Typical Spanish recipes.

~Paella. Ingredients.Paella ingredients:For 6 - 8 people1-2 large onions1 head of garlic2 large peppers (I use a green one & a red one)Plenty olive oil (not extra virgin)1 chicken stock cube (use a fish one if you prefer)1 chicken chopped up into small pieces (could use chicken breasts)250g small prawns250g baby clams or clams250g calamares in ringsMussels - 1 or 2 per personLarge prawns - 1 or 2 per personFood colouringRice (short or long grain)1 bag of frozen peasTin of pickled red peppersLemons

~Paella. Preparation.1) Take a large, deep saucepan and cover the bottom with the olive oil ...

no worries about quantity as you can't go wrong. Add the chopped chicken and stir until you hear that the frying has started. Now throw in the

chopped onion, pepper and garlic and fry away gently until everything is cooked. Lots of juices come out of the chicken during this stage leaving you

with a pan full of delicious contents and a great smelling kitchen. Put this pan aside now as you won't need it until we get to using the paella pan in

the final stage.2) This is the messy part of the preparation which you can begin while your pot of chicken is cooking away. You'll need to take the heads and shells off

all the small prawns and keep all the heads and shells. Put the peeled prawns to one side along with the calamari rings which should be halved.

Also wash the mussels and clams. The next stage is crucial ....

3) You MUST work with the correct quantity of liquid in this recipe. Whereas everything else is quite flexible this isn't. I work on the basis of half a mug

of rice per person so if we're cooking for 8 people that's 4 mugs of rice. Emilio taught me to use double the quantity of water to rice "plus a bit" which I've taken to be 9 mugs of water when cooking for these 8 people.

♣Gazpacho. 4) Now in the water which you've just boiled the shellfish add the heads and shells from the small prawns. Once they're boiling add some yellow food colouring (saffron is of course the choice of the purist here but it doesn't create that fabulous paella colour and it's expensive). Also add the chicken stock cube. A fish stock cube is an alternative but I use chicken to tone down the fish flavour slightly. The rice will take its salt from this stock cube.

After a few minutes of gentle boiling the water will have taken on the flavour of the prawn heads and shells and will have turned into a deep yellow colour. Turn off the heat and use a colander to sieve out the shells which can now be disposed of leaving you with a pan of delicious stock.

5) Now we can move outside and cook in the paella pan. In Spain we have burners that connect to a gas bottle and the paella pan sits on this burner. Alternatively you can place your paella pan on the gas rings of your cooker though you must try to make the heat supply equal on all parts of the pan.

♣Gazpacho.Gazpacho ingredients:For 6 - 8 people

1 1/4kg ripe tomatoes1/2 medium onion1/2 standard cucumber1 green pepper (the long thin type) or 1/2 a bigger pepper1 cup olive oil2 soup spoons vinegarsome stale bread - this quantity can vary depending on taste - I use very littlesome cold water3 ice cubes

To garnish you need a small amount of:

diced tomatodiced green pepper diced cucumbercroutons

You also need a food blender.

♣Gazpacho. Preparation.The tomatoes should be peeled and de-seeded. To peel them place

them in boiling water for about 30 seconds and then when you remove them the skins should 

come off easily. Alternatively you could follow what I do and decide not to peel them to avoid the messing around. I actually like having the seeds in the Gazpacho but you should decide for

yourself.Then chop up the tomatoes, onion, cucumber and green pepper.

Don't worry about chopping them too small as they are all going into the food blender.

Now put some of each ingredient in the blender and blend. Transfer the mix to a bowl and continue to blend all the

ingredients. This should result in a "chunky" soup. I like it this way but some people prefer it to be completely smooth. If you want

this smooth soup then put the gazpacho through a sieve. This will get rid of the tomato seeds and skin if you left them on and any

other lumps. At this stage you can add water to get the thickness that you want. I tend to not add very much as I like a thick soup.

☻Spanish Tortilla Prepare a large bowl with 1kg of thinly sliced potatoesand sprinkle

plenty salt over them and work it down to the bottom of the bowl.In a large frying pan heat about ½ cm of olive oil.  When it's very hot

add the potatoes from the bowl and start to fry them.  Be sure to keep stirring them so that they don't stick or start to brown.  

 After about 5 minutes add half an onion to the potatoes.  This should be chopped very fine.  Stir the contents of the frying pan then cover

it.Now break 8 large eggs into a bowl and add a pinch of salt and beat

them.

Keep checking the frying pan to be sure that the potatoes aren't turning brown.  Turn down the heat if necessary. Keep stirring (Montse says

"keep moving them" as the Spanish verb to stir is "mover"!). Once the potatoes break easily under the touch of the stirring spoon

they are ready.  So now add the potato/onion mix to the bowl of beaten eggs.  Drain away any excess that's left in the frying pan oil

at this point.Mix the potato and egg mixtures together well whilst the frying pan gets

very hot with no extra oil in it.  

Now add the mix to the frying pan. Flatten it down in the pan and keep the heat at medium for a few minutes. 

Put a plate over the mix and turn over the tortilla gently.  When you return it to the pan press down the sides to create the classic shape of tortilla de patatas. 

Turn the tortilla several times.  You'll find it gets heavier each turn.  It is ready when you put a knife into it and the knife comes out clean.

This recipe makes a vary large omelette. What I tend to do is create the same mixture as above but make two separate tortillas using a smaller pan as this seems more manageable. Be sure to use a ladle when transferring the mixture to the frying pan if you decide to follow this advice otherwise one omelette ends up with too much liquid and the other with too much potato.  

Lamb of Kings

1 leg of lamb 2 kg.* Olive oil* Salt* 4 cloves of garlic* 1 bouillon cube*

Water* 1 or 2 glasses of white wine2 tablespoons vinegar* Juice of 1 or 2 lemons* Potatoes* Pepper* Onions*

Tomatoes

1. It has a big leg of lamb, about 2 kilos in weight, which have three or four deep cuts in the meat.

2. It is watered lightly with olive oil and season with salt.

3. Place a source of mud.4. Preheat the oven to 220-250 degrees.

5. In a mortar, crush 4 garlic cloves with a little oil.

6. With the resulting paste is smeared lamb.

7. When the oven reaches temperature, the meat is introduced.

8. For the broth, crushed in a mortar a beef bouillon with a dash of water.

9. Resulting paste was suspended in a little more water and parboil instant in a saucepan.

10. Add 1 or 2 glasses of white wine, 2 tablespoons of vinegar and the juice of 1 or 2 lemons.

11. There is another rapid boil the broth and reserve it.

12. With the lamb we will water it every 1 / 2 or 3 / 4 of an hour.

13. Prepare potatoes discretionary amount.

14. Cut into thick slices.15. They are in a flat pan, greased with olive oil.16. Season with some salt, and pepper to taste.17. Cut onions into pieces several fat and enough

tomatoes, cut into quarters.18. They spice up and go away.19. It begins by introducing proper roast in the oven

tray lamb and potatoes.20. After 1 / 2 hour watering lamb with the first

third of the broth.21. The tray on which are already becoming the

potatoes, add the chopped tomato and onion.22. During the next hour, every 20 to 30 minutes

will be added to lamb 1 / 3 of the broth.23. At the time, monitor the roast potatoes.

24. When they begin to be golden, with the edges somewhat churruscados, removed from its tray and with the lamb, making sure that not too soggy for this sauce.

25. Put the potatoes in another pan oven floor.26. Finally, after this time, the lamb will take 1 1 / 2

hours in the oven.27. From here, one possibility is to leave 10-20

minutes at 150-200 degrees, and then with the oven off (perhaps a little open) while preparing the table and take the first starters. Or you can remove from oven and carve a few pieces (2 or 3 per guest), 5 minutes before serving, put the grill, just enough to sear the skin from the meat and potatoes, and serve very hot.