A classic dish of the Spanish cuisine is the Tortilla. It does not require much time an needs just very few ingredients.
I like the flavor of fried potatoes and onions in combination with eggs. The Spanish like using lots of oil to fry this dish, I personally prefer to use a non stick pan and less oil.

Preparation time: 20 minutes

difficulty easy

Preparation:

Peel and cube the potatoes. Fry the cubes in a pan with some oil until golden brown. This takes 10 to 15 minutes. Flip the cubes occasional in order to fry them form all sides. After 10 minutes add the chopped onions and fry them for another 5 minutes.

add the eggs to a bowl, season and beat them. Add the potato and onion and mix. Now pour the mix into the pan and let it fry on low heat for 5 minutes. Flip once, then serve.

This soup is from Cordoba, Spain and has a great similarity with Gazpacho. It is reduced to a few ingredients and contains no cucumber. Salmorejo is also much thicker than the Gazpacho because it contains more bread. A great and intense tomato taste!

Salmorejo can be also found on the Canary islands. There it is a marinade and peppers and chili is added to it.

Preparation time: 15 minutes + 2 hours of chilling

difficulty: easy

Preparation:

Put the tomatoes into boiling water and leave them there for a couple of minutes until the skin breaks. Remove them and let them cool down a bit. Skin the tomatoes and cut them in quarters.

Add all ingredients to the mixer and transform into a smooth puree. Season with salt and pepper. Fridge for at least 2 hours, then serve in chilled bowls.

This Gazpacho has a more intense coloring than the classic version of the dish. The beetroot gives it an earthy touch that goes well with the tomato, onion, peppers and garlic. I like to season this Gazpacho with a pinch of cayenne pepper.

preparation time: 15 minutes

difficulty: easy

Preparation:

Bring water to boil. Blanch the tomatoes, then set them aside to cool off.

Boil the beetroot or use ready boiled ones.

Peel the tomatoes. Remove the seeds from the bell pepper. Peel the cucumber, the onion, the garlic. Put all the veggies including the beetroot into the mixer. Add a sip of vinegar, a big sip of olive oil, some honey, salt and pepper. Then blend all until smooth. Season with cayenne pepper and put in the fridge to chill.

No wonder this classic Spanish dish can be found throughout Spain. It is delicious. You have to like almonds, garlic and wine though. This dish can be served as Tapa or Meze as well as as main course with fries.

preparation time: 10 minutes

cooking time: 60 minutes

difficulty easy

Preparation:

Break up the bread and put it into a frying pan with the almonds and some olive oil. Fry all for some time until the almonds and the bread are nice and brown. Add the peeled garlic and fry for an additional minute or two.
Remove the content from the pan and set aside on a plate. Leave the oil in the pan though.

Cut the pork into large cubes, salt and pepper it and fry from all sides so the meat gets a nice color.

Now add the tomato, the peeled and quartered onion and the bay leaves, the paprika powder and the wine. Cover and let it all cook on low heat for 30 minutes.

Take the onion and the tomato out of the pan and put it into a blender. Add the almonds and the garlic and add some of the cooking liquid. About half a cup should do. Now puree the ingredients until you have a really fine sauce. Return the sauce to the pan with the pork and let it simmer uncovered of ran additional 30 minutes.

Season with salt and pepper and serve with fried potatoes or as a Tapa.

Das Brot brechen und mit dem Mandeln in einer tiefen Pfanne mit etwas Olivenöl anbraten. Die Mandeln und das Brot sollten schön braun werden. Die geschälten Knoblauchzehen dazugeben und kurz mit braten. Dann alles aus der Pfanne fischen und auf einem Teller bei Seite stellen.

Das Schweinefleisch in große Würfel schneiden und in der Pfanne anbraten. Das Fleisch sollte von allen Seiten schön braun gebraten werden.

Die Zwiebel schälen und vierteln und mit der Tomate, den Lorbeerblättern, dem Paprikapulver und dem Weißwein zum Fleisch geben. Die Pfanne zugedeckt für 30 Minuten köcheln lassen.

Nach der Kochzeit die Tomate und die Zwiebel samt dem Knoblauch und den Mandeln und einer Tasse der Kochflüssigkeit in einen Mixer geben und pürieren. Die Sauce wieder zum Fleisch geben und offen für weitere 20 Minuten köcheln lassen. Mit Salz und Pfeffer abschmecken. Wird oft mit frittierten Kartoffeln serviert.

A simple and delicious spanish way of preparing chicken. The toasted pine nuts, the raisins and the wine go perfectly with the chicken. I serve this dish with rice but fried potatoes also go well with it.

Preparation time: 60 minutes

difficulty: easy

Preparation:

Cut the chicken into pieces.

Soak the saffron stigmas in a little bit of hot water.

Peel the garlic and fry it in some olive oil using a big frying pan. Once the garlic took some colour, remove from the pan. Now fry the chicken parts. Put the chicken parts into the pan with the skin side down. Now let the parts untouched for 5 minutes so they can get really crusty without loosing the skin.

Remove the chicken form the pan and set aside. Pour the wine and the saffron water into the pan and mix well. Loosen the bits that got stuck at the bottom of the pan. Add the chicken leggs and let them simmer in the covered pan for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile add the pine nuts to a small non sticky pan and toast them slowly.

Once the 20 minutes of simmering have passed add the remaining chicken parts, the raisins, the garlic and the pine nuts to the pan. Cover and let it simmer for 15 minutes. The chicken should be done but still juicy by now. Season with salt and pepper. The sauce should have the consistence of cream. If not reduce the sauce or add some water.

And the winner of last years 2nd mediterranean cooking event with the topic Spain is: Cupcakes form Mallorca by Seelensturm. CONGRATUALTIONS! The fabulous cook book  “Seasonal Spanish Food” by José Pizarro, will be sent to you shortly!

I want to thank all readers for voting and would like to encourage to participate the current event with the topic Lebanon. You still have about a week to participate. Again you can win a great cook book.

The 2nd Mediterranean cooking event has come to and end and we have to determine who will win this months price. This months topic was SPAIN. Please take a moment, have a look at the nominees and vote your favourite dish.

A little hint for the participants: As I have learned form the last event, that was won by Rosa: It helps a lot to post a litle “call to action” on your blog in order to ask your readers to vote for you.

The first entry made by Joumana from Taste of Beirut. She cooked for us Tortas de Aceite, a dish form Andalusia. These sweet olive oil crackers are a great combination of tastes including cinnamon and sesame.

Island girl from “Neues von der Insel” prepared Champignones en Salsa verde al Jerez for us. Lovely Tapas wirh mushroom, garlic, parsley and chili.

A very Christmas like dish form Majorca was posted by Soul Storm “Seelensturm”. These Majorca Cup cakes use almonds as well as almond oil, which makes them even more tasty.

Since the 1st Mediterranean cooking event was such a great success we will continue straight away with the 2nd eddition of the event. This 2nd Mediterranean food cooking event is all about spanish food. Paella, Arroz con Leche, Gazpacho, Pescaito frito… What spanish recipe do you cook? Cook and blog about it! This time you can win a great spanish cookbook. See the rules of participation below.

The 2nd Mediterranean cookingevent

is about

Spain

Start date is the 10th of November 2009.
End date is the 10th of December 2009.

The winner receives this great cookbook on Spanish cooking:

“Seasonal Spanish Food”

by José Pizarro

These are the RULES:

Who can participate?
Everyone that blogs and loves food.

What do I have to do to participate?

1. Cook a dish from the actual country of focus.
2. Post the recipe on your blog. Mention the event with a backlink and include one of the

banners in the recipe post or on your blog in general.
3. Leave a comment with a trackback (backlink) to your recipe here (below), so we all can find

it.

How is the winner chosen?

After the event has finished I will put up a poll

on the blog that includes all participants. You will have 2 weeks time to vote for your favourite

dish.

Can I participate with more than 1 recipe?

Yes, you can. All recipes participate the poll.

Banners you can take along:

(just copy the HTML code and paste it into your blog)

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Merluza a la Gallega is a classic Spanish fish dish form Galicia, Spain. The fish used is hake or cod and besides that the recipe doesn’t require much. It is nice and light because the fish as well as the potatoes are cooked in a soup. I have added a spicy sauce of bell peppers to give it a bit of a kick.

Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 60 minutes
Simple recipe

Zutaten:

Preparation:

Cut the fish into thick slices. Start right at the head, behind the fins. A fish of this size should give you 4 to 6 slices.
Put the head and the tail with the onion cut in half, some leek, the bay leaves and pepper corns in a pot with enough water to cover the ingredients. Bring to boil and let it simmer for 20 minutes. As soon as it starts boiling add the wine.

Meanwhile peel the potatoes and quarter them. The pieces should have a size where they do not take longer than 20 minutes to boil “al dente”.

Now drain the soup and season with some salt. Boil the potatoes in the soup.
Meanwhile chop the garlic and the bell pepper and bring in a pan to fry. Add some paprika powder. Depending on how spicy you like it make a mix of sweet and spicy paprika powder. Fry for a while until the garlic starts getting brown, then add some vinegar and some salt. Now take the pan off the heat and puree the ingredients in a blender.

The potatoes should be done by now. Take them out of the soup and put the fish slices into the soup. Take the soup off the stove. The fish should be sitting in the very hot soup for 10 minutes, but it should not be boiling. In case the potatoes get to cold during this period, just add them to the soup once more.

Take the fish and the potatoes out of the soup. Place on plates and put some of the sauce over the fish.

The German verion of “Merluza a la Gallega” you can find here.

This summer I was preparing a lot of Gazpacho soup for my guests. This cold and refreshing soup is a perfect starter because it quickens the appetite in hot weather. The spice note of the Gazpacho requires a fruity white wine. I serve Gazpacho as a starter but it also can serve as a small lunch in hot weather.

Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 10 minutes
Very easy recipe

Ingredients:

Preparation :

To skin the tomatoes put them into boiling water until the skin breaks. Then fish then fish them out, let them cool down a bit and peel them.
In the meanwhile peel and seed the cucumber, peel the onion and the garlic. Soak the bread in some water, then squeeze the water out of it. Seed the bell peppers.
Put the tomato, the cucumber, the bell peppers, the onion, the garlic, the bread and the chilli into a blender and blend it well.
Now season to taste with some vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper. Blend again well.

Now fridge the soup until you serve it.

I am serving the soup in iced bowls with a topping of chopped vegetables.

The German version “Gazpacho – Gaspacho” you can find here.