Spain is blessed with a rich abundance of fresh ingredients, so put them to good use with these simple yet effective recipes.
From the mountains, plains and seas of Spain comes a wealth of fresh ingredients – luscious fruits and vegetables, creamy cheeses, fresh fish and seafood, and top-quality meats.
Good meat is valued in Spain, a country where purely vegetarian cooking is virtually unknown. However, vegetables are still essential and many dishes are light on meat. You might find, for example, that just a little chorizo has been added to a vegetable-based dish.
Fish and seafood also plays a huge role, thanks to Spain’s two long coastlines – one bordering the Atlantic, the other the Mediterranean. With such a fabulous source of ingredients, little adornment is necessary, and fish and seafood is frequently cooked very simply – boiled or grilled over an open fire.
Vegetables
The warm climate is perfect for growing plump tomatoes, peppery chillies, sweet juicy peppers and shiny fat aubergines – all of which contribute a vibrant, typically Mediterranean flavour to the cuisine.
Onions and garlic are also central to Spanish cooking, while leafy cabbages and tender spinach are beloved across the country. Potatoes, of course, are essential for that classic tapas dish patatas bravas, and they are also added to stews and served as an accompaniment. Another favourite root is the turnip, which is particularly popular in Galicia. Wild mushrooms are a cherished ingredient, and are picked throughout the year, particularly in Catalonia and the Basque country. Vegetables are cooked in many ways: served in tapas such as tomates rellenos and pimientos fritos, added to eggs, or cooked with meat or fish.
Herbs
These natural flavourings play an important role in the Spanish kitchen. Robust herbs such as rosemary, thyme, oregano and bay are used in meat and bean stews, while tender, fragrant fennel is popularly used with seafood and flat leaf parsley is generously added to all manner of savoury dishes.
Dried beans and pulses
These are cooked in hearty, rustic dishes, and chickpeas, flageolet, cannelloni beans, dried broad beans and lentils all play an important role in the Spanish kitchen. Frequently cooked with smoky, spicy chorizo, which lends them a particularly delicious flavour, they make popular tapas dishes.
Clams
Juicy clams are found in countless dishes, from simple tapas with wine, tomatoes and herbs, to hearty pasta and rice dishes such as arroz con almejas y vegetales. They are gathered on both coasts and vary in size from small carpet shell clams to the vast Venus clams.
Sardines
Sardines are enjoyed on all the coastal regions. On the Malaga coast, the Moraga festival marks the beginning of summer, when sardines are skewered on sticks and cooked over open fires on the beach.
Fruit
A wonderful selection of fruit thrives in the Spanish climate, from sweet plump apricots to fragrant melons to zesty oranges. Tropical fruits such as kiwi fruit are also grown. Simple fresh fruit is a popular dessert, but desserts may also be created by poaching peaches in wine.
Clams with tomatoes
Almejas a la marinera
Serves 4
Manzanilla sherry is very pale and dry with a fragrant aroma. Here it is used to bring out the full flavour of the sea in this wonderful dish of clams cooked with fresh tomatoes and parsley. Serve with crusty bread for mopping up the juices.
2 tbsps olive oil
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 ripe tomatoes, finely chopped
1kg live clams, prepared
125ml Manzanilla sherry
4 tbsps finely chopped flat leaf parsley
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Heat the oil in a large frying pan, add the garlic and tomatoes, and cook, stirring, for 3-4 minutes.
Add the drained clams to the pan, then the sherry and parsley. Season to taste with salt and pepper, cover tightly and cook over a high heat, shaking the pan vigorously several times, for 4-5 minutes or until the clams have opened (discard any that remain closed).
Serve the clams immediately in the cooking liquid or leave to cool to room temperature.
Healthy tip: Clams have quite a low fat content and a high proportion of this is present as omega-3 fatty acids, which help to protect against heart disease.
Sauteed sweet green peppers
Pimientos fritos
Serves 4–6
These small, sweet green peppers from the north-westerly provinces of Spain, come into the market in spring and summer. They make a delicious appetiser and are best eaten with your fingers. But beware – one in every ten of these peppers turns out to be fiery hot! Padron peppers are available from Spanish greengrocers.
400g small sweet green Padron peppers
Olive oil, for shallow frying
Sea salt
Rinse the peppers, leaving the stems intact, and pat dry with kitchen paper. Drizzle a little oil into a large, non-stick frying pan and heat over a high heat. Add the peppers to the pan and cook over a medium heat, turning frequently, until light brown all over. Remove the peppers with a slotted spoon and drain on crumpled kitchen paper. Transfer to a serving dish and sprinkle over a little sea salt. Serve immediately.
Healthy tip: Green peppers are a great source of the antioxidant betacarotene, which is believed to protect against cancer, heart disease and strokes.
Broad beans with ham
Habas con jamon
Serves 4
Broad beans are grown all over the Balearics and Catalonia, often planted between the olive trees. The sweetness of young broad beans marries perfectly with the Serrano ham.
800g fresh broad beans in their pods
2-3 tbsps olive oil
2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1 small onion, finely chopped
4 tablespoons finely chopped Serrano ham
200ml fino sherry
200ml water
1 tsp finely chopped marjoram leaves
2 hard-boiled eggs, shelled and finely chopped
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Remove the beans from their pods. Heat the oil in a large, heavy-based saucepan. Add the garlic, onion and ham and cook, stirring, for 3-4 minutes. Add the beans, sherry, water and marjoram. Season to taste with salt and pepper and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer gently for one hour, or until the beans are tender.
Uncover the pan and cook to evaporate the remaining liquid (the mixture should be moist, but not too liquid).
Transfer to a warmed serving dish and scatter over the eggs. Serve immediately.
Healthy tip: Broad beans are a great source of dietary fibre and contain quite high levels of carotene, the vitamin A precursor. Take care to cook broad beans properly, because the inner part of the bean can, if eaten raw, cause a form of anaemia in some people.
Spinach, tomato and pinenut flatbread
Coca d’espinicas
Serves 4
A typical bread from the Balearic region, this can be topped with a variety of different ingredients of your choice and made into any shape that you desire.
150g strong white bread flour, plus extra for dusting
8g sachet of fast-action dried yeast
1 tbsp very finely chopped rosemary
1 tsp sea salt
2 tsps olive oil, plus extra for oiling and drizzling
125ml hand-hot water
Freshly ground black pepper
For the topping
100g baby spinach leaves, roughly chopped
1 small onion, halved and very thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
200g small cherry tomatoes
1 tbsp pine nuts
Put the flour in a bowl with the yeast, rosemary and salt. Season to taste with pepper. Make a well in the centre and pour in the oil and the hand-hot water. Using your fingers, mix the wet ingredients into the dry until a dough forms and comes away from the sides of the bowl, adding a little extra water if the mixture seems too dry.
Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface and knead for 6-8 minutes. Form the dough into a ball. Put the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover, and set aside in a warm place for 1 hour, or until almost doubled in size.
Turn out the dough onto a floured work surface and flatten. Roll out with a rolling pin into a rectangle about 25x20cm and 1cm thick. Transfer to a non-stick baking sheet.
Spread the spinach over the dough and scatter on top of it the onion, garlic and tomatoes. Drizzle over a little oil, season to taste with salt and pepper, and scatter over the pine nuts.
Bake in a preheated oven at 220 degrees (gas mark 7), for 12-15 minutes, or until the bread has risen slightly and is golden. Cut into rectangles and serve warm, or at room temperature.
Healthy tip: This flatbread is high in most nutrients and has a low fat content. Cherry tomatoes are a great source of vitamin C and carotene, and they also have a higher fibre content than larger tomatoes, because of the increased ratio of skin to flesh.
Baked Sardines
Sardinas al horno
Serves 4–6
Sardines are particularly valued by the Spanish, but they must be absolutely fresh and firm, not tied up or limp. Ask your fish supplier to fillet the fish, but keep them whole, so that they can be opened out like a book to season and then closed up again to cook and serve. Here, they are baked with a spiced tomato mixture and are equally good served at room temperature. Either way, serve with warm crusty bread.
3 tbsps olive oil
2 onions, finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, crushed
1 red pepper, cored, deseeded and finely chopped
200g can chopped tomatoes
1 tsp pimentón picante (hot paprika)
Large pinch of saffron threads
½ tsp ground cumin
1 bay leaf
1 cinnamon stick
3 tbsps finely chopped flat leaf parsley, plus extra to garnish
12 medium or 20-25 small fresh sardines, prepared and filleted but kept whole
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Heat the oil in a large frying pan, add the onions, garlic and red pepper, and cook over a low heat, stirring occasionally, for 10-15 minutes. Add the tomatoes and their juice, pimentón, saffron, cumin, bay leaf, cinnamon stick and parsley. Season to taste with salt and pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, for a further 8-10 minutes.
Gently open out the sardine fillets and lightly season with salt and pepper. Fold back into their original shape. Spread half the tomato mixture over the base of a medium-sized, shallow ovenproof dish, or cazuela. Arrange half the sardines on top in a single layer. Repeat with the remaining tomato mixture and sardines.
Bake in a preheated oven, at 200 degrees (gas mark 6), for 15-20 minutes or until the fish is cooked through. Remove from the oven and serve immediately, garnished with a little finely chopped parsley.
Healthy tip: A fatty fish, sardines are a convenient source of polyunsaturated fatty acids. These are thought to be particularly important in the maintenance of ‘good’ HDL cholesterol in the blood and the prevention of heart disease.
Peaches in wine
Melocotones en vino
Serves 4
It is natural that, with such an abundance throughout Spain, fruit is often served to conclude a meal. Here, fragrant ripe peaches are enlivened by a cinnamon-spiced red wine. This recipe also works equally well with fresh pears.
4 ripe peaches
350ml dry red wine
75g golden caster sugar
4 thin slices of lemon, pips removed
1 cinnamon stick, plus extra pieces to garnish
350ml water
Crème fraîche, to serve
Bring a large saucepan of water to the boil. Add the peaches and leave for 30 seconds. Drain and plunge into cold water, then peel away the skins.
Put the peaches in a saucepan large enough to hold them in a single layer and add the wine, sugar, lemon slices, cinnamon and water. Bring to a simmer, cover, and cook for 12-15 minutes, or until tender.
Remove the peaches with a slotted spoon and transfer to a shallow heatproof serving dish. Boil the remaining liquid in the saucepan over a high heat for 6-8 minutes, or until reduced and syrupy. Remove from the heat and pour over the peaches.
Leave to cool, then cover and chill in the refrigerator for 2 hours. Serve the peaches in individual bowls or on plates with the syrup drizzled over and a dollop of crème fraîche. Garnish each serving with a piece of cinnamon.
Healthy tip: Peaches contain useful amounts of vitamin C and the vitamin B group. Like many yellow-fleshed fruits and vegetables, they also contain carotene, the precursor to vitamin A. All these vitamins will help maintain a healthy immune system, while carotene and vitamin C are important antioxidants, which are thought to have a role in the prevention of cancer.