Here is a light toasted tapas you can try on visitors young and old alike. Our final recipe for a Tosta may be a way of getting your young children to like anchovies (boquerones).
Here the sweet and sour marinated anchovies combine with a pungent black olive paste. If your children take to this one then, as a Spanish friend practicing his English sayings once misspoke to me: "The world is their lobster."
So much Spanish food is tied to a particular date in the calendar or cooked up only for a religious festival. Torrijas are eaten most often at Easter, but I’ve always been one for enjoying the Spanish food I like at any time of the year,
After all, once you have discovered a culinary delight such as this, why wait another 12 months for a repeat tasting?
As promised, here's the recipe for another little tapas you can prepare easily and serve to visiting friends and family. A not too filling snack before settling down for dinner. You'll not be wanting to spend too long over preparing these little toast based snacks, so why not use chickpeas from a jar or can? It saves having to soak dried ones overnight. There's hot, smoked paprika in here so be confident that your visitors can take the spice.
One of the simplest and yet most popular tapa servings is the Montado. Little slices of toasted bread on which a variety of food may be served. It might be prawns, shrimps, anchovies, peppers or spicy chicken. Many bars serve them but they are easy to make at home and serve as little snacks for your friends and family.
Quail is a meal that takes time to prepare, and time to savour. On the face of it the bird can taste bland. But, as with this Basque recipe, that issue is solved when adding a well prepared sauce. This recipe is for four people.
The Spanish love to eat lots of bread with their meals. My neighbours buy bread twice a day from the bread vans that visit the local villages. Chunky bread that is used to mop up juices or upon which the food is placed before consuming. Some Spanish meals just lend themselves to having along side bread. Here's a recipe for Mojete - a derivation of the word to dip. Roasted peppers and onions is a popular dish in La Mancha but it is a must that you serv it with bread.
You cannot be expected to like every Spanish meal. At least not at first. Too often when i am served Migas in bars, it has all the appeal of eating sawdust. Breadcrumbs mixed with anything from bacon, ham, eggs or sausages does not sound like a plate of anything you would cross the road for. But only when you enjoy a well prepared dish of migas do you realise that this ancient meal can be tasty. Here's a recipe for magnificent migas from the region of Extremedura.
