Arroz con zumo de naranja

Paella is the term that many of us use for any Spanish rice dish cooked in a paella pan.  But the Spanish can be picky on how they use it, some don’t care but others maintain that only the rice dish from Valencia can use the name Paella.  This dish is a bit left of [...]

Chorizo Croquetas

Croquetas must be the ultimate bar snack, hot and crispy on the outside, warm, gooey and salty on the inside. I have been to a couple of tapas bars around Spain that specialise in Croquetas, including a great one in Valladolid where I got these tips on how to make them. These guys take their [...]

Pollo con Jamón y Queso

This is a very handy little dish, it could be a large snack or have a couple for lunch with a salad.  It goes well with verdejo, but really this is chicken for red wine.  Good garnarcha would be my pick.
What you need:

4 Chicken thighs, skin off.
4 long slices of Jamón serrano.
60g manchego, 6 [...]

Roasted Pork Belly

There must be more pigs in Spain than any other animal. Pork can be served at every meal on some days, its one of the reasons why I love the place. I think its got something to do with pissing of the Arabs who had a bad habit of invading the place every [...]

Broadbeans and Jamon

I seem to have an abundance of broadbeans at the moment.  Thats not a bad thing at all, peeled and cooked up with something fatty they are terrific.   Many older vineyards and olive groves in Spain plant broadbeans in between the rows over winter, as they are very good at putting nitrogen back into [...]

Chorizo

Chorizo seems to be the darling of magazine chefs at the moment, you can even buy something called chorizo in Coles.  But its not chorizo, not even close, its more like a frankfurter with extra Hungarian paprika.  So what is the difference you ask?  Generally, the texture is the give away.  If you can see [...]

Beef Cheek Empanadas

Empanadas are traditionally made using pork or rabbit in Spain, but they are a great way to use up leftovers. The South Americans are crazy for them, filling them up with all kinds of things. But they usually don’t use buttery short crust pastry. You can make enough to feed an army in a bit over an hour. They freeze well too, but don’t do the egg wash until you reheat them.

Melbourne Food and Wine Festival Spanish Masterclass

was lucky enough to get a seat at a couple of very good master classes last week. Put on by the Australian Sommeliers Association and the Spanish Trade Commission, there were two sessions complete with a panel of local and imported personalities and lots of goodies in between the sessions. A lot of work had obviously gone into setting up these tastings, the very nice upstairs room at Comme was the location and a number of hard to get wines where flown in from Spain. A lot of support from all the major importers as well.

Apart from the wine there were a number of good Spanish things to munch on, cheese, olives, bread etc. But the real standout was the Jamon Iberico from Broadway Gourmet. I think I ate about half a kilo of the stuff, so I feel qualified to say that this particular Jamon is the best I have had in Australia, really well flavored and textured, impossible to pass up. It not avilable at retail in Melbourne yet, so you’ll have to go to Movida to try some.

On to the tastings. The first session was titled “The New Spain” and was intended to show modern styles of white and red wines from a number of regions in Spain, as well as some classic sherries. The second tasting was all about Tempranillo from three regions: Rioja, Ribera del Duero and Toro. I’ll write that up separately. Each tastings had a panel of 5 up the front, including Jose Ramon Calvo from the renowned Mugaritz restaurant in San Sabasitan. Each section started with a bit of background and history from Jose Ramon and Raúl Moreno Yagüe from SOS (now moving on to Vue de Monde), then a few comments from the rest of the panel.

Mejillones con Bechamel

There isn't a lot of new stuff on the tasting bench at the moment, some new stuff is coming in the new year.  However, I have been enjoying some Spanish food and taking a second (or fifth) look at some of the wines I've tasted over the year.   Mussels with bechamel is a [...]

Roast Lamb (Asado al Horno)

The people of northern Spain love lamb, it even has a D.O. in Castilla y Leon.  A salted leg of lamb baked in a slow oven with just a bowl of water to keep it moist is the traditional method.  It comes out of the oven falling off the bone and has great flavour.  It [...]