Best Spanish Recipes

Tortilla is a simple dish made of potatoes, eggs and often onion. Traditionally high-fat because potatoes are deep fried to make it, I have replaced the deep-fry process with boiling and grilling to avoid the use of most oil. As a result, this variation should be easier on the scales while remaining delicious and easy to make.

Calçots are a variety of scallion (Blanca Grande Tardana) native to Tarragona in Catalonia, Spain. Calçots are milder than onions and look similar to small leeks. The most traditional way of eating calçots is in a calçotada, a popular event held between the end of winter and March or April, where calçots are consumed massively. Calçots are traditionally roasted over fire in an outdoor oven but they can also be cooked in a grill, a conventional oven or on top of the stove. Calçots are traditionally served on top of upturned roof tiles, which are used as serving trays.

Romesco is a sauce originating in Tarragona, Catalonia, that is typically made from almonds and hazelnuts, roasted garlic, olive oil and nyores – small, dried red peppers. It is perhaps most often served with seafood, but can also be served with a wide variety of other foods including poultry and vegetables, particularly calçots.

A traditional Christmas dessert, Mazapán is Arabic in origin, arriving to Spain with the arab invasion of the 8th century. It is available all year around but consumed mostly in Christmas, except in Valencia, where napkins (Mocaors) filled with fruit-shaped Marzipan are given by men to their girlfriends and wives at the Mocaorà celebration on the 9th of October.

Most Spanish regions sport their own variation of this simple, quick recipe. It is easy, cheap and delicious so it features on every Spanish mum’s trick bag when feeding the family. This is as close as it gets to Spanish fast food. Only healthier, and much better tasting!

This dish is an original recipe. It is a dish for spring, mixing winter and summer ingredients into a bright, flavoursome combination. Its colour, scent, textures and taste are all designed to wake up the senses after the winter lull. Try it at sunset after a day of sun and some showers.

Cava originates from Catalonia, and so does this dish, delicious as a main, a side to game or fish or as part of contemporary creations. Initially prepared as a way to use a day-old half bottle of flat left-over cava, it has been adopted by contemporary Catalan cuisine as an indigenous new dish that combines european influences with local produce and years of rich winemaking history. Today Arroz al Cava can be found in the best restaurants, where it is made using only the best Spanish paella rice and the most sought-after Cava vintages.

Pan de Calatrava is a variation on Flan. Legend says that Flan was strengthened with bread donated by the village folk at Calatrava’s monastery, becoming one of the dietary staples for the monks who lived there and who had access to the other ingredients -eggs, milk and sugar- at their own little walled farm. Today it is a sough-after dessert full of infinite possibilities and variation.

A typical dish of Valencia, Spain originated in the 1960s when noodles were used instead of rice in the popular dish paella. Relatively obscure until very recently, Fideuà has quickly become a favourite at Spain’s top restaurants. Its versatility, flexibility and the ability to use the freshest seasonal produce in its preparation make it the perfect blend of tradition and modernity for the aspiring star chef to make his/her mark.

Traditional sangría recipe with red wine, spirits and fruit. White wine can be used instead of red, in which case the result is called sangría blanca. Each region, town and bar in Spain seem to have their own recipe, this is a traditional one from generations ago.