Spanish Food: Recipes from Spain
Spain is known for its diverse culture and this reflects in their food as well. Spanish food consists of a variety of mouth-watering food items, which lay emphasis on seafood. There are many typical dishes that form a part of Spanish cuisine. Potato dishes, food items that include beans, different types of stews and dishes that include bread are all a common feature out here. The food also varies as per region. Well, you don't really have to travel all the way to Spain for a taste of different types of Spanish cuisine! These recipes are bound to let you have the real taste of Spain in your own home!
Some Popular Recipes from Spain
Baked Fish
Ingredients
White fish fillets - Cod/haddock, etc (4 x 175g)
Olive oil
Bay leaves (2)
Dry white wine (8 table spoons)
Lemon Juice (1/2 lemon)
Green pepper - chopped (1)
Onion - finely chopped (1)
Clove of garlic - crushed (1)
Tomato peeled, seeded and chopped (1)
Salt
Ground black pepper
Preparation
For this recipe, you would need 4 pieces of foil, 12 X 12 inches in size. Brush each foil piece with some olive oil. Then place a piece of fish on each square. Add the following ingredients together- garlic, onion, green pepper and tomato. Place this carefully on top of the fish pieces. You would now need to place portion of the bay leaf over this. Now, add around 2 tablespoons of white wine and lemon juice over this bay leaf. Use some quantity of salt and pepper as seasoning and fold the foil edges.
These little foil packets should now be placed on a baking tray. Cook them in a preheated oven at 190 degrees C. An advisable tip over here would be to keep a check on one packet of fish after 20 minutes. You would thus be able to note when the fish is cooked just right! Once baked well, serve this preparation with some boiled potatoes!
Ajoblanco
Ingredients
Raw almonds - peeled (9 oz)
Ice-cold water
Coarse salt
Garlic cloves - peeled (2)
Sherry vinegar (1 tbsp)
Bread crumbs (4 oz)
Extra virgin olive oil (5 fl oz)
Muscatel grapes - peeled and seeded (9 oz)
Preparation
First, you need to soak the breadcrumbs in water. Then, you need to pound the garlic cloves along with the salt. Now, add the breadcrumbs to this but ensure there's no amount of excess water in the breadcrumbs. You can use either the mortar or even a blender. Then add the almonds to this so that it turns into a fine paste. Also add some amount of oil. Once you add the oil, you can also add some vinegar and keep blending this preparation till it becomes the right consistency. Once the paste turns a little spongy, you can add some ice-cold water to this preparation.
This preparation now needs to be chilled in the refrigerator. Before you serve this dish, you need to remember the following tips! Take a quick bite to check the seasoning and add some salt or vinegar if required. Once you feel the seasoning is right, serve it some muscatel grapes that can be used as garnish.
Stuffed Tomato (Tapas)
This recipe is great as an added accompaniment with other dishes. Tapas refer to a kind of an appetizer, which holds a lot of importance in Spanish food. If one checks out recipes from Spain, one would come across a variety of ways to prepare tapas. These are popular in other areas of the world as well.
Ingredients
Tomatoes (3 - large)
Hard-boiled eggs - cooled and peeled (4)
Parsley - chopped
Mayonnaise (6 tablespoons)
Salt and pepper to taste
White breadcrumbs (1 tablespoon)
Preparation
You would need to firstly skin the tomatoes and cut them up (cut out the core). Then place these pieces on a pan that contains boiling water, for only 10 seconds. Then, immediately transfer this into a bowl of icy cold water.
Now, slice the top of the tomatoes and remove the round portions at the bottom so that they can be placed properly on their base and ensure you remove the seeds of the tomatoes. Your next step would be to mash the eggs with the mayonnaise. Add some salt and pepper along with some parsley. Then, stuff the tomatoes with this and press firmly while filling the same. Use a slight quantity of olive oil and black pepper over these tomatoes, so that they do not dry out completely. Cover these tomatoes with some cling film and then refrigerate for an hour. Once it chills, cut these tomatoes onto rings and use some chopped parsley as garnish while serving!
