Spanish Recipes – Fantastically Scrumptious Cuisine

Spain is country with a varied and complex heritage and Spanish cooking displays this fact. While Spain is a Mediterranean country, and a lot of Spanish dishes owe much to this, Spanish food also features native foods imported into the country from Spain’s former ex-colonies in the New World such as beans, peppers, potatoes and tomatoes. Other Spanish cuisines draw on the country’s Jewish and Moorish heritage – it is worth remembering that much of Spain was colonized by the Moors for over 7 hundred years. Even the Reconquista (the Christian reconquest of the Iberian pennisula from Muslims) has left its traces in Spanish cuisine – pork is popular in Spain, and traditionally was a political testimony of Christian identity since it wasn’t eaten by Jews or Muslims.

Spain is the leading producer of olive oil, infact half of the world’s olive oil is produced in Spain. Not surprisingly it is part of a lot of of Spanish cuisines. Northern Spain also uses lard and butter equally well.

Other features of Spanish food, include the prevalent use of garlic and onions, the serving of bread and wine with most meals, and the consumption of fruit or dairy products as desserts. One particularly well-known Spanish custom is the serving of small appetizers (“tapas”) with drinks.

Some well-liked Spanish dishes include:

- Gazpacho – A cold vegetable soup that’s particularly famous in hotter areas such as Andalusia. Traditionally gazpacho was made stale bread, garlic, olive oil, salt and vinegar, but today, bell pepper and tomato are also often added. There is also a variant called gazpacho manchego which is served warm, and consists of meat (often rabbit) and mushrooms, that is more of a stew than a soup.

- Paella – A rice dish originally from Valencia. The main ingredients are rice, saffron and olive oil, and the dish is usually garnished with meat or seafood, and vegetables.

- Chorizo – A spicy sausage made from fatty pork and seasoned with chili and paprika. There are a couple of varieties: hot (“picante”) and sweet (“dulce”). Most varieties can be eaten cold, although there are some regions of Spain which produce varieties that need further cooking. Chorizo is not just eaten on its own, but can also be used as an ingredient in other dishes.

- Jamn serrano – Dry-cured ham.

Fabada Asturiana: This is really a sort of bean stew that contains pork, chorizo and black sausage or morcillot that is often flavored with seasonings like saffron.

- Olla Podrida – A rich stew with bacon, poultry or game, ham, meats and vegetables.

- Marmitako – A fish stew made with onions, pimentos, potatoes and tomatoes.

- Pescato Frito – Marinated fish, battered and fried.

Tortilla de patatas: A form of omlette laced with smashed potatoes and seasoned with onions.

For more information and video clips on the various Spanish recipes please check out Spanish Food. You might also want to take a look at a few of the popular Spanish Desserts