How to Cook Spanish Meals
- 1). Be liberal with the olive oil. Spaniards use olive oil like Americans use butter or margarine. They use it to saute, fry, dress salads and for dipping bread. Purchase good quality virgin olive oil.
- 2). Purchase fresh ingredients. In Spain, people buy produce, meat and fish almost daily and rarely resort to their frozen counterparts. In this fashion, the meals they cook are themed to use ingredients available during various times of year.
- 3). Serve courses. A Spanish meal typically starts with a light soup, such as gazpacho, followed by a meat or fish served with fried potatoes and finished with dessert and espresso. Have bread and wine available to round out the table.
- 4). Keep salad plain. If salad is preferred over soup, keep it simple. Lettuce, thinly sliced onions, fresh tomato and olives are served on a plate with only olive oil for a dressing.
- 5). Provide tapas. These small dishes are closely related to American appetizers, but several can make an entire meal, along with bread and wine, in many Spanish taverns. Calamari, fried shrimp or sardines, thin slices of Spanish ham and olives are common tapas fare.
- 6). Grill or pan-fry fish, chicken or veal in olive oil. Fish is cooked whole, with the head and bones intact. Sardines, herring and small trout are the usual order. A whole chicken leg, breast or veal cutlet will be pan-fried or grilled with little or no seasoning. Saucing or layering meat with an herb crust is not common practice.
- 7). Oven-bake lamb or goat. Beef is not normally served at the Spanish table, as many local farmers raise adult cows for cheese and milk. As in the grilling or pan-fry methods of cooking, seasoning is not overdone. Meat and fish are generally thought to provide enough taste on their own.
- 8). Deep-fry potatoes. Known as patatas fritas, fried potatoes are often served alongside a meat dish and are plain with only a little salt added.
- 9). Make paella. This is probably the most famous of Spanish dishes and is generally served at the Sunday meal. Coastal regions such as Galicia and Valenca will feature fresh seafood in their paella while the inner country of Leon will focus more on chicken or lamb. The dish is made with saffron-seasoned rice, garlic, peppers and heart pieces of meat or fish. All of the ingredients cook together in a large cast iron skillet and served without side dishes.
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