Spain
Tapas, paella and bold flavours — vibrant cooking from the Iberian peninsula.
About Spanish cuisine
Spanish food is built around the table rather than the plate. A meal often arrives as half a dozen small things at once — olives, anchovies, jamón, a tortilla, prawns, bread to mop everything up — and that idea shapes the whole cuisine. The regions vary enormously: the Basque country leans on seafood and grilled meats, Andalusia on cold soups and fried fish, Valencia on rice, Catalonia on a Mediterranean mix of seafood, sausages and stews.
The defining flavours are loud in the best way. Smoked paprika, saffron, garlic, sherry vinegar, good olive oil, decent chorizo, sweet onions cooked down to a sofrito. The technique that matters most is the sofrito itself — onion, garlic and tomato cooked slowly in olive oil until everything melts together. Get that right and most Spanish dishes more or less cook themselves.
It’s some of the easiest food to bring home. A few tapas with drinks, a one-pan rice on a Sunday, a tray of patatas bravas — none of it needs special skill, just decent Spanish pantry staples and a willingness to let things take their time.
Spain is where my family and I have holidayed for nearly thirty years, and our favourite corner of it is Sotogrande, near Gibraltar — a rented villa, ideally with a view over the Med. It was there I found the joy of cooking for the family on holiday, inspired by wonderful fresh vegetables and fruit, but above all by the fish and seafood laid out on marble slabs packed with ice. I would often choose langoustines or prawns — though I never quite relished the afternoon task of shelling and deveining while everyone else snoozed in the sun. Still, that is where my paella was born. It is not conventional, but I like it.
Key ingredients
Stock these and you can cook Spanish almost any night of the week.
Smoked paprikaSweet, bittersweet or hot — the defining Spanish spice.
SaffronA pinch infused in warm stock turns rice golden and fragrant.
GarlicUsed generously, often raw in alioli or slow-cooked into sofrito.
ChorizoCooking chorizo for stews and rice, cured chorizo for tapas.
Spanish olive oilFruity, peppery — the cooking medium and a finishing oil in one.
TomatoesGrated raw onto pan con tomate, slow-cooked into sofrito.
Recipes from my kitchen
A handful of Spanish recipes I cook on rotation. All tested in a real kitchen.
Chorizo and Chicken Tapas
We do love small plates of tapas, perfect bite-sized offerings packed full of flavour. Let this Chicken and Chorizo tapas dish bring a taste of Spain to your table.
Prawn and Chorizo Rice
This is a bold, flavour-packed dish that combines the smoky, spicy richness of Spanish chorizo with the sweet, delicate flavour of prawns.
Chorizo Baked Potatoes with Avocado Cream
Buttery, spicy, tangy. Texture: Oh that crust. It is simply wonderful.
