So many meals in Andalucia are cooked with Saffron (azafrán). Although the majority of Saffron is grown much further north in Spain, it turns up in a high number of Spanish meals cooked down south.
And there are different ways of employing Saffron to improve a meal. Here is one in which the spice is infused in boiling water.
Pumpkins do grow in Spain and they grow big. This weekend I have seen many a neighbour carrying home huge pumpkins in readiness for cooking several dishes with them for Halloween.
One easy to prepare dish is a tasty and refreshing pumpkin soup. Here is the recipe.
When you are on the receiving end of a good sauce in Spain, you will know it. The best sauces can deliver a significant improvement to some classic Spanish food.
While it is true that French chefs may make the best sauces in the world, their skills have made it across the border and in to the northern parts of Spain.
I was left home alone for a month recently and with no time to undertake supermarket shopping in Spain. No need to worry.
Providing you have a good local weekly market, a fishmonger or mobile fish van, and just so long as you have ingredients and spices to hand in your kitchen; almost anything is possible.
Basque chefs know what they are doing with seafood, especially lobster and crab. Baked crab is wonderful, never more so than with this recipe for such a traditional Basque dish.
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.
In my continuing mission to eat lighter meals I'm going back to an old and trusted favourite, mussels. A joy to behold and a delight when served in this warming soup.
Here's a recipe for Pimientos del Piquillo Rellenos. In this instance we're suggesting stuffing the spicy red peppers with squid and a little ham but, in all honesty, you can stuff the peppers with whichever food takes your fancy. I've had them stuffed with prawns, hake, cod, lobster, lamb, kidneys and all manner of ingredients. If you've got the peppers right, what is in them is a bonus. A supporting act to the star turn.
