Guiso de Gambas, Chorizo y Garbanzos Originating from the Middle East, chickpeas have long been a mainstay of the Spanish diet since their introduction by the Carthaginians some 2250 years ago. Today they are widely cultivated and appear in many regional stews such as ‘cocido Madrileño’ and ‘puchero Andaluz’. Whilst …
Gambas en Gabardina This is a great dish for prawn lovers which is a regular feature of tapas bars, particularly around Madrid. Literally it translates as “Prawns in a raincoat” which refers to the heavy batter which coats the prawns before they are deep fried. It’s a very simple dish …
Deep Fried Squid Rings Calle de Botoneras is a small alley just off the south-east corner of Plaza Mayor in Madrid. It is home to Bar La Campana and Bar La Ideal which are institutions on the Madrid tapas scene thanks to their bocadillos de calamares. Whilst this sandwich is …
Dorada a la Madrileña In spite of lying more than 300km from the sea, Madrid has an insatiable appetite for seafood. Its wholesale fish market is the 2nd largest in the world and Madrileños are amongst the highest consumers of fish per capita in Europe. Whilst the city is home …
Deep Fried Anchovies Boquerones are European anchovies which can be deep-fried, marinated in vinegar or salted then preserved in oil. The city of Málaga is famous for its fried fish dishes which are known as ‘pescaito’ in the local dialect. The most popular of these dishes is Boquerones Fritos which …
Trucha a la Navarra The rivers of Navarra in Northern Spain are a great breeding ground for mountain trout. It was here in the 1920s that Ernest Hemingway took up trout fishing in the Río Irati and described it in his book ‘The Sun Also Rises’. Whilst the origins of …
Espaguetis con Atún y Aceitunas We were once in Conil de la Frontera on the coast of Cádiz province in late May which happened to coincide with a tuna fishing festival known as La Ruta del Atún. This festival celebrates an ancient form of tuna fishing which dates back more …
Salmon con Almejas Wild Atlantic salmon have long inhabited the rivers of northern Spain which run into the Bay of Biscay. In the early 18th century there are reports of as many as 12,000 being caught every year along the Rio Sella alone. Nowadays the numbers of these prized catches …
Gambas al Vino Blanco Biologically speaking, prawns and shrimp are not identical with prawns being the larger of the two. Linguistically, the British tend to refer to ‘prawns’ whilst North Americans refer to ‘shrimp’. For the purpose of cooking they can be used interchangeably as their taste is identical. There …
