Archive for the ‘Spanish Food Recipes’ Category

There are some bars or restaurants in some parts of Spain and America where they specialize only in tapas.

You can order many kinds of tapas and turn it into a complete meal in some restaurants and bars in Spain. The reason for serving tapas is to encourage conversations or socializing. It is served before a meal to increase a person’s appetite for the rest of the meal or served before or in between courses so that you will not become too hungry while waiting for the food. It is also customary for some diners to move about and socialize while eating tapas.

The history of tapas is not well known and according to the book “The Joy of Cooking”, the original tapas were made of slices of bread or meat that Andalusian taverns serve with sherry. Its main purpose is to cover the glasses between sips to prevent flies from getting close to the sherry. The meat that was used to cover the sherry is usually ham or chorizos which are both very salty and make you feel thirsty more. Restaurant and bar owners became creative with their tapas and made a lot of variations to it and this eventually led to an increase in sales of alcohol.

Tapas have continuously evolved throughout history and the introduction of different ingredients and influences from other cultures has turned the tapas into one of Spain‘s best contribution to the culinary world. Spanish tapas can be made of a variety of ingredients such as tomatoes, cheeses, fish like anchovies, and olives. Some countries have even adapted the tapas into their own cuisine and made it their own by adding ingredients that are native to their country. Tapas are also a very versatile and sophisticated way to present appetizers that look good and taste just as good.

If you are planning to make tapas for your banquet or gatherings, a good sausage that you can serve with pride to your guests is the Salchichon Iberico de Bellota de Herradura. It is a sausage that is made from the lean meat of fine Iberian pigs. You can combine it with any vegetable of your choice or place on top of a flat bread. When laid out on a table like in a buffet service, tapas look beautiful. It can also be placed on each guests tables as a way to welcome them to your banquet.

Spanish Food Recipes

Without question the most famous and well known of Spanish food recipes is for paella. The beauty of paella is that it is not just one dish. You can make endless paella dishes with almost any combination of ingredients. It is not difficult to make paella. The most important part is the right amount of water or broth to the amount of rice. Too much water or broth, and your paella will be soup while not enough water or broth results in a very dry paella. You want your paella to be juicy, but not soupy. Once you master the right amount of water to rice, you will be on your way to making perfect paella every time.

Making paella is not as time consuming as many people think. Everything is going into one pan which makes for a great deal of ease, and clean up is minimal. Only if you decide to make a nice fish broth to use instead of water will you be cooking in another pan. But that can also be made ahead of time. The main thing is having all your ingredients out and ready. All your vegetables need to be cut, and you may want to marinate your meats beforehand. If you are making a seafood paella recipe, some fish can be marinated and shell fish will need to be soaked.

Let’s look at some of the ingredients that go into a typical recipe for paella dishes. Paella calls for two of the most significant foods from Spain, Spanish rice and saffron. Both of these foods were brought to the Valencia region of Spain by the Moors some thirteen hundred years ago. The Spanish rice is a short grained rice, and it is used in paella because it absorbs flavors more readily than long grained rice. It also has a far more interesting taste and texture. Saffron is gold, and remains an expensive, rare commodity. I sometimes cannot even find it in the stores, and I can’t imagine making paella without it. It is perhaps the most essential ingredient. It turns the whole paella a lovely golden red color, and fills the pan with rich aroma.

Some of the other herbs in paella and other Spanish food recipes are rosemary, thyme and paprika. The Spanish make several different kinds of paprika: sweet mild, bittersweet, hot and smoked. I really love the smoked, but one has to have a taste for the smokey flavor. I also like the hot, which I will often use when making small paellas, but refrain when I am making for a large group when I do not know the overall preference. Then the sweet mild is a safe and tasty option. The bittersweet is exactly that though I find the bitter dominates the sweet.

I am a big fan of flavored olive oils whether it be with garlic, lemons or herbs. I prefer using one of these for my paella ingredients instead of plain olive oil. I look for a nice, rich flavorful Spanish olive oil for sauteing all my vegetables. If you have a brand new paella pan, you can also season your new pan with such an oil. I also think one of the secrets to a great tasty paella is using a homemade broth instead of water when you add the rice. You can simply plan ahead by buying a little extra of meat, chicken or fish. Then use leftover scraps, bones and the extra for making your broth ahead of time.

There are many great Spanish food recipes, but paella is the winner. There is room for so much variety and creativity when it comes to making paella dishes. Get yourself a good paella cookbook, and find out what you have been missing.

Spanish Food Recipes