Spanish ingredients: flavours of spanish food
Spanish cuisine has recipes that are hundreds of years old, which advocate the use of fresh, local and seasonal products. However, not many people are aware of the hidden elements that Spanish cooks use to create the traditional spanish dishes, the key ingredients that give them that unique flavour.
Olive oil: the liquid gold
Olive oil is one of the healthiest fats, and an essential part of the Mediterranean diet. Spain leads the world in the production, processing and sale of olive oil. It’s so nutritious that some people regard a bottle of oil and a loaf of bread as a meal in itself.
Saffron: red gold
Originally from India, saffron was adopted by Spanish cooks, enhancing the flavour of rice dishes, meat and stews. It is an expensive ingredientes and must be handled very carefully.
Ground red pepper
Paprika, ají, red pepper... Christopher Columbus brought it to Spain from the Americas. But it´s the radition and artisanal methods that make this ingredient unique, its production requires smoking by hand over holm oak logs. A spice rich in antioxidants, essential in other traditional Spanish foods like chorizo, sobrasada and sausages.
Vera paprika © Tico Luca
Bomba rice
There are over two thousand varieties of rice around the world. One of them is the original key ingredient of paella, Spain’s most famous dish. Its short, round grain, which usually becomes longer in the cooking process absorbs the liquids, holding all their flavours.
Valencia © Agencia Valenciana de Turismo
Citrus fruit
The Mediterranean climate is ideal for citrus growing. Oranges, lemons, grapefruit… They feature in hundreds of récipes including dessert, salads, stews, rice dishes, and other Spanish recipes.
Garlic, tomato, and onion
Practically everybody around the world cooks with tomatoes, onions, and garlic. But the unique Spanish varieties make all the difference. Garlic, onion and tomato are also the classic ingredients of the sofrito, the starting point for many traditional recipes, adding a very special Spanish flavour.
Bread
Is not actually an ingrediente but goes with everything. In Spain, it’s impossible to imagine eating without bread, whether it’s accompanying a meal, mopping up a sauce or stew or make a sandwich or bocadillo. A few of the variations are: bola in Santiago de Compostela, barra planchada in Toledo, bollo preñao in Asturias, hogaza in Castilla-León and cabezón in Navarre and the Basque Country.
With that said, each region has its unique dishes and flavors but to facilitate your gastronomic journey, we present you the most typical dishes in Spain.
1. Paella, a traditionally Valencian rice dish
Paella is perhaps the most famous dish in Spanish cuisine. Originating in the Valencian Community, it is prepared with rabbit meat, chicken and, in the most traditional version, snails. It is cooked in a special frying pan, the paellera, over the heat of the embers, with which you can get the famous socarrat, toasted and crunchy rice that forms on the edge of the paellera.
2. Cocido madrileño, a hearty type of stew with chickpeas
This is the star dish of Madrid, originally eaten by the working class, who needed a blunt meal to withstand the cold of winter. With some similarities to Cozido à Portuguesa, it includes chickpeas, vegetables, pork, bacon and sausages. To serve this dish in a traditional way, we must first present the broth that forms and only then all the drained ingredients.
3. Fabada asturiana
As its name implies, this dish was born in Asturias, in the north of the country. The star ingredient is faba, a type of white bean, which is cooked for many hours with pork, bacon, chorizo and black pudding, to create a reddish stew, perfect for the coldest days.
4. Gazpacho y Salmorejo
The warm days in Andalusia were the inspiration for these two cold soups, prepared with raw vegetables. The gazpacho, the most famous, is made with tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, onions and vinegar. Salmorejo, typical of Cordoba, is thicker and is prepared with garlic, tomatoes, olive oil, bread crumbs and is accompanied with cubitos of ham, boiled egg and croutons.
5. Tortilla de patata
This is the queen of Spanish cuisine, consumed throughout the country and adapted to all tastes. It is the perfect example of the simplicity and delight of Spanish cuisine. The preparation is simple: fry potatoes and mix them with beaten eggs, then cook this mixture over a slow fire, leaving the egg more or less passed, according to the consumer's preferences. Usually, it also takes onion, but this ingredient does not always please everyone.
6. Pulpo
Also known as Pulpo a la gallega, this octopus dish is typical of Galicia, a region famous for fish and seafood. It is a simple dish: a whole octopus cooked to perfection in a copper pan, until it is smooth but consistent. Serve sliced, with olive oil, salt, pepper and boiled potatoes.
7. Croquetas
Crispy, golden croquetas can have almost any flavor you can think of. This is one of the most versatile dishes in Spain, since croquettes can be made with almost any ingredient. The most typical ones are ham, chicken and cod, prepared with a thick bechamel, mixed with onion and one of these ingredients. The dough is divided into small ellipses, breaded with breadcrumbs and fried. It is the ideal aperitif and we encourage you to try all the flavors you want.
8. Migas
This is a dish of humble origin prepared with crusty bread. The bread is broken up and cooked with different types of meat and sausages or vegetables. Traditionally, it was a breakfast dish, due to its high energy content, but today it is served as a lunch.
9. Calçots
Calçots, like scallions, are found in the Catalonian region. To taste this dish you have to wait for the calçot season, a type of onion similar to leek, which is harvested between January and March. The calçot is cooked on the grill, peeled and dipped in romesco, a sauce made with dried fruits and ñora, a type of pepper.
10. Papas arrugadas
Papas arrugadas, the signature dish of the Canary Islands. It consists of cooking potatoes, of an exclusive variety from the islands, with a lot of salt so that after cooking they have a salty crust on the skin. They are served with a spicy and red sauce, made with peppers, the mojo. If you are not a fan of spicy, order them with green mojo, made with aromatic herbs.
