Spanish Cuisine

When thinking of Spanish food, many people often do not know what to expect. Spanish food varies by geography and climate. It is heavily influenced by the ocean that surrounds the country and therefore includes a lot of seafood. The food of northern Spain includes more animal fats while in the south the diet tends to be more Mediterranean in its influence.

Traditional Spanish dishes, common to nearly all areas of Spain, include Tortilla de patatas (fried potato omelet), paella (a rice based dish), a variety of stews, sausages, ham, and cheeses.

PAELLA
Paella is a common Spanish dish and is cooked in a special round, flat pan with 2 handles called a paellera. Paella is usually made with shellfish but is often also made with chicken or rabbit.

SIMPLE PAELLA RECIPE (from spain-recipes.com)

Ingredients:

• 1/2 pint of olive oil

• 2 bowls of rice(1lb. 5 oz. approximately)

• 5 bowls of fish broth

• 1/2 lb. of shrimps

• 2 mid-sized squids

• 2 lb. of mussels or clams

• 1 green pepper

• 1 red pepper

• 1 small can of peas

• 1 small onion

• 2 tomatoes

• Saffron

• 1 clove of garlic (optional)

• Parsley

• Salt

Preparation:

Start to heat half of the oil and once warm toss the chopped onion. After 5 minutes, add diced tomatoes, without seeds and peeled. Let it braise about 5 minutes more, mashing the tomatoes with a skimmer. Strain it and throw it in the paella pan.

In a pot, begin to cook in cold water the shells of the shrimps, reserving the tails. In another ladle cook the mussels with little water (well washed before with water and salt). As soon as the shells open up, take them away and take off the half that doesn't have the bug, reserving the other halves and straining for a very fine strainer the broth where they have cooked, as well as that of the waste of the shrimps.

Add the rest of the oil to the paella pan. Throw the green pepper, cut to square pieces of half inch. Add the cut squid to ribbons or in fine hoops and the rice. Keep stirring with a wooden tablespoon, without letting it go brown. Throw salt, and the broth of the remains of fish, hot but not boiling. This is completed with the 5 broth bowls. Shake the paella pan a little taking it by the handles so that it is broth flows all over. All this should be made to medium fire.

Meanwhile, in a mortar mash a little bit of garlic (optional), the parsley and the saffron, with a little bit of salt so that it doesn't slip, and it wet it with a couple of soup spoonfuls of temperate water. Spill this mixture on the rice and shake again the paella pan. Incorporate now the shrimps tails and when the broth has reduced to the half decorate the paella with the red pepper cut to ribbons, the mussels and the peas.

Let it cook about 20 minutes.

Once the rice is cooked and the broth has reduced, retire the paella pan from the fire, on a wet cloth, leaving it rest for about 5 minutes.

Serve it with some big clusters of lemon without peeling like decoration.

Simple Paella Recipe

Spanish Cuisine

More recipes are available at www.spain-recipes.com. Please feel free to share your experiences with cooking and eating Spanish cuisine.