some written in spanish. Luckily I dont have the spanish speaking problem.

I only use a tiny amount of cloves cos that overpowers, garlic can sometimes be too large, I usually roast them on the hob first, which is good.

But all my cooking tastes awful compared to what spanish people cook.

Abit self critical probably but it just hasent got"it".

marisol

you can try to make "gazpacho" its very easy and very good with this weather. You just have to put into a mixer tomatoes, cucumber, green pepper (this only if you like it) onions, soaked bread, garlic, salt, olive oil and vinegar. Some people add also cumin seed. Once all is triturated, strain the juice and put into the refrigerator. As much cold it is the better it tastes, its very easy

painterhombre

A decent gazpacho is lovely.ummmm can imagine it now with some pan rustica.

This will be on my list of things to make.

What about paella anyone. I think its difficult to find a real authentic one sometimes - I guess it depends where you go - forget the tourist ones.

My favourite ever was in Malvarrosa,in Valencia. Perfecto every time, but I have to admit that the chickeny pieces, well maybe they were rabbit, I know they love their conejo, but I kept it as chicken cos it was so tasty.

Never, ever have I had another decent one. In fact some have been awful.

Ihave more or less given up on making them, in fact clearing out the garage I found my old paellera - rusty.
When we go I want to rekindle my paella making. Quite a cheap commodity to make also I should think. After all, they are historical, probably for this fact in Spain anyway.

lynnxa

I've not yet made a really good paella

english guests have enjoyed them - but they not as good as the real thing

my pan has gone rusty too - I'm told by spanish friends that one of those black ones with white speckles is the way to go - so must get one

jo-ann

There is a wonderful book which is the spanish ladies equivalent of 'Mrs Beeton' and it has been translated into English, you can get it on Amazon, I think its called 1080 spanish recipes and its by someone called Ortega

Carol&John

Do you crush your garlic with the flat of your blade before you dice it?
Do you burn your onions/garlic when you fry, instead of sweating them?
(Ouch! Sounds painful, doesn't it?)

Fred James

There are as many recipes for Paellas as there are Spaniards!

The "traditional" one from Valencia used rabbit, snails and green "garrafon" beans.

What most people have tasted are the more "touristy" Paella Mixtas with meat and seafood combined.

I have been cooking Paellas for 10 years in Spain and this is the recipe I have developed. Give it a try. I have cooked it for 60 people in one sitting and they all loved it.



Paella for 10 (or 20 starters)

40g garlic
300g red pepper
150g green pepper
325g onion
125g peas
625g tomatoes (500g after seeding)
400g swordfish or Tuna
800g small calamari
500g prawns
100g clams
24 mussels
24 pieces of chicken (750g)
250ml olive oil + oil for frying chicken
1½ tsp paprika dulce
70 pepper
2 htsp colour
6 fish stock cubes (Knorr)
10g salt
2 pack saffron (the little envelopes)
1000g rice
1900ml water


The quantities make a volume of 6 litres and are OK for about 20 small helpings as a starter. 10 as a main course. You will need a 50cm Paelleria.

METHOD
Crush and chop the garlic. Slice the peppers into ribbons about 5mm wide and 7 to 8cm long. Chop the onion into 2 cm pieces. Peel the tomatoes and de-seed. Chop into 2cm pieces.

Trim the swordfish and cut into bite sized pieces. You can use any boneless firm fish. Hake fillets are OK. Clean the squid and slice into 2cm rings. Leave the tentacles whole. Frozen squid is more tender.

Chop the chicken into bite sized pieces and fry in olive oil for 4 minutes until brown and crisp on the outside. This can be done well in advance. If you want to be really authentic, use rabbit.

Wash the rice in cold water to remove the starch. Handle it gently as it can easily break up into small bits. Drain and leave until almost dry. You must use the correct rice. Long grain rice is no good. You need the rounder rice – preferably Spanish rice from Valencia. The best is Bomba rice. Expensive but good. Mercadona sell it.

Dissolve the stock cubes in the boiling water. Add the saffron and allow to soak for a few minutes.

Measure out the spices into a small dish.

Add the oil to the pan and heat over the gas. Add the onion and cook for about a minute. Add the garlic and stir well making sure that the garlic does not burn. Add the spices and stir well. Add the fish, vegetables and chicken. Stir well until the spices are well mixed into the mixture. Add the rice and again stir well until it is all yellow. Reheat the stock to boiling and pour into the pan. Stir well to make sure the rice is evenly distributed. Add the clams and mussels and finally lay the prawns on top. When it is boiling fast start the timer for 18 minutes and cover the pan. Keep a careful eye on the progress. It is important that it boils reasonably fast but not so fast that it burns although the real experts try to get a slight crust on the bottom.

DO NOT STIR IT. By the time 18 minutes is nearly up there should only be a little liquid visible. If it looks a little wet then give it an extra 2 or 3 minutes. Turn off the heat and leave to stand for 5 to 10 minutes – this should allow any remaining liquid to be absorbed. Garnish with lemon wedges around the outside of the pan.

The only measurements that are critical are the oil, water and rice and seasoning. You can vary the rest to taste. If you feel generous then increase the expensive bits!

You can use any size of clams – just use fewer big ones. If you want to, you can pre cook the clams and mussels and put them into the pan on the half shell.

For larger or smaller quantities just use the recipe pro-rata in an appropriately sized pan.

Fred James

One excellent book in English is by Janet Mendel.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Cooking-Spai...6733227&sr=8-1

painterhombre

It sounds fantastic and I shall certainly be taking a note of that.

Would you have any without the fish/shellfish. Or should I just use meat totally in the same recipe.

Husband not a great fish fan but i love los mariscos

marisol

ummmmmm, Fred James. why dont you come to Costa Esuri some time? i love paellas

Fred James

If you don't like the fish, leave it out and use the same amount of meat. Just change the stock cubes to Chicken or Beef depending on what meat you use.

Paella is just good rice cooked in a good stock with bits in - the bits are up to you. You could make a really nice veggie one.

The most important thing is to use a good stock and there is nothing wrong with using good stock cubes.

You would not cook a Risotto by adding plain water so don't do that with a Paella.

fionamw

Further to gazpacho, I'd like to put in a good word for porra..... yum yum slobber ....
not least because it uses up copious amounts of breadcrumbs & the bread goes stale/dry so very quickly I've always got plenty of them in the freezer!