Spanish

Pa Amb Tomàquet Rustic and assertive, pa amb tomàquet is a quick and easy hors d'oeuvre or accompaniment, best grilled (and served) in batches. Active time: 15 min Start to finish: 30 min

Churros are a Spanish classic, usually sold in street-side shops and quickly transported home or to a local café to enjoy with thick hot chocolate. They're made with a piece of equipment called a churrera, which is a type of pastry tube.

The garlic is added in two lots here to get two different flavors. The first amount is sautéed with other vegetables at the beginning of the recipe in good Italian or Spanish fashion. The second goes in near the end to provide a bite. The tomatoes provide most of the liquid.

This recipe can be prepared in 45 minutes or less. To go with the chicken, toss some greens with lemon vinaigrette, mix fresh chopped parsley into rice pilaf and cut a crusty load of bread into thick slices. Cantaloupe doused with sweet Marsala is a great finish.

Serve with: Crusty baguette slices and a salad of arugula dressed with Sherry vinaigrette. Dessert: Vanilla ice cream topped with warm caramel sauce.

(Arrossejat de Fideus amb Llagosta) This Catalan specialty could be described as a pasta cooked like a rice dish. Arrossejat is Catalan for "golden" and refers to the technique of sautéing noodles in oil until golden brown before simmering them in fish stock. The dish is usually prepared in a glazed earthenware casserole known as a cassola, but you can substitute an ovenproof skillet or saut0an with great results. The base of our intensely flavored dish is a sofregit~©on slow-cooked with tomatoes and often garlic and herbs'% foundation for almost every sauce and stewed dish in the region's cooking. Active time: 1 1/2 hr Start to finish: 2 hr

This classic egg and potato dish is called a tortilla in Spain. Serve it warm or at room temperature for breakfast or at brunch.

About two centuries ago, field workers near Valencia began sharing a luncheon dish made of rice, vegetables, snails and eels cooked in a flat, oval, two-handled metal pan known as a paellera. And so paella was born.
Rice dishes made in such a pan, whatever the ingredients, are called paella or just arroz con ("rice with"), followed by a description of the contents. The traditional components of this particular version are snails, rabbit and rosemary, which are found in the Valencian mountains.
This equally delectable rendition omits the snails and substitutes chicken for rabbit.
This recipe can be made in a paella pan, a flameproof earthenware casserole or a large skillet.

This hearty ham and egg dish includes pipérade, a Basque mixture of sautéed tomatoes and bell peppers, which is generally used as a sauce for meats.

When we think of gazpacho most of us think of a cold chunky tomato-based soup. But this world-renowned export from the Andalucian region of Spain is actually one of many different types of soup — cold, hot, thin, red, green and white — which share the name gazpacho. White gazpacho remains closer than most modern varieties to the soup's origins as a simple combination of bread, nuts, salt, olive oil, and vinegar. Cucumbers, grapes and a pinch of cayenne elevate what was once a poor man's meal to a refined soup.

Cava, Spain's sparkling wine, is readily available at supermarkets and liquor stores.

When I was asked to be the guest chef for a meal honoring Sr. Alvarez del Manzano, the mayor of Madrid, at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles, the menu included this classic Spanish tart. It is so rich and moist, it needs no more garnish than a little natillas [crèeme anglais] and a dusting of powdered sugar.

Bacalao (salt cod) has been popular in Spain for centuries, especially among the Basques (they brought it back from whaling voyages to northern Europe) and the Catalans (the southern French shared it with them). Although Spain is surrounded by water, in days gone by fresh fish never made it to the interior and sometimes wasn't available - or any good - on the coasts. So, in this strict Catholic country where meat and poultry were not allowed on Fridays, or during Lent, Bacalao became an integral part of the staple diet. Bradade - salt cod pureed with potatoes, olive oil and sometimes milk - is a specialty of France's Provence area that has made its way into the Catalan culinary repertoire as Brandada. If you've never tried salt cod, this is a good initiation. Start soaking the dried fish a day ahead.

Use the extra dressing with boiled potatoes or green beans to make an instant salad later in the week.