Tag: Spanish Food
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Spanish Croquetas
Croquetas are a staple in Spanish tapas bars and restaurants, and we ate countless numbers of them in Spain. The perfect Spanish croquetas are breaded and fried rolls with a crunchy exterior and soft creamy interior, usually filled with bits of meat like jamón (hame), salt cod, or chicken. At first bite, I was amazed…
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Cochinillo: How to Find This Porky Goodness in Valencia or Even in Your Own Kitchen
Cochinillo…crispy brown skin revealing juicy succulent meat underneath. Sometimes it’s dressed up with a fancy sauce; sometimes it’s seasoned with nothing but salt and the smoke of the fire. Either way, few things are more satisfying than the porky goodness of perfectly cooked cochinillo (suckling pig). It shows up frequently on the pages of this…
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Village Life in Castilla y León: How We Ate and Drank Like Cavemen
Not like prehistoric cavemen. We were more like “wine-cavemen,” sitting underground feasting on the wine and food of northern Spain. Northwest of Madrid is the region of Castilla y León. It is the largest autonomous community in Spain, formed in the year 1230 when the kingdom of León and the kingdom of Castile were permanently merged…
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Welcoming Summer with Cherry Chipotle Gazpacho
The Spanish cherry season starts at the beginning of May and piles of them have made their way into the markets in Valencia. One of our favorite ways to use them is in this Cherry Chipotle Gazpacho, a delicious variation of the classic cold summer soup.
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Pan con Tomate: A Must-Have for Your Breakfast Table
Good ingredients simply prepared is a hallmark of Spanish food. A good example of this is Pan con Tomate (bread with tomato), one of the most iconic dishes found throughout Spain. It can be the basis of a typical Spanish breakfast or served as a tapa along with jamón or anchovies. The recipe is so simple,…
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Salmorejo: A Cold Soup for a Hot Spanish Summer
Salmorejo is a cold tomato soup from Cordoba in the Andalusia region of Spain. Similar to gazpacho, but with fewer ingredients and a thicker consistency, this soup is perfect for the hot summer days typical of southern Spain. It is also a great way to enjoy the bounty of ripe tomatoes that summer brings. Salmorejo…
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Clóchinas: Pulling Valencian Mussels From a Shell
With the arrival of summer, clóchinas began appearing in the markets and on restaurant menus all over Valencia. These very special mussels are unique to Valencia and only available May through September. Clóchinas (also called clotxinas in Valenciano) are cultivated on 22 floating rafts located in the ports of Valencia and Sagunto. Harvest follows the…
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Exploring Spanish Cheeses at La Majada Quesos in Valencia
We were reading The Telling Room, a book about the history and drama surrounding an artisanal cheese from Castile-Leon Spain, at the same time that we came across La Majada, a cheese bar in Valencia. The book sparked an appetite for Spanish cheese that La Majada’s vast cheese cellar was perfectly suited to fulfill.
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Sea Urchin: How is this food?
Sea Urchin Butter. Words I would never have put together. Now we have a log of it in our freezer and we’re melting it on top of all kinds of things, like seared scallops and pasta (recipes at the end of post). How did this happen? Like many people perhaps, our past experiences with sea…
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Fabada Asturiana
We’re saying goodbye to winter with one more hearty recipe. Spring may have arrived in Valencia, but if we were in the Asturias region of north-west Spain right now, we might still have several weeks of cold wet weather ahead of us. We would definitely want a bowl of Fabada Asturiana. The inhabitants of this…
Julia Eats 