My favorite Spanish recipes

This famous chicken dish from Navarre has a spicy red pepper sauce. In the past, the dried Choricero Pepper - the one that gives Chorizos their color and spice - was used alone, but nowadays the dish is often made with fresh red peppers, spiced with chilli. The name Chilindrón refers to a game of cards.The last should not be taken as an invitation to gamble with, or over, your meal.

INGREDIENTS

• 675g/1½lb red/bell peppers
• 4 free-range chicken portions
• 10ml/2tsp paprika
• 30ml/2tbsp olive oil
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 200g/7oz Serrano or other ham, in one piece, or a gammon chop
• 200g/7oz can chopped tomatoes
• 1 dried Guindilla or other hot dried chilli, chopped, or 2.5ml/½tsp chilli powder, to taste
• salt and ground black pepper
• chopped fresh parsley, to garnish
• small new potatoes to serve

METHOD

1. Preheat the grill/broiler to high. Put the peppers on a baking sheet and grill/broil for 8~12 minutes, turning occasionally, until the skins have blistered and blackened. Place the blackened peppers in a bowl, cover with clear film/plastic wrap and leave to cool.
2. Rub salt and paprika into the chicken portions. Heat the oil in a large frying pan and add the chicken portions, skin-side down. Fry over a medium-low heat, turning until golden on all sides.
3. Meanwhile, select a casserole into which the chicken will fit comfortably. Spoon in 45ml/3 tbsp fat from the other pan. Fry the onion and garlic until soft. Dice the ham or gammon and add, stirring occasionally, for a few minutes.
4. Add the chopped tomatoes to the casserole, with the chopped dried chilli or chilli powder. Cook for 4~5 minutes, letting the sauce reduce.
5. Peel the skins off the peppers and discard these and the stalks. Put the peppers into a blender and strain in the juices, discarding the seeds. Process, then add the purée to the casserole and stir in. Heat through.
6. Add the chicken pieces to the casserole, bedding them down in the sauce. Cook, covered, for 15 minutes and check the seasonings, adding more if necessary. Garnish with a little parsley and serve with small new potatoes.

These two recipes bear similarities and seem to form the basis of many other dishes - as mentioned below, including the famous (potato) tortilla. Reproducing both here will give an opportunity to the reader to mix-and-match ideas; just as I vary what to cook, according to which ingredients currently stock the pantry... Patatas a lo Pobre could roughly be translated as "Poor man's potatoes" and is a simple dish of slowly fried potatoes, green peppers and onions. A more substantial version is called "Plato Alpujarraño" (named after the Alpujarra mountains just south of Grenada where it is traditionally served) Pieces of Spanish spicy chorizo sausage and black pudding are added at the end along with a couple of fried eggs. The recipe below is for the simple version: Here in Andalucia this is a typical dish which is served in a "venta". A venta is a small simple restaurant in the country where city dwellers go out with their family or friends to eat in the country usually on a Sunday and normally in the open air.

Patatas Bravas comes in many variations of a chilli and potato dish but the most important thing is the spicing, which is made hotter still by adding vinegar. The classic version is made with fresh tomato sauce flavoured with garlic and chilli. The name Bravas implies that the potatoes are so hot that it is manly to eat them.

INGREDIENTS

• 4 large potatoes, thinly sliced (leave in water for about 20 mnutes to get rid of the starch and then drain)
• 1 green pepper, either roughly chopped or cut into thick strips
• 1 onion, roughly chopped
• about ½litre olive oil

METHOD

1. Heat the olive oil in a large, deep frying pan.
2. Add the potatoes and season with salt.
3. Fry on a high heat for five minutes, turning the potatoes over, and then turn the heat right down. Put a lid on the pan and gently fry for 10 minutes.
4. Add the green pepper and onion and give everything a good stir. Cover the pan and leave to fry gently for another 10 minutes.
5. Check from time to time to make sure that they are not sticking too much to the bottom of the pan.
6. At the end of this time look to see whether the potatoes are cooked and taset for salt, adding more if necessary. The idea is for the potatoes to be soft but with some of them a bit crispier to add to the falvour. If the potatoes are not cooked, put the lid back on a leave for another 5 minutes or so. Remove the potatoes from the pan with a slotted spoon and serve.

INGREDIENTS

• 675g/1½lb small new potatoes
• 75ml/5tbsp olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves, sliced
• 3 dried chillies, seeded and chopped
• 2.5ml/½tsp ground cumin
• 10ml/2tsp paprika
• 30ml/2tbsp red or white wine vinegar
• 1 red or green (bell) pepper, seeded and sliced
• coarse sea salt, for sprinkling (optional)

METHOD

1. Scrub the potatoes and put them into a pan of salted water. Bring to the boil and cook for 10 minutes, or until almost tender. Drain and leave to cool slightly. Peel, if you like, then cut into chunks.
2. Heat the oil in a large frying or sauté pan and fry the potatoes, turning them frequently until golden.
3. Meanwhile, crush together the garlic, chillies, and cumin using a mortar and pestle. Mix the paste with the paprika and wine vinegar, then add to the potatoes with the sliced pepper and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes. Scatter with salt, if using, and serve hot as a tapas dish or cold as a side dish.

The Moors introduced both skewers and marinated meat to Spain. These little yellow kebabs are a favourite in Andalusia, where many butchers sell the meat ready marinated. The Arab versions used lamb, but pork is used now, because the spicing fits so perfectly.

INGREDIENTS

• 2.5ml/½tsp cumin seeds
• 2.5ml/½tsp coriander seeds
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 5ml/1tsp paprika
• 2.5ml/½tsp dried oregano
• 15ml/1 tbsp lemon juice
• 45ml/3tbsp olive oil
• 500g/1¼lb lean cubed pork
• salt and ground black pepper

METHOD

1. Starting a couple of hours in advance, grind the cumin and coriander seeds in a mortar and work in the garlic with a pinch of salt. Add paprika and oregano and mix in the lemon juice. Stir in the oil.
2. Cut the pork into small cubes, then skewer them, three or four at a time, on to cocktail sticks (toothpicks). Put the skewered meat in a shallow dish, and pour over the marinade. Spoon the marinade back over the meat to ensure it is well coated. Leave to marinate in a cool place for two hours.
3. Preheat the grill (broiler) to high, and line the grill pan with foil. Spread the kebabs out in a row and place under the grill, close to the heat. Cook for about three minutes on each side, spooning the juices over when you turn them, until cooked through. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, and serve at once